New judges? Worse dancers? A new report claims some major changes are coming to ABC’s former ratings giant.
Is ABC planning to shake things up on the dance floor? According to a report from the New York Post, a sharp drop in ratings for the Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars finale — down nearly three million viewers from last year’s ender — is causing the powers-that-be to rethink what makes the show tick.
“The show needs a total makeover,” a show insider tells the Post, suggesting there may only be one cycle per year from now on. A more drastic possibility, the same insider suggests, would be to change some of the judges around. Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tunioli currently fill those seats on the panel.
DWTS may also focus on recruiting celebrities purely for entertainment, even if they have two left feet.
“Turns out people didn’t want to see people who could dance,” Disney CFO Jay Rasulo said this week at a financial conference in NYC. ”They wanted people who couldn’t dance.”
(I hate to admit that could be true, but hey, remember how people obsessed over that fox-trotting train wreck Kate Gosselin?)
The show is scheduled to return for its 16th season in March, and an ABC rep tells HollywoodLife.com, ”No official decision has been made for fall, but we certainly expect the show to return.”
If you were to give DWTS a facelift, what would you change? The judges? The dancers? Drop a comment with your prescription for bringing ABC’s once-ratings smash back to its former glory.
— Andy Swift
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wacoalan
Posted at 2:55 AM on January 20, 2013
….i want a fourth judge! One that does not know how to dance and scores it by how the dance made them feel and were entertained. MY vote for that Judge would be Carson Kressley,. Loved him so much on his short run. I love the judges but think it is not complete. More please of the not so ballroom dancing the bollywood and other dances that are not the norm was great. I believe dancing is like singing it is a personal interpretation of something making it different and entertaining. Every size, shape and talent level should be used. I disagreed many times with the judges but as a viewer it is my job to tell them by voting for the one that i loved.