If you follow me on Twitter or read the DWTS 2016 Fan Blog, then you are probably a huge fan of Dancing With the Stars. DWTS has brought entertainment to our living rooms twice a year for nearly eleven years now. It makes you think. . . how much longer will this show actually last?
But let’s not jump too far. DWTS is a ratings powerhouse. Disney makes millions from this ABC show alone, and have already renewed it for a twenty-third season.This show has even been adapted into countless other versions of the program, airing in over fifty countries around the world.
However, not everything that glitters is gold. TV shows get canceled for a multitude of reasons, but the most prevalent reason, especially on channels such as ABC and FOX, is due to a lack of views. Dancing With the Stars has had a fair share of views, though, receiving a massive viewing audience of 24.14 million on the season 11 finale alone. The show still gets a fair amount of views, having 13.49 million viewers for the most recent season finale of the show, but the ratings drop practically every season. Dancing With the Stars has not seen a viewing count in the 20 millions since 2011, and it will probably never reach that number ever again.
And let’s be honest. Haven’t you ever talked about Dancing With the Stars with someone, and they reply saying, “you still watch that show? I didn’t even know they still made it anymore!” And every DWTS fan is aware that the show has become “that show with all the D-list celebrities,” which is true, even though the superfans don’t really care if the “celebrities” are famous or not. But most viewers of the show are not exactly what I would call superfans. But I digress. It is extremely hard and exceptionally expensive to get even B-list celebrities on the show, but I guess DWTS has enough money to burn, especially with the relatively low production costs. The biggest issue with getting celebrities on DWTS is that most of them just don’t want to do it. Most popular celebrities are way too busy to even consider going on the show, and others just do not care about getting on the dancer floor, which is why so many “has-been” celebrities and so-called “nobodies” are casted. It’s all because Dancing With the Stars has become the show that revives careers and make celebrities out of people that we have only heard of due to their association with more famous people.
But let’s pretend the show was able to Kim Kardashian and Barack Obama themselves on air. Then what? The show has to be able to keep everything interesting in order to keep new viewers’ interest. Sure, we superfans wouldn’t mind seeing just raw dancing, but even plain ballroom can get a bit repetitive overtime. DWTS has to spice things some more. We can already see the producers reusing songs, concepts, and challenges constantly, which really makes you think, are they running out of ideas? They can do the Switch-Up Challenge as many times as they want, but that gimmick wears off eventually.
But let’s look at the show compared to others. We see shows on channels such as CBS that have been on air since the early 2000s and still top the charts with their views, but even those shows have had drops in ratings. Or how about American Idol? The final season of American Idol had more than 13 million views for its series finale, and yet that was the last we saw of that show. So why did it end? Well first of all, in the eyes of the non-super fans, there’s only so much you can do with a singing competition, right? Same goes with dancing. But personally, I think the recurring factor in why reality competition shows like American Idol and Dancing With the Stars ends is because it departs too much from its original season. What did American Idol depart from? The original judging panel. Without a stable judging panel, there tends not to be as much common ground between seasons that people like.
We all know that Len Goodman isn’t sticking around on the judging panel permanently. And who knows if Julianne Hough will be back? Dancing With the Stars has lasted so long with its original three judges (with the exception of season 21), which kept the DWTS family somewhat “whole.” And some goes for the hosts, but I don’t think neither Tom nor Erin are going anywhere anytime soon. But even the professional dancers matter in terms of the audience’s attentiveness. With Derek gone this season on DWTS, I have been receiving constant tweets about how the show isn’t the same anymore without him. So now the question is. . . how many “Dereks” are left on the show?
Personally, I think Dancing With the Stars only has a few years left before some other show steals its spotlight. It’s not like shows such as Big Brother and Survivor where normal people get to do various things in unique situations. DWTS is just about dancing. Don’t get me wrong, I am obviously obsessed with Dancing WIth the Stars, but I don’t think the fanbase of the show is what it used to be. All that’s guaranteed now is the Autumn season this year.That’s it. But that doesn’t mean other versions of the show will end right away, or even that dance shows in general will fall off the face of the Earth. That doesn’t even mean that DWTS will end anytime soon. Who knows? Maybe the show will be around when America has its one hundredth president. Or maybe the show won’t able to find any celebrities to participate, so they will pack up their Latin heels.
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I think DWTS has at least a few more seasons in it. It's never had major celebrities as contestants (though some like Kim Kardashian and probably Zendaya in the near future have gone on to become such) and lot of the pros themselves have become celebrities in their own right. Derek and Julianne are the biggest examples but others are pretty prominent as well (the Maks/Peta engagement made the cover of People magazine). I know ratings and/or views have been steadily declining but that's the case with all of television right now.
ReplyDeleteBottom line, DWTS is still a Top 10 show so between that and the relatively low production costs I think it's safe for now. What may be concerning is that I've noticed a shift they've recently made towards trying to attract a younger audience which has brought in some new viewers, but as long as they don't scare the main demographic off they should be fine unless a major change makes it fall quickly, like if they bring on a new permanent judge people don't like (*coughMakscough*).
I think you are completely right. What production decides to do has a large impact on the show's ratings.
ReplyDeleteAnd I totally forgot about Kim Kardashian being on the show. I messed up in my blog, LOL. But the point about her being on the show now still stands. Haha.