Dancing with the Stars

ABC appears willing to forgive and forget when it comes to Chris Brown.

Despite Brown's meltdown on Good Morning America this week, the network said it will not be filing a criminal complaint against the singer, who is still set to perform on the popular Dancing With the Stars next Tuesday night.

Both are huge breaks for a guy whose career needs all he can get.

Should DWTS pull the plug on this dude?

Although he kept it together on-air, Brown stormed off the GMA set after anchor Robin Roberts asked him questions about his 2009 assault against Rihanna.

Despite okaying this beforehand, he then reportedly retreated to his dressing room where he broke a window with a chair, tore his shirt off and peaced out.

While he escaped without any legal or direct career ramifications, some fans and rival network execs are not happy with ABC's decision to let him do DWTS.

Kendra Wilkinson was a mess before her debut performance on Dancing With the Stars, and it showed. But with that under her belt, she's confident in her ability.

Performing the cha cha live made her "a bundle of nerves," said Kendra, despite the fact that she's nude naked, worked as a stripper and starred on reality TV.

Her score of 18 put her in the middle of the pack after the Season 12 premiere. No one was eliminated this week, with the first cut set for next Tuesday.

"In the cha cha you're not supposed to bend your knees but I had to or I would have passed out," Wilkinson said. "I was so nervous, I barely took a breath."

What worried her? The same thing that would freak out anyone - performing for a huge audience. "I have a fear of the stage, a fear of the crowd," Kendra said.

"[The bright lights of the ballroom] made me dizzy. But I pulled it out and the fact that Carrie Ann [Inaba] said I didn't miss one step made me feel so good."

Check out Kendra's performance from Monday after the jump ...

Considered the odds-on favorite going in, Kendra Wilkinson's Dancing With the Stars debut did not meet the high expectations set for her last night.

We imagine she'll only get better, and that she'll have the fan support (Hugh and his thousands of bunnies alone should help) to last a while at least.

Boasting that she's "got moves for a white girl," the reality star with the stripper past danced the cha cha with partner Louis van Amstel Monday.

She promised a hot routine - "classy hot, not club hot" - but lukewarm may be more accurate. The judges had mixed reviews for K-Dubs. Here's why:

DWTS Week One - Kendra Wilkinson & Louis Van Amstel

Kendra finished with 18 points, well back of leaders Ralph Macchio and Kristie Alley. You can watch ALL of last night's DWTS routines here on THG!

Petra Nemcova's performance wasn't the best of the Dancing With the Stars season opener, but the supermodel's effort was easily the most emotional.

In 2004, she survived, barely, a tsunami in Southeast Asia that claimed thousands of lives, including her fiance. Her pelvis was shattered in four places.

During rehearsals for DWTS March 11, Petra, who worked tirelessly to promote relief efforts, almost quit when she learned of the devastation in Japan.

Ultimately, the Czech beauty decided to stick it out and use the show as a chance to "shine more of a light on the lives of children who are forgotten."

Given her obstacles, her opening routine was more than respectable ...

DWTS Week One - Petra Nemcova & Dmitry Chaplin

At 60 years old and not possessing the body type of, say, Kendra Wilkinson, underdog Kristie Alley immediately endeared herself to Dancing With the Stars fans.

The surprising part? She won over the judges last night as well.

Dancing With the Stars saved the best routine for last, as Kirstie's spirited cha cha with Maksim Chmerkovskiy shamed many competitors half her age.

"I'm doing this as a challenge to see how far I can push myself physically and still live," Alley - dubbed "G" for "Grandma" by Maks - joked beforehand.

Whatever she did, the rest of the field is on notice after this:

DWTS Week One - Kirstie Alley & Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Despite some "weird" hand movements and a hairstyle modeled after Rod Blagojevich, Ralph Macchio raced to an early lead on Dancing With the Stars.

The Karate Kid star and partner Karina Smirnoff finished the first show with a total of 24 points, edging Kirstie Alley and Hines Ward for the top score.

Praised for "great showmanship" and technical merit, the 49-year-old actor shook off the rust to show he's a force to be reckoned with this season.

Ralph joked that he had to dust off muscles and movements that have been dormant for a quarter century. Looks like he's doing well thus far ...

DWTS Week One - Ralph Macchio & Karina Smirnoff

Hines Ward and the Pittsburgh Steelers recently lost the Super Bowl to Green Bay. The wide receiving great is not about to lose the Mirror Ball trophy next.

A fierce competitor in every facet of life, Ward is ready to take on DWTS - and he's not thinking about second or third place when he steps on the parquet.

Kym Johnson may have had no idea who he is or "what he does in football," but the two showed solid chemistry on the Dancing With the Stars premiere.

Notching a 21 in the cha-cha, Kym and Hines notched the third best score. “It feels good, especially for the first time,” Ward said. “But so nerve-wracking.”

Take a look at the NFL star's debut performance below ...

DWTS Week One - Hines Ward & Kym Johnson

The 12th season of Dancing With the Stars is underway, featuring what Tom Bergeron calls “the widest ranging collection of stars we’ve ever assembled.”

That's code for saying "there's no huge 'get' like Bristol Palin or Kate Gosselin this season, but get to know these folks and give them a chance! Please!"

We kid, but if that was what he meant, we obliged, and it was a pretty entertaining night overall. The surprise leader after this non-elimination round?

Yes, that's really The Karate Kid! And he's really in the lead!

Now 49, Ralph Macchio still has the moves. He had the technical merit and the showmanship to earn "best of the night" designation from Len. Not shabby.

Another relative old-timer, Kirstie Alley, 60, cha cha cha'd to Cee Lo Green's "Forget You" and landed both a high score and some jabs at her own expense.

"If I was a size zero and 22, it would be easier," she said, next to partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy, adding, "If you told me to haul ass, it would take two trips."

She impressed with "sizzle" nonetheless, while Disney star Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas won praise for a "fresh, young" dance and Hines Ward was "nimble."

Dancing With the Stars kicks off a brand-new season this evening.

Who do you think could go all the way? Which pair do you think may surprise people? Who has absolutely NO shot and who will stick around way too long?

Will Petra Nemcova win one for the tsunami survivors? Can Kendra make her latest reality show turn one to remember? Will Hines Ward cut block someone?

We'll recap the competition in detail tomorrow morning. For now, it's time to share your predictions as the pairings prepare to take the parquet tonight ...

Tell us who you think will hoist the Mirror Ball on DWTS:

Petra Nemcova nearly bailed on Dancing With the Stars, which begins next week. But the reason she almost quit is now the exact reason she's hanging in.

With the premiere days away, the supermodel - who barely survived the deadly Asian 2004 tsunami - is shaken up emotionally by last week's disaster in Japan.

"It's very hard to look ... at those videos," she told Access Hollywood.

"There's the famous saying 'six degrees of separation,' but when a natural disaster happens, there's no degree of separation. We are all connected."

Petra Nemcova has seen what a tsunami can do first hand.

In 2004, Nemcova spent eight hours clinging to a palm tree when deadly waves ravaged a Thai resort and claimed the life of her fiance, Simon Atlee.

After months of healing and learning how to walk again, she went back to Thailand to help - instead of going back to work in the fashion business.

She founded The Happy Hearts Foundation to aid children in the wake of natural disasters. She nearly left DWTS to devote herself entirely to it.

Instead, she'll be there when the premiere airs Monday - with the victims in mind.