Wow, Bristol Palin made it to the final week of Dancing With The Stars. If you're bummed about the end of DWTS this season, you can rejoice in the start of Skating With The Stars which kicks off next week!

Well, let's not get our hopes too high. The show will most likely be quite dorky with wobbly celebrities on ice.

The pro skaters have been announced:

• Denis Petukhov
• Keauna McLaughlin
• Ethan Burgess
• Jennifer Wester
• Fred Palascak
• Brooke Castile

All of the pros have strong partnering experience and have competed at Nationals within the past few years. I think that will help the wobbly celebrities. I had thought with it being a post-Olympic season we would see more of the just retired Olympians, but they might have overshadowed the D-List stars. Tanith Belbin will apparently be appearing in the Samantha Harris/Brooke Burke role as co-hostess. She'll be one of two Torino and Vancouver Olympians on the show.

Johnny Weir will be one of the judges after two Olympic appearances. Dick Button will be along side him in the judges booth because honestly, there has to be number of televised skating events with Dick Button. I think it's an FCC rule for broadcasts. Laurieann Gibson is the final judge. She is a choreographer, but I'm not familiar with her.

Should be fun for at least a viewing or two.

Imagine It With Knives On Their Feet

I checked out the promo for Skating With The Stars again, I recognized a few more of the pros:

Definitely Denis Petukhov, plus Keana McLaughlin and Brooke Castile. Anyone else recognize the others?

I've heard some buzz all along that Johnny Weir will be one of the judges. If so, that seems like an appropriate spot for him. I hope he can get some "vodka shot and a snort of coke" comments in. That will be fabulous.

So the D-list celebs get five weeks of practice prior to the show, but a requirement for participation was an ability to skate forward and backward according to the show's senior producer, Deena Katz.

Skating backgrounds uncovered:
Vince Neil - Skated when he was twelve. Here's hoping we see pre-metal spandex on a pre-teen in pictures.
Rebecca Budig - Brought her own skates to the first practice and took lessons as a kid. Is she an SP-Teri gal? Riedell? Harlicks maybe?
Brandon Mychal Smith - Calls himself "Black Kwan," a.k.a. Michelle Kwan's black brother

It still may be a train wreck even with Michelle's black brother making his public debut, but I'll watch a few times. I like what Jimmy Kimmel says, "If you like Dancing With The Stars, imagine it with knives on their feet."

Skating With The Stars Cast

OK, here's the official list of D-list celebrities doing ABC's Skating With The Stars:

• Rebecca Budig
• Bethenny Frankel
• Johnny Moseley
• Vince Neil
• Brandon Mychal Smith
• Sean Young

Know who those people are? I don't really know either. I do recognize Johnny Moseley from Olympic moguls and Vince Neil from Motley Crue. Kinda of heard of Bethenny Frankel and Sean Young. My wish for celebs with skating backgrounds was not heard.

As for the pros, they didn't really show them in the clips. I did recognize Denis Petukhov so I'm assuming his wife Melissa Gregory is also involved. It doesn't appear to be ISU-sanctioned so perhaps there are some Disney On Ice veterans.

Hope the show is entertaining and if so than more people than me like to watch it so it comes back.

Skating With The Stars Guesses

In between the election coverage, Dancing With The Stars will have their 200th results episode. Big whoop. I'm finding the election on ABC with Facebook's stats more interesting. However, while America votes on their leadership and celebrity dancers, the cast of Skating With The Stars will be announced.

Supposedly, Vince Neill of Motley Crue is one of the stars. Bethenny Frankel of one of the Real Housewives shows is also supposedly a star (gag me with a spoon on that one).

Who knows if either are true, but neither have a skating background to my knowledge. I'm still holding out for some entertainers with some skating chops. Obviously, not near-Olympic level skating backgrounds, but something skating related like hockey, speedskating or a distant competitive figure skating past. My wishlist is still Vera Wang, Keanu Reeves and Condoleeza Rice. I still think there may be a possibility of Levi Johnston popping in there as a bookend to Bristol Palin on DWTS. He was a high school hockey player too.

On the professional end, I'm curious if participating would mean a definite end to being Olympic-eligible. I'm not sure if the show is going to be ISU-sanctioned. If it's not that may limit some participation for skaters who are "taking a year off" and are not sure if they are coming back to Olympic-eligible competition. If it is ISU-sanctioned, I suspect Tanith Belbin, Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek will be involved. I'm also guessing Kristi Yamaguchi will be in there somewhere, maybe as a judge. Other possible pros could be Sasha Cohen, Ryan Bradley, Dorothy Hamill, Josef Sabocik, or David Pelletier.

Who has your vote tonight?