'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
Comedienne's Second TV Show Canceled This Year
Is Melissa Rycroft a Star?
by Michael Pascua, posted Mar 19th 2009 12:02PM
Three months ago, if you asked me who Melissa Rycroft was I would have had no clue. I've never watched an episode of The Bachelor in my life. I spent my Mondays watching The Big Bang Theory and Jon & Kate Plus 8 and never got why or when they started the idea of rejected contestants becoming the bachelor/bachelorette. Then out of nowhere, Nancy O'Dell has to pull out from Dancing with the Stars. The ABC executives shuffle and put Bachelor contestant Melissa Rycroft in her spot. Half of America is happy to see her rebound from national dumping; the other half doesn't know who she is. Thus the big question: Is Melissa Rycroft a star?
The answer is no. She may be a celebrity, but she's currently basking in her 15 minutes of fame. That doesn't make her a "Star." A virtual nobody gets to hang around with a gold medalist, a Bond girl, and the co-founder of Apple just because she got dumped on national television. Sure, she may have been a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, but I've never been to a football game in my life. If there were only two criteria for the show - being a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader and winning a reality show -- that means that the Amazing Race winner, Starr Spangler would also be eligible. I don't consider her a celebrity.To make it worse, she's now being pegged as the ringer of the season.
Part of Star-power is staying in the public eye. Most, if not all, of the people cast on Dancing with the Stars have been around for at least a year. Holly Madison has at least been a Playboy since 2005, and her show has also been around since 2005, surviving five seasons. Last year, Kim Kardashian had her E! show a year before she was on Dancing with the Stars. Three months of The Bachelor doesn't seem like enough time to consider oneself a "Star."
There have been many D-List celebrities that have wanted to be on or were rumored to be part of this show, including Brooke Hogan and Florence Henderson. I'm sure several of these people were on call as backups. The real question would be: would they boost ratings? No. Melissa Rycroft was on television the week before and was fresh in people's memory. I doubt that people remember the song "About Us" or the show Hogan/Brooke knows Best. No matter what people think of Melissa, the ABC executives got the buzz they hoped for.
Will Melissa Rycroft become a star after the show? Possibly. If she wins the show, she can use the pull to create celebrity and transition that into acting, dancing, or even singing. If I wanted to see someone launch into stardom, I'd watch a show like American Idol. I appreciate that other reality shows allow obscure celebrities, like writer/actor Mike White on the Amazing Race and former SWV member Taj on Survivor, but when the show actually uses the word "Star" in their title, I expect stars. Dancing with the Stars is all about seeing celebrities breaking out of their comfort zone.
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