‘Dancing with the Stars’ season 18 preview: Is there life left in the competition?
Tomorrow night marks the premiere of “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC, but have you really heard that many people who are excited about it? Despite having a new co-host in Erin Andrews and the return of Maksim Chmerkovskiy as a pro partner, there isn’t still very much here that rings the bell of excitement.
So why isn’t there more buzz? We think of it being along the lines of the fact that almost twenty seasons in, very little has changed. It is the same competition year in and year out with the same judges, and it is hard to do something that has not been done before. Even some of the elements that many viewers enjoyed are now gone. No longer is there a results show on Tuesday night, and there is not even the same backup band performing with the contestants that there once was. Ray Chew may have some experience on “American Idol,” but he is no Harold Wheeler.
We predict the ratings being the weakest that they have been to date this spring, but even this may still not cause the show to be canceled. Why is that? We see there being one more move that ABC could try to save the show, and one that would be reasonably smart: Only airing the program once a year. This works with the British counterpart “Strictly Come Dancing,” and it could definitely work here for this show. This allows for there to be a better crop of contestants, and not just a show where you are familiar with around half of the overall contestant pool.
One other interesting move we could see the network considering in the future? Moving “The Bachelor” to the fall and “The Bachelorette” to the spring, and then airing this show in the summer. This is where it first started, and “Dancing with the Stars” has shown itself to be a program that still does very well when it doesn’t have to deal with “The Voice.” That is what has killed the franchise the most in recent years.
Do you think that there is still life left in “Dancing with the Stars”? Share some of your thoughts below! Also, click here if you want to grab some more news courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter.
Photo: ABC