Dancing with the Stars (US TV series)
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| Dancing with the Stars | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Reality |
| Running time | 60-90 minutes (Live) |
| Creator(s) | BBC Entertainment |
| Starring | Hosts: Tom Bergeron Samantha Harris (2006-) Lisa Canning (2005)Judges:  Len Goodman Carrie Ann Inaba Bruno Tonioli |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | June 1, 2005–present |
| Official website | |
Dancing with the Stars is a reality show airing on ABC in the United States. The show is based on the British BBC TV series Strictly Come Dancing and is part of the international Dancing with the Stars franchise.
The concept of the show is to pair a celebrity with a professional dancer in an attempt to win a high score from a panel of three judges and then a high number of votes from the viewers, who can call in and vote online. The person who receives the lowest score is eliminated, but they are allowed to dance one last dance at the end of the show.
The current co-hosts are Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris. In season 1, Bergeron's co-host was Lisa Canning. The panel of judges is Len Goodman (head judge), Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli. Harold Wheeler is the musical director. The announcements for the show's titles and introductions for dances and judges' scores were recorded in the United Kingdom by Alan Dedicoat.
Contents |
[edit] Season 1
The American ABC Network adaptation premiered on June 1, 2005, to over 13 million viewers, the biggest summer debut ever for an American reality series. The second week climbed to 15 million viewers, and the show climbed to #1 in the ratings, where it remained for the remainder of the summer 2005 TV season. The contestants were:
- Evander Holyfield (heavyweight boxer) - partner Edyta Sliwinska (eliminated second)
- Rachel Hunter (model) - partner Jonathan Roberts (eliminated third)
- Joey McIntyre (singer and actor) - partner Ashly DelGrosso (eliminated fourth)
- Kelly Monaco (actress) – partner Alec Mazo (winners)
- John O'Hurley (actor and TV host) - partner Charlotte Jørgensen (runners-up)
- Trista Rehn Sutter (The Bachelor contestant and the Bachelorette in series one) - partner Louis van Amstel (eliminated first)
Some viewers felt the outcome of the show was unfair, as half the winning points came from the judges' votes, instead of solely from the votes of viewers, and Monaco and Mazo had received a "perfect 10" from each of the judges that night (this view reflected a misunderstanding of the scoring system; in fact, because the scoring was based on ordinals and the audience vote was the tiebreaker, Monaco and Mazo must have received more audience votes). In response to the criticism, ABC announced a 90-minute special, Dancing with the Stars: Dance-off, a rematch between Monaco and O'Hurley (with their respective partners), to air September 20, 2005, at the beginning of the fall 2005 television season. The winner, determined solely by fan votes, was announced in a September 22 results show. This time, O'Hurley and his dance partner Charlotte emerged as the winners.
Evander Holyfield and Rachel Hunter appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, the British version of Dancing with the Stars, in a special Christmas 2005 competition. Both were eliminated during the first two rounds.
The success of Dancing with the Stars quickly inspired a similar show from the Fox Broadcasting Company entitled Skating with Celebrities (based on another British show, Dancing on Ice, from ITV). (Another dance show, So You Think You Can Dance, an RTL Group contest featuring unknown aspiring dancers, was already set to air before Dancing with the Stars premiered.)
[edit] Judges' Scoring summary
Bold scores indicate the highest for that week. Italics indicate the lowest.
