Dancing With The Stars is shimmying its way to Disney Plus
The show is leaving ABC after thirty seasons this fall
Aux News Disney
Dancing With The Stars has somehow been around for 30 seasons on ABC. The show where celebrities compete to show who has the best moves has drummed up plenty of headlines over the years, from adding Carole Baskin to its list of “celebrity” dancers, to the very questionable move of having former Trump administration press secretary Sean Spicer shimmy to Spice Girls.
But, surprisingly, after a 16-year stint on the network, Dancing With The Stars is getting a new home: Disney Plus. Per Deadline, the series was picked up by the Disney streamer for seasons 31 and 32, premiering on Disney Plus this fall. Deadline also reports that Dancing With The Stars is “believed to be the first live streaming reality show in the U.S.,” with its move to Disney Plus.
While there’s bad news for whoever watches Dancing With The Stars and doesn’t have a Disney Plus login, there’s good news for those who wanted more football. There will be an additional, exclusive Monday Night Football game airing during that time slot, as part of ESPN’s contract with ABC.
ABC shared a statement on the decision, writing, “After over 30 seasons of the program on ABC, including two spin-offs, Dancing with the Stars will move off of ABC this fall in order for the Network to showcase several Monday Night Football games as well as develop and invest in new and future programming.”
This news also comes after a source told The Sun that producers were concerned over the show’s low ratings last year. The anonymous source close to the production said, “Sure headline makers are in there, but it just hasn’t as yet captured the public. Sometimes these things take time and other times the contestants do not resonate or connect to audiences.”
13 Comments
Huh. I assume it will be commercial-free, then? That would be an improvement. Now, if they can get rid of Tyra Banks and, preferably, bring Tom back to host that would be great.
Assuming the rumors are true, Tom’s pegged to be hosting the revival of Tic Tac Dough.
Yes! Finally, a new place to never watch this on!
As soon as one or two shows from ABC’s fall lineup tank, they’ll stick it back on the air, simulcast with Disney+, just like TBS shows less-successful HBO Max programming now.
pretty sure it came out in 2002-20 years., 30 years would be 1992, and it wasnt on then was it?
They do multiple seasons per year.
Everyone call your mom to let them know! 🙂
I doubt ABC was willing to give this up. DWTS is the network’s 3rd-highest rated primetime show, only behind both the Sunday and Monday airings of American Idol. Sure, MNF will do really well for them, but it’s only a few select games, IIRC, and that only airs in the winter.
To put things into perspective, the only scripted shows ABC has that do as well as DWTS in terms of pure viewers are Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy, though Goldbergs, The Connors, and Abbott’s Elementary do decently well in the 18-49 demo, at least.
They’ve been playing fast and loose with the term “Stars” for a long time; I suspect that might have something to do with the declining ratings. That said, the demographics for DWTS and Disney+ don’t seem to have a lot of overlap.
I think it’s just diminishing returns. Personally, once the first episode of the season is over, I don’t think the “stars” part matters. It’s then down to who are the best dancers, regardless of stardom.
On the one hand: meh.On the other hand: given its new home, if it starts booking Stars like Bill Farmer and April Winchell, I might give it a shot.
Who?
Bill Farmer’s main role over the past 30+ years has been Goofy, though he’s performed quite a few other characters and even appeared in some cheesy action flick called Robocop. The AV Club interviewed him for a Random Roles a few years back, but I can’t even past the link in this comment apparently, so you’ll have to use a search engine to find it.April Winchell, daughter of ventriloquist/actor/comedian/inventor/etc. Paul Winchell, is one of my favorite voice actors working today, though she hasn’t had a standout role like Farmer’s Goofy. Her most prominent recent role has been as Sylvia from Wander Over Yonder; she’s also the current voice for Clarabelle Cow.What I’m saying is, if they turn DwtS into a hardcore Disney-centric property to give some airtime to people normally working behind the camera, that’ll get my attention.