ABC Entertainment President Comments On The Future Of Dancing With The Stars Junior
Is Dancing With The Stars Junior going to happen in the future? According to ABC Entertainment President, Channing Dungey, it might still happen at some point. Here is more from TV Guide….
At the Television Critics Association winter press tour, TV Guide asked if the athletes edition would be replacing Dancing Junior. She said no, and that Dancing Junior will be hitting our screens at some point down the line; it was just a matter of casting and scheduling that lead to the switch.
“We were in the early stages of talent search for Dancing Junior and it wasn’t going to come together as quickly as we would have liked,” she said. “We’d been talking for awhile about trying to do an all-sports edition, but the problem is that athletes have such tight schedules it’s hard to do a whole 13-week run. This actually slotted in perfectly, so we’re going to try that and see how it goes.”
To read the full article, see TV Guide. I’m still not wild on this idea. What do you think? Let us know in comments.
Bad idea…producers and directors of DWTS shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near children….period. Take the manipulation and bad taste elsewhere.
Agree Joanne!!! That and frankly I don’t want to see a children’s version of the show. I’ve watched every episode since #1 (some multiple times) and I like the show just as it is. I’d have really be excited about a “Pro Challenge” (where our pro’s pair up and compete against each other with a more ballroom-centric type of competition) this season instead of a waste of time 4 week version but other than that or another All Star’s, I’m cold to these other ideas, entirely. I also think it’s a dangerous game to play to let so much time go between the next season, I know I stopped watching Scandal 2 season’s ago cause it took them so long to start back up and haven’t tuned in again since, when people learn to live without a particular show, it can be hard to get viewership back on track!
Good idea about a Pro Challenge. Love it! We’d get some really good dancing and choreo that way.
I’m actually ok with kids dancing-there are a lot of talented kids out there and I LOVED watching SYTYCDkids version; so for me, I was on board with the junior version of DWTS. What I don’t like is wasting 4 wks of TV time on fluff and that’s what I have a feeling this all-athlete mini-season will be-just some sort of filler to pass the time in between Idol in the spring, as well as whatever else is major that pops up on other networks. Not to mention the fact that I guess the producers would rather throes us a bone with a mini-season, in order to keep DWTS viewership relevant, than give us nothing until the fall season. Me personally? If that’s the case-I’d rather have nothing until the fall season. If they couldn’t do a junior season in the spring, this would’ve been a perfect opportunity to say ‘that’s it were cutting DWTS down to one full season a year-fall only’ and that would’ve been that. If viewership goes down, it goes down. It just might go down anyway after this mini-season LOL
I am not a fan of these kid versions of tv competition shows. Kids are already under enough pressure nowadays that the last thing they need to do is be shoved into these kind of situations. Its disturbing. I have not watched one single show that has done this and wouldn’t start with this one either. Its beyond wrong. More so since it would probably be parents that think they will gain from their kids doing this. Look at how during the last season they stuck that camera on one of those Dance Moms and her kids over and over again. It was horrible and like she was trying to make sure they got in on the Jrs version. No thanks. I’d rather see versions of the show like the one coming up with athletes. Maybe do versions of stars that have dance backgrounds go against each other and a season of stars that truly have none at all and never danced but let’s leave out the kids. Bad enough seeing more then half the adults on these shows with their pity me stories and tears…I certainly do NOT want to see that from kids.
I want to add that I don’t think viewership goes down because a season doesn’t come on when some want. Shows don’t get forgotten about in that short of a time frame. Otherwise the ones that come on HBO, Showtime wouldn’t last since it can be a year or longer before they come on again. I actually would have been fine from the get go if we had one season a year of DWTS. The only thing that has kept me from watching some seasons is who was on it. If to much time between shows was to really cause a major loss of viewers to dip ratings then IMO the show probably wasn’t that good to begin with, or that liked by those people that stopped watching, or its just time for the show to go. Yet for me to much time between seasons will not cause me to lose interest in a show I enjoy.
I agree Vogue, also about the Pro Challenge. But, one thought comes to mind that after watching a season of Pro Challenge (which will be excellent dancing, like almost watching a DWTS Tour of Pro dancers) and enjoying it so much that a regular celeb/Pro season might not be as exciting. So, the producers might have to come up with some real potential celebs for the next regular season. (Just a thought)
What if they are doing the mini season just so that the cast and crew can get paid?