ABC has announced that they are getting rid of Harold Wheeler and his orchestra:
Judging by reaction on social media and boards/fansites, pretty much everyone but ABC thinks that this is a terrible idea, including me.
The artistry, expressiveness, energy, and spontaneity of dancing to fully orchestrated live music is at a different level from dancing to pre-recorded music or a small combo (the