DWTS Premiere Date Set, Who’s Coming Back…and More Nick Viall Rumors

Whole lot to talk about in this interview with one of the executive producers of DWTS and Jessica Radloff of Glamour.  First, she drops a date of March 20th – something I don’t think we officially knew before now.  Then there’s this:

Season 24, especially, is going to be a big one. The show is celebrating its 400th episode, and producers are promising lots of nostalgia. “We will do something for it,” executive producer Joe Sungkur tells us. That’s not the only thing to look forward to: Sungkur also revealed that one fan favorite will definitely be back (though another will definitely not be returning). “As an overall for the season, we will bring back favorite themes, [inject] some new ideas, but also stick to what’s working so well. And we hope for romance in the air! Whenever there is romance, there’s a smile on our face.”

So dude just ADMITTED that they hope and pray (and plot and manipulate) to get some romance on the show. GAG me! This is a dance show! No more fauxmance!! Especially not if Val is one of the parties involved. He’s done enough damage with that routine. This pisses me off and we haven’t even gotten started yet. Anyway…

Speaking of romance, this season’s Bachelor—Nick Viall—may get the opportunity to show off his dance moves beyond his next one-on-one date. During my interview with the producers at ABC’s Television Critics Association winter press tour, the Wisconsin native dropped in our conversation and seemed to be very friendly with DWTS EPs Rob Wade, Deena Katz, and Sungkur. How friendly? Well, talks could already be happening (but more on that below).

Of course Nick was there, but I suspect this is just him sucking up and still trying to get a spot. He was there for the Bachelor and saw an opportunity. But you never know! All depends on how strong the rest of their cast is.

Looks like they’re hoping Julianne will be back and they’re working on her – but the very definitive “Derek will not be back.” is pretty hilarious. He blames it on MOVE, never mentions the competing dance show (of course) and is definitive TWICE. I suspect the urge to add the word “never” was hard for him to resist. 🙂 Mark might be back so there is hope for Ballas Fans.

Oh lord:

Last season, it was lovely to see Sasha [do what he did] with his creativity and the way he worked with Terra. I think Gleb did a phenomenal job with his creativity, and the dance of last season was the shower dance. Creatively, we had never done that before. As the season progressed, it was important that we had dancers push boundaries like that.

Um, hardly the dance of the season and yes, it has been done before. Both Derek and Val have used water (more than once!!) in their dances. Jaysus.

Courtney: Let me fix that for you, bruh – you misspelled “desperation” as “c-r-e-a-t-i-v-i-t-y”. I still maintain that the “shower dance” was the most overrated dance of the entire season – and if they really truly believe it was super-creative (and they might not, they could just be doing some serious bullshitting), then this show really is a dumpster fire. Oh, yay, “romance” – that sure doesn’t sound planned AT ALL, and I’m sure it will all unfold COMPLETELY ORGANICALLY WITHOUT ANY MANIPULATION WHATSOEVER!!! 😀 So a “fan favorite” will be back, eh? I’m hoping that’s Mark, just so the choreographic future of this show doesn’t rest solely on Lindsay & Sharna’s shoulders, although part of me wonders if they might actually be referring to Peta – which makes me groan a bit, because this woman birthed a baby just 8 days ago. As for Derek – hehehe. I caught a clip of him on ET a few weeks back where the interviewer asked him if he’d be back on DWTS next season, and he gave a bit of a wry laugh before saying “Ummm, no” and just leaving it at that. Definitely not the diplomatic tack he has taken in the past, and probably a good indicator that he’s washed his hands of DWTS once and for all…which we kinda already gathered from the way he’s quite publicly indicated he’s now on the NBC payroll. As for Nick – I don’t watch The Bachelor/Bachelorette/etc., so I don’t really know what this dude’s gig is…although I vaguely remember talk of him being a “villain” (or “Viall-in”…?) and some magazine asserting that he was well-endowed down yonder (which he probably paid them to say). Hasn’t he done like, three or four iterations of the Bachelor series by now? Is he trying to become a professional reality show contestant? Guess DWTS would be the next logical step there. Anywho, the other thing that sticks out is the word “nostalgia”, which concerns me a bit…haven’t we done a ton of reminiscing about previous seasons at this point? How many retooled versions of “Hey! Pachuco” do we really need? Or bumper dances by Alfonso, Kelly, & Meryl? Give Flo Henderson a nice tribute, and then be done with it. And where’s my damn Prince tribute?!!!

Vogue: Finally, a premiere date! It’s been so quiet, I was beginning to think there wouldn’t be a Spring season. 😯 Anyway, I’m excited that they have half of the cast picked already. After what Miss Heidi and Vin posted in the first rumor post on him, I’m all on for Nick Vaill and he’s cute. 🙂 I’m excited for any returning Pros from last season….especially Gleb (sorry Rob, my fave dance of the season was not the shower dance! Are you serious? How can you say that with the level of creativity we saw in all the freestyle performances? Gleb’s other dances were more worthy. 😐 ). I really enjoyed Cheryl last season as well. I’m hoping Peta will dance, but, I bet she’ll want to stay home with baby Shai for a while longer before returning. I wouldn’t be surprised if she skipped the Fall season too. But, I agree on Sasha. He was phenomenal last season. I really hope Mark comes back. Without Derek coming back (lol to Rob not mentioning the real reason.), it will be nice to have his creativity added and I missed him. As for Theme Weeks, I’m not a fan for the most part…but, I LOVED “Cirque De Soul” week and hope they do it again. Here’s to the new season…..and to creative, well thought out choreography and, please, no MANIPULATING!! With “World Of Dance” premiering (and possibly at the same time at some point this Spring), Dancing With The Stars will really have to step up their game. Isn’t that right~ And Court…. amen to a Prince tribute!