The gold medal winning U.S. ice dancing team of Charlie White and Meryl Davis will split up and compete individually on the 18th season of “Dancing with the Stars” where they would seem to have the immediate edge over a just-announced cast that includes ex sitcom stars, assorted teen idols, Nene Leakes and the woman who swam to Cuba.
The new cast also includes Billy Dee Williams, NHL star Sean Avery and Amy Purdy, the snowboarder without legs. The announcement for the new cast, made Tuesday morning on “Good Morning America” by host Tom Bergeron and his new co-host Erin Andrews, also included the announcement of professional pairings, though the new season will also switch all the partners mid-season for the first time, perhaps to shake up a show that has grown a bit stale and stalled in ratings (averaging just 13.7 million viewers last season).
The bulk of the cast seemed cultivated to spark nostalgia for old TV, from Candace Cameron Bure of “Full House” and Danica McKellar of “The Wonder Years” to the star of “The Drew Carey Show” who now hosts “The Price is Right.”
For the kids, there is James Maslow of the made for kids cable group Big Time Rush and singer Cody Simpson. The extreme athletes are Diana Nyad, the distance swimmer who reached her goal of swimming from Florida to Cuba in September, and paralympian Amy Purdy, who lost her legs when she was 19 (her partner is Derek Hough).
The most stable judging staff on TV — Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba — return for the 19th season, which like last season will air just once a week instead of twice. The premiere date is March 17.