TV Review: Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann

Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann
Starring:: Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba, Drew Lachey
Airs: Mondays at 8:00 p.m. on ABC

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I’m not sure if this series is just ABC’s attempt to keep their Dancing With The Stars viewers occupied or if they’re trying to reel in some of the millions of viewers who are all geared up for the big Idol premiere next week. Regardless, the audition episode of this new reality competition series didn’t do much to get me pumped up for the live episodes they’re set to air starting next week.

While Dance War has been referred to as a spin-off of Dancing With The Stars, it feels more like a combination of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. In the audition episode, the contestants performed in group-dance auditions and then solo singing and dancing routines to prove their abilities.

Once upon a time I could sit and watch people sing badly for hours. Then American Idol came along and beat that joke into the ground season after season. While Dance War did occasionally lean on that aspect of the audition process to keep the two-hour premiere interesting, what stood out most was what a lot of us probably expected: There aren’t many out there who can sing and dance exceptionally well. A good portion of the auditioners could dance well but failed to match those abilities with their singing. Then there were some who would’ve surely gotten the golden ticket at an Idol audition but just didn’t cut it in the dancing portion of the audition.

This premiere episode managed to cram in the entire city-to-city audition process, the Hollywood callbacks and the final selection into two hours. Sure, I tend to get bored with the drawn-out way that Idol does their audition process (taking weeks to get to the Hollywood round and then more weeks to narrow it down to 12 contestants) but this condensed method felt rushed as only a few contestants were given enough screen time to allow us to really care about whether or not they made it to the final round.

In the end, the thirty people chosen by choreographers Bruno and Carrie Ann during the city auditions made it to Hollywood and were narrowed down to 14. The final group of performers strutted their stuff in a singing/dancing number on stage at the very end of the episode in an effort to makes us all excited for the live episodes. They’ll eventually be divided into two teams, which will then be guided by Bruno and Carrie Ann as they compete against each other for the next month or so.

This series has a couple of things going for it. Host Drew Lachey is charismatic enough to keep the non-performance portions of the episodes relatively entertaining. Then of course, there’s the probability that the many fans of Dancing With The Stars will feel comfortable watching Bruno and Carrie Ann work with the performers and commentate on the routines. All of the above said, what it’s really going to come down to is the level of talent among the performers. There have been so many televised talent competitions over the past few years that I think we as viewers have raised our expectations in terms of the talent.

Between the somewhat unique format of the competition (two competing choreographers and their teams) and the multitalented contestants, Dance War could turn out to be delightfully interesting. Or it could be just another talent competition. Based on the audition episode, I’m leaning towards the latter. Only a few of the contestants really stood out but then again, there were so many performances squeezed into tonight’s premiere that its entirely possible that the live show will give us a bit more to look forward to each week.

Final Ruling: The audition episode was just ok. I’ll give the series another episode to see if the live show delivers the goods.

What Did You Think Of Dance War?

• Loved it! Can't Wait For Next Week!
• Eh, It was OK, I'll Tune In Again
• Probably Wont Watch It Again
• Hated It!

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