When viewers would rather watch a 50-year-old piece of felt than another over-sequined Dancing With the Stars finale, you know something’s wrong.
Last November, the dancing competition was trounced in the ratings by the holiday special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. So no surprise that when Dancing returns for Season 18 tonight, you’ll notice things are cha-cha-cha-changing.
First, Erin Andrews replaces co-host Brooke Burke-Charvet. Bandleader Ray Chew replaces Harold Wheeler and there’s a new twist, The Switch Up — viewers get to change the celebrity and pro pairings.
As for the celebs, we’ll see Candace Cameron Bure, Drew Carey, Billy Dee Williams and others trip the light fantastic — or in more unfortunate cases, just plain trip. Plus for the first time, the premiere will open with a number starring all the pros; singer Jason Derulo also pops by.
For a while now, Dancing has been more flat-footed than footloose. Last season, the show dropped from two nights a week to one. And in Canada, parent company Bell Media switched Dancing’s network from CTV (its largest) to CTV Two, then to M3 for first-run episodes.
Still, Dancing can justify shuffling around on our screens. Though the show is far from its heyday, last season averaged about 15 million U.S. viewers each week.
The question is: how long will we be willing to stick with dance shows? So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing’s closest kin, only brought about four million viewers for its most recent finale.
For now, Dancing has another chance — and ABC hopes its kick-ball-changes are enough.
News Source:
www.o.canada.com
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