Jerry, Joey, Emmitt Put on "Dancing" Shoes

Mon., Aug. 14, 2006 10:05 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

ABC has plumbed the depths of celebritydom to round up another batch of would-be twinkle-toes for Dancing with the Stars.

For its third season, 11 entertainers will vie for the disco-balled hardware that last year's winner, Drew Lachey, rather generously described as "ugly."

Jerry Springer, Tucker Carlson, Vivica A. Fox, Harry Hamlin, Mario Lopez, Joe (the artist formerly known as Joey) Lawrence, Emmitt Smith, Sara Evans, Willa Ford, Shanna Moakler and Monique Coleman are all primed and ready to hit the dance floor.

Lest viewers be unaware of the contestants' career milestones, here's a brief rundown:

As ringmaster of his eponymous '90s daytime talk show, Springer shed light on the inner workings of trailer parks across the country, often with explosive results. The former Cincinnati mayor now holds court on Air America radio. The bowtie-happy Carlson made a name for himself as a conservative cable pundit on CNN's Crossfire and has since branched out as an MSNBC news anchor. He was also on the receiving end of an on-air verbal beatdown from guest Jon "I'm not your monkey" Stewart last year. Arguably the biggest current star on the roster, Fox battled Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and cozied up to Will Smith in Independence Day. Hamlin is no stranger to Dancing with the Stars, having acted as sideline cheerleader last season in support of wife and third-place finisher Lisa Rinna. He's best known for starring in L.A. Law for five years and most recently had a guest stint on Veronica Mars. Lopez, of course, will forever be known to children of the '80s as Saved by the Bell's resident jock, A.C. Slater. More recently, he made headlines for his blink-and-you-missed-it wedding to onetime Dorito girl Ali Landry. Former BOP pin-up Lawrence played Blossom's "Whoa"-ing big brother Joe throughout the '90s and went on to star in a string of projects with his two look-alike younger brothers. Smith hopes to be this year's Jerry Rice. The future NFL Hall of Famer is a three-time Super Bowl champ with the Dallas Cowboys and the league's all-time leading rusher. Country music songbird Evans looks to add the disco ball to a trophy case full of Country Music and Academy of Country Music Awards. Her fifth album, Real Fine Place, was released last year with its title track debuting in the Top 10. Ford briefly basked in the MTV limelight as one of several short-lived Britney and Christina wannabes, during which time she dated Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and managed to score one hit, "I Wanna Be Bad." Former Miss USA and fledgling actress Moakler hit the headlines just last week when it was announced that she and rocker husband Travis Barker were divorcing . The duo starred for two seasons in their own MTV reality show, Meet the Barkers. Coleman, meanwhile, seems to have the tween vote locked up, having recently starring in the Disney Channel's phenomenally popular High School Musical.

As in years past, the lack of an A-list cast will likely do nothing to hurt the show's ratings. For the previous two seasons, the series has never fallen out of the Nielsen Top 10, and last year's Lachey-crowning finale drew an impressive 27.2 million viewers.

Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli return as judges.

Tom Bergeron and E!'s Samantha Harris return to host the competition, kicking off with a two-hour premiere Sept. 12 on ABC.