ABC announced this week that instead of the usual pre-filmed announcement of the new cast of Dancing with the Stars, hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke will hold a live news conference, with actual reporters in attendance, on August 30 to reveal the dance show's season 11 cast. The broadcast--scheduled for August 30 during a two-hour episode of Bachelor Pad--will also include a Q&A with the cast, though it's unclear whether we'll see that portion on air or online the next day.

I'll be the first to admit that we certainly do consider the cast reveal to be news around these parts. But a "news conference," Dancing with the Stars? That's how seriously you take yourself, glittery dance competition show that stars B- and C-list celebrities? Your ratings may give you license to pull such a stunt, seeing that they were at their highest last season (though we probably have Kate Gosselin to thank for that) but a news conference still sounds like a little much--unless, of course, you've got at least one massively "OMG"-worthy celeb ready to pull out of your hat for season 11. Is that what you're trying to tell us with this scheduled pageantry--that you're about to unveil a truly unmissable cast of ballroom misfits?

Which brings me to my point at hand. News conference or no--but especially because you're setting this season's tone with a news conference--the rumors that you are going to cast Bachelorette-no-more Ali Fedotowsky and her TV-found fiance Roberto Martinez are troubling. Casting these two on what could be--and what you seem to want us to think will be--your biggest Dancing season yet is just a flat-out bad idea, and a waste of two spots that would go to better use with pretty much any other star in them. Here's why.

1. They're not actual stars. This is the most common argument against casting reality contestants on shows that purport to cast "celebrities." And while one could easily make the argument that this is just our culture now--that the do-nothing Hills girls sit on the same level as working actors as "stars," and that's just the way it is--that argument doesn't quite hold up with Bachelor stars.

Sure, Ali and Roberto covered US Weekly and People pretty much every week for the last couple months, and we all know them well enough that I didn't even have to write their last names in my headline. But Bachelor fame is fleeting, because all your public interest is tied down to whether you found love or got dumped. There are exceptions, but in general, when it comes to The Bachelor, as soon as you're off the show, no one cares anymore.

2. Speaking of exceptions--we've seen some of those on Dancing with the Stars. The only other former Bachelor stars to make the DWTS cast were Jake Pavelka, Trista Rehn and Melissa Rycroft, all of whom had some sort of residual tabloid interest or unique angle about them. Jake had just picked a fiancee most of the world despised, and we all tuned in to watch Vienna's saccharine smile in the audience as he danced with another girl. Trista was the first Bachelorette--which put her enough on the map for DWTS season 1, but still wasn't enough to keep her around past week 1. Even the biggest Bachelor news-maker to date, Melissa Rycroft, only joined the cast as an injury replacement, and likely only survived so long because of her innate dancing talents (that, and she's just so damn likable).

But Ali and Roberto have none of that interest going for them. They're happy, congenial and averse to post-show tabloid scandal. Their constant refrain is "We're a normal couple!"--and we believe it. They're boring.

3. Couples-casting is cheesy. If we simply must compromise, DWTS: Sure, go ahead and cast Ali. But casting both of these lovebirds and then separating them is just a promise to viewers that we will have to sit through untold weeks of cutesy couple "smack talk" and inevitable cheating rumors with their sexy pro partners. And they wouldn't even take it far enough to make that entertaining because, like we said, they're boring. While Ali and Roberto are super-sweet together, splitting them up as "stars" and turning their involvement into some sort of "Bachelor Fiance Showdown" would be forced and corny and distract from the elements of the show that we really love: Watching the actual stars, in all their wacky, ego-maniacal, stubborn and uncoordinated glory, try to dance.

For all I know, the rumor of Ali and Roberto's casting on Dancing with the Stars season 11 is just that. A rumor. But hosting this "news conference" during Bachelor Pad suggests another DWTS-Bachelor crossover, and this season's happy couple is really the only option for such a crossover. (Plus, it's not like anyone has gone out of their way to denounce the rumor.)

So when Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke get up to their fancy news conference podium (in a couple of fancy power suits, with a fancy DWTS-emblazoned flag hanging in the background) and announce Ali and Roberto as part of the season 11 cast, they also better have about 10 jaw-droppingly awesome names of actual stars to justify the filler--and all the freaking pomp.

Who might those other stars be? Well, we have our ideas. What are yours?

(Image courtesy of ABC)