| Team | Week 1 June 1 |
Week 2 June 8 |
Week 3 June 15 |
Week 4 June 22 |
Week 5 June 29 |
Week 6 July 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monaco/Mazo | 13 | 17 | 21 | 26 | 22+25=47 | 25+30=55 |
| O'Hurley/Jørgensen | 17 | 26 | 24 | 21 | 27+27=54 | 27+27=54 |
| McIntyre/DelGrosso | 20 | 21 | 22 | 20 | 20+25=45 | |
| Hunter/Roberts | 20 | 24 | 26 | 25 | ||
| Holyfield/Sliwinska | 18 | 14 | 13 | |||
| Sutter/van Amstel | 18 | 19 | ||||
[edit] Season 2
Season two (premiered January 5, 2006) expanded from six couples to ten. Celebrity participants were:
- Tia Carrere, actress/model - partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy (eliminated fifth)
- Giselle Fernández, journalist - partner Jonathan Roberts (eliminated third)
- George Hamilton, actor - partner Edyta Sliwinska (eliminated sixth)
- Drew Lachey, singer (and former 98 Degrees member) - partner Cheryl Burke (winners)
- Stacy Keibler, actress and former WWE professional wrestler - partner Tony Dovolani (third place)
- Kenny Mayne, ESPN sports anchorman - partner Andrea Hale (eliminated first)
- Master P, rapper/entrepreneur - partner Ashly DelGrosso (eliminated fourth) (Master P replaced son Lil' Romeo after a basketball injury that occurred before the season's premiere)
- Tatum O'Neal, Oscar-winning actress - partner Nick Kosovich (eliminated second)
- Jerry Rice, NFL wide receiver - partner Anna Trebunskaya (second place)
- Lisa Rinna, actress/TV host - partner Louis van Amstel (eliminated seventh)
In many ways the second series cast was similarly assembled to that of the first season: Both had a retired athlete (Holyfield/Rice), an ex-boy band member (McIntyre/Lachey), a model (Hunter/Carerre), a soap star (Monaco/Rinna), and a debonair older man (Hurley/Hamilton).
The second season expanded the series from an hour to ninety minutes, and added an hour-long results show the following night (in the first season no couples were eliminated in the first week; the first couple was eliminated at the end of the second episode, the second couple at the end of the third episode, and so on). Two couples were declared safe in an earlier portion of the show, the remaining couples were then named off until only the bottom two were left (the last two couples had the lowest amount of votes, with the exception of week seven, where the show explicitly stated that the order of all but the eliminated couple was random).
Musical guests such as the Pussycat Dolls, Jesse McCartney, Natasha Bedingfield, Michael Buble, Bill Medley, Burt Bacharach, Mary J. Blige and Barry Manilow performed while the professional dancers demonstrated various routines. In week four the results show introduced an encore of what the judges considered the previous night's best routine - twice going to Drew Lachey (the paso doble in week four and the rumba in week seven), once to Stacy Keibler (the samba in week five) and once to Rinna (the quickstep in week six).
In the second season, Drew Lachey and Stacy Keibler were considered the early frontrunners, as both had solid early performances, and some prior dance experience: Lachey's stage performances with 98 Degrees were extensively choreographed, and Keibler had childhood dance training as well as being a professional cheerleader. Although both Keibler and Lachey were assumed to have some form of a fan base, there was no way of knowing whether 98 Degrees fans or WWE fans were responsible for their success - Drew credited the people of Cincinnati, Ohio for helping him stay in the competition). Lachey was lauded for his passion and willingness to take risks, and Keibler for her long legs and technical perfection. With regards to the judges' scoring, in nearly every week, Lachey and Keibler held the top two spots in the judges' scoring (either first-second or tied for first). In addition, Lachey and Keibler were the only dancers in season 2 to receive a perfect score (Keibler four, Lachey three), and have three of the four "encore" performances (Lachey twice, Keibler once). In week seven, Stacy and Tony became the first couple in series history to receive two 30s in a row. Drew and Cheryl were always among the top two highest scores and along with Jerry Rice and Anna Trebunskaya, were the only couple to never be chosen for the bottom two. The judges repeatedly told Keibler and Lachey that they were the best or among the best dancers in any of the international versions of the series.
[edit] Controversies over fan voting
Once again, fans accounted for half of the vote total. This was in part responsible for the extended presence of Master P, who had the worst average of any dancer ever (He is currently the only dancer to receive a score under 10) and refused to wear dance shoes. But in spite of harsh criticism from some of the judges, he stayed for several weeks. It was also revealed that by the fourth week of competition, Master P had only logged in 20 hours of dance training (other stars had logged in 100 hours by week 4). His continued presence was attributed to his strong fan base, as well as fans who saw him as the underdog or who wanted to "vote for the worst". After the surprise departure of Giselle Fernández and low scores (a total of just 8 points for his final dance - the lowest score in the history of the series) from the judges, he was finally eliminated.
