Dancing With The Stars Season 26 Week One Down Over 40% From Last Year’s Premiere

I was afraid of this. From Variety, here are some stats on last night’s ratings. Be sure to read more at the link. My parents always use to say either go all the way with something or not at all. Is this the case for a short season? Even still, 8+ million viewers is still ok, but is it enough?

“Dancing with the Stars” hit a new demo low for a regular episode on Monday with the ABC competition series debuting its all-athletes edition.

Airing from 8-10 p.m, “Dancing With the Stars” averaged a 1.2 rating in adults 18-49 and 8.5 million viewers. That is down over 40% in the demo from the show’s premiere last spring premiere and approximately 30% in total viewers. The ABC series also lost to “The Voice” over its two-hour broadcast, with the NBC series holding steady for the week with a 1.6 and 8.7 million viewers.

Later on ABC, “The Crossing” (0.5, 3.8 million) was also down in the demo.

After “The Voice,” “Good Girls” (0.9, 4.2 million) was steady.