Dancing with the Stars Season 17: The First Casualty
Aren’t I dramatic today?? 
Casualty might not be the right word, although it’s possible. I think this is a self-inflicted wound. Anyway, according to someone who spoke to Derek last night at a corporate event where she was also working (Derek and Emma danced three dances), he is NOT going to be on DWTS Season 17. We haven’t heard this from his lips, but this woman said on Facebook (Lori Anderson) that he was working currently with Kate Hudson, it sounds like he’s doing movie(s) and has a lot of other stuff he wants to do before he turns 29. If you don’t have facebook, go to PureDerekHough to read what Lori has to say.
I don’t know the context of the conversation and for all I know I could be spilling some beans that Derek didn’t want spilled just yet – always assuming that Lori was accurate in her reporting. But what it does is allow me to give our readers a bit of food for thought concerning all of the pro dancers and the show in general. We know that DWTS cut the results show because it wasn’t getting the ratings that they would like. There was also a lot of speculation that part of the reason is that the show is so expensive to produce that they had to cut it – it wasn’t giving them a return on their investment. We have also speculated that the elimination of the results show also eliminates a platform for the pro dancers, and Derek in particular this past season, to really create some amazing stuff and that elimination might be what causes Derek to move on to other things.
But what if, in the quest to cut costs so they get a better return on their investment, they only have room for one or two of the more popular (and, theoretically, much more expensive) professionals? You don’t really think that Derek, Maks, Mark and Cheryl are working for that same low rate that they signed on for years ago, do you?? Combine their salaries with the salaries of the troupe, the celebrities, the cost of a live orchestra, hand made costumes, three judges, two hosts and all the other people that go into running a LIVE show and you have a pretty expensive show. So what if Derek was told that “changes” were going to be made and he couldn’t wait until the last minute to commit to Season 17 and he had to decide now?? It’s possible, I think, that they are working with a new budget and we could see a lot of changes in the “new” show. Look at last season. Maks sat out and it had no appreciable affect on the ratings when he made his highly publicized return for one week. Maybe that made them decide that they only needed one or two of them at any given time? (Side Note: American Idol cut Nigel Lithgow as producer in their effort to revamp THEIR show – more food for thought.)
So, what other changes might we see? What can they change that will save them money but won’t have a negative impact on the ratings? I’m going to make a guess…and keep in mind this is ALL speculation. We don’t know anything for sure and we probably won’t know until it’s almost showtime. These are my guesses:
- All new professionals except for two or three OR a salary cut
- No Troupe
- Reduce the orchestra in some way
- Lots more recycling of costuming
- No Brooke
It’s entirely possible that NONE of these changes will happen and the elimination of the results show is all the budget cutting they need. But what happens when they conduct the show as usual (pimping, manipulating and so on) and the ratings decline continues?? So, they cut the show to one season per year. After that? See above. You’ll note one other little tidbit in what Derek said to Lori. He said it will be “Harder” on the dancers. Why is it going to be harder?? What does he know about what’s going to happen that would make him say that?? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it??
So….thoughts??
xxx