Jerry Rice also benefited from the fan vote. In the closing weeks of the competition, the judges became increasingly critical of Rice, and although they acknowledged that he continued to put great effort in his performances, they felt he no longer deserved to be there. Rice and his outspoken partner Trebunskaya rebutted those criticisms, and the fan vote sided with them, ensuring Rice never placed in the bottom two (until the final three). In week seven, in a matter of some controversy, Rice advanced to the finals, and Lisa Rinna (whom the judges and some viewers felt was a superior dancer to Rice) was eliminated. However, in the final three dances, the judges began to admire Rice's effort and his scores improved, though he still lagged behind both Lachey and Keibler. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that lines for voting were open at the beginning of the show and Rice danced first during many of the shows airings.
[edit] Second Series finale
Week seven of season two saw two dances per couple. The judges' scores for week seven were combined for a total possible score of 60. Lachey and Burke garnered perfect scores and much buzz, especially for their cowboy-inspired freestyle. Jerry Rice and his dance partner, Anna Trebunskaya, garnered a score of 26 for the replay of their foxtrot and 27 points for their disco-inspired free routine, outscoring Keibler and Dovolani's free dance by a single point. Keibler, on the other hand, received praise for her jive, but criticism for an underwhelming Saturday Night Fever-esque freestyle. In the final round, Keibler and Dovolani had to choreograph a new samba routine as their final dance of the season. Keibler blamed her performance on an ankle injury, but proved unbreakable to the end with a perfect score (despite the fact she took third place). Following the finale, when asked if Stacy deserved just 3rd place, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli both concurred: Stacy should have at least been honored as the runner-up.
The two scores from the week eight finale were combined with the score from the final show for a total possible score of 90. All of the previously eliminated contestants were on hand for the second series finale. Keibler received a 30 and Rice and Lachey a 27 for their final dances. However, in a decision that surprised some viewers, Keibler was the first performer to be eliminated. Even Kenny Mayne - who was the first overall to be eliminated - was critical of Keibler's elimination, blurting out as he was interviewed by Bergeron, "Well, we just eliminated a girl with a perfect score!"
Due to the complex scoring system, many viewers suspected that the only way Jerry Rice could have won was if he had been in the final two with Keibler.
Sure enough, at the end of the finale, Lachey and Burke won what he had jokingly termed the "ugly" trophy, with Rice playfully attempting to steal the prize as the closing credits rolled.
Season two improved upon the ratings performance of the first season, generating tens of millions of viewers and holding its own against or beating such competition as Survivor, American Idol, and the 2006 Winter Olympics. The finale brought in an audience of 27 million viewers.
[edit] Judges' Scoring summary
Bold scores indicate the highest for that week. Italics indicate the lowest score. * implies that dancers were in the bottom two (or bottom three in the case of week two).
| Team | Week 1 Jan. 5 |
Week 2 Jan. 12 |
Week 3 Jan. 19 |
Week 4 Jan. 26 |
Week 5 Feb. 2 |
Week 6 Feb. 9 |
Week 7 Feb. 16 |
Week 8 & Finals Feb. 23 & 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lachey/Burke | 24 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 30 | 26+29=55 | 30+30+27=87 |
| Rice/Trebunskaya | 21 | 23 | 19 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 20+21=41 | 26+27+27=80 |
| Keibler/Dovolani | 22 | 29 | 27 | 26 | 30 | 30 | 27+28=55* | 30+26+30=86 |
| Rinna/van Amstel | 19 | 20 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 27* | 26+27=53 | |
| Hamilton/Sliwinska | 18 | 22 | 22* | 21 | 24* | 23 | ||
| Carrere/Chmerkovskiy | 20* | 22 | 26 | 25* | 22 | |||
| Master P/DelGrosso | 12 | 16* | 14 | 8* | ||||
| Fernández/Roberts | 23 | 24 | 22* | |||||
| O'Neal/Kosovich | 23 | 17* | ||||||
| Mayne/Hale | 13* | |||||||
[edit] Season 3
Season three (premiered September 12, 2006) expanded from ten couples to eleven. Celebrity participants are:
- Tucker Carlson, political pundit/MSNBC news anchor – partner Elena Grinenko (eliminated first)
- Monique Coleman, actress - partner Louis van Amstel (eliminated seventh)
- Sara Evans, singer - partner Tony Dovolani (withdrew during sixth week)
- Willa Ford, singer - partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy (eliminated fifth)
- Vivica A. Fox, actress – partner Nick Kosovich (eliminated fourth)
- Harry Hamlin, actor – partner Ashly DelGrosso (eliminated third)
- Joey Lawrence, actor – partner Edyta Sliwinska (eliminated eighth)
- Mario Lopez, actor/TV host – partner Karina Smirnoff (runners-up)
- Shanna Moakler, beauty queen/reality television star - partner Jesse DeSoto (eliminated second)
- Emmitt Smith, NFL running back – partner Cheryl Burke (winners)
- Jerry Springer, talk show host/former politician – partner Kym Johnson (former champion of Australian version of Dancing with the Stars) (eliminated sixth)
- As part of Slim Fast Dance Challenge: Tysonia Sichinga and Christian Perry
For this season, the scoring system has been changed. Fan vote still accounts for half of the total score, but scoring is now translated directly from percentages rather than into ordinals. The judges scores are added up, and each performer is given points based on the percentage of the total points distributed among all performers. (For example, a team receives a score of 25. A total of 207 points were awarded to all nine performers. The team received 12.08% of that total, so that team earned 12.08 points.) The fan vote is handled the same way, with the points based on how much of the total fan vote the star received. (So, in the same example, if the team earned 15% of the total fan vote, their grand total is 27.08 points.) [1]
[edit] Evans' withdrawal
On October 12, 2006 Sara Evans announced her withdrawal from the competition to be with her kids after filing for divorce from her husband, Craig Schelske.[2] In a "final appearance",[3] a pre-taped interview with Evans about her decision was shown on the October 17 episode.
Willa Ford stated on Headline News' Robin & Company that ABC had invited her to return to the competition, but she declined.[4] At the end of the October 18 results show, after showing the bottom two, it was revealed that there would be no elimination for the week due to Evans' departure.[5] The scores of Week 6 were combined with the scores of Week 7 for the October 25 elimination. During the October 17 interview, Evans said that she expects to return for the finale.
[edit] Fan voting influence
On weeks four and five Ford and Fox were eliminated, despite Ford having tied in first place, and Fox tied in fourth. Ford was in the bottom two along with Springer, who was tied for the lowest score. Fox was in the bottom two along with Coleman, who both performed great the previous week and tied for fourth that week. Ford's elimination was booed by the audience, and so was Fox's. This extends the theme similar to last season where dancers with higher scores were often eliminated before ones that tended to get lower scores and also had more popularity with the fan vote. Both Evans and Springer benefited from the fan vote until Evans withdrew in week 6 and Springer was finally eliminated in week 7.
[edit] Judges' Scoring summary
Bold scores indicate the highest for that round. Italic scores indicate lowest. * signifies the couples that were in the bottom 3 of week 1 or bottom 2 of weeks 2 through 7. There was no official bottom 2 after week 7 (except the final.)
| Team | Week 1 Sept. 12 |
Week 2 Sept. 19 |
Week 3 Sept. 26 |
Week 4 Oct. 3 |
Week 5 Oct. 10 |
Weeks 6 & 7 | Week 8 Oct. 31 |
Week 9 Nov. 7 |
Week 10 Nov. 14 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 17 | Oct. 24 | Total | |||||||||
| Smith/Burke | 24 | 24 | 19 | 24 | 27 | 25 | 28+29=57 | 82 | 25+29=54 | 29+30=59 | 30+30+29=89 |
| Lopez/Smirnoff | 26 | 21 | 22 | 29 | 27 | 28 | 29+27=56 | 84 | 28+29=57 | 30+29=59 | 29+30+30=89 |
| Lawrence/Sliwinska | 21 | 29 | 22 | 27 | 25 | 24* | 29+28=57 | 81 | 28+26=54 | 29+30=59 | |
| Coleman/van Amstel | 19 | 26 | 27 | 24* | 27 | 23 | 27+27=54 | 77* | 24+29=53 | ||
| Springer/Johnson | 16 | 19 | 21* | 22 | 24* | 18* | 24+22=46 | 64* | |||
| Evans/Dovolani | 15 | 21 | 25 | 20 | 24 | WD | |||||
| Ford/Chmerkovskiy | 22* | 23* | 22 | 28 | 27* | ||||||
| Fox/Kosovich | 22 | 24 | 27 | 24* | |||||||
| Hamlin/DelGrosso | 17 | 21 | 22* | ||||||||
| Moakler/DeSoto | 18* | 22* | |||||||||
| Carlson/Grinenko | 12* | ||||||||||
WD = Evans and Dovolani withdrew October 13 after Evans filed divorce proceedings. As a result, there was no elimination in Week 6.
[edit] U.S. Television Ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Dancing With The Stars on ABC.
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
| Season | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Timeslot | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Viewers (in millions) |
Date | Viewers (in millions) |
|||||
| 1st | June 1, 2005 | 13.48 | July 6, 2005 | 22.36 | 2004-2005 | Wednesday 9:00PM | n/a | 16.80 |
| 2nd | January 5, 2006 | 17.46 | Part 1: February 23, 2006 | 17.70 | 2005-2006 | Thursday 8:00PM (dance show) |
#6 | 18.57 |
| Part 2: February 26, 2006 | 27.23 | Friday 8:00PM (results show) |
#18 | 14.81 | ||||
| 3rd | September 12, 2006 | 20.06[6] | Part 1: November 14, 2006 | 26.80 | 2006-2007 | Tuesday 8:00PM (dance show) |
||
| Part 2: November 15, 2006 | 27.29 | Wednesday 8:00PM (results show) |
||||||
The show's first season is not ranked because it aired in the summer of 2005. Assuming it would have the same viewing numbers from the summer, if it did air within the 2004-2005 official television season, it would have ranked #11.
10.9 million viewers tuned into the September 20, 2005 dance-off while just over 10.4 million watched the September 22, 2005 results show.
Dancing With The Stars was the most-watched Thursday night program on ABC since Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2000 and the most-watched Thursday 8 p.m. series on ABC since Mork & Mindy in 1979. In its second season, it attracted similarly high viewing numbers compared to its timeslot competitor, CBS' Survivor: Panama - Exile Island.
The first part of the series' second season finale aired on Thursday, February 23, 2006. The other programs airing opposite Dancing With The Stars (14.8 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.) were: the 2006 Winter Olympics ladies' figure skating finals on NBC (17.7 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.), an episode of CBS' Survivor: Panama - Exile Island (14.8 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.), and a results show during the fifth season of FOX's American Idol (23.5 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9:02 p.m.).[7]
[edit] U.S. Tour
On the October 25, 2006, results show, Dancing with the Stars – The Tour (based on another British BBC show, Strictly Dance Fever) was announced, featuring stars and dancers from U.S. seasons 1-3. The tour is planned to perform in 38 cities and is scheduled to begin in San Diego on December 19, 2006, and end in Atlantic City on February 11, 2007. The pairs set for the tour are:
- Joey McIntyre and Kym Johnson
- Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke
- Lisa Rinna and Louis Van Amstel
- Joey Lawrence and Edyta Sliwinska
- Willa Ford and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
- Harry Hamlin and Karina Smirnoff
[edit] Trivia
[edit] Scoring and voting procedure
After each performance, the judges comment, and then after they give a score; A perfect score would be 30/30. With multiple performances, the scores would all be added at the end of the program. Their scores are totaled with the tallying of viewer votes. Unlike other reality shows such as American Idol, Canadians can also vote in this program. Cheryl Burke became the first person to win Dancing with the Stars twice, in season two, with Drew Lachey and season three, with Emmitt Smith.
[edit] See also
- Strictly Come Dancing (original BBC version)
- Dancing with the Stars (Australia)
- Pants-Off Dance-Off
- So You Think You Can Dance
- Skating With Celebrities
[edit] Notes
- ^ Scoring and elimination procedure for Dancing with the Stars, Season 3
- ^ http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061013/ENTERTAINMENT06/61013002
- ^ http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1545889,00.html
- ^ http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/willa-ford-declines-fill-sara-evans-dancing-with-stars-shoes-4379.php
- ^ http://abcmedianet.com/shared/ams/assets/both/2006/010/16/101606_19.html
- ^ Primetime Tuesday Ratings: ABC's Dancing With the Stars Explodes Out of the Gate
- ^ Variety.com: 'Idol,' Olympics top Thursday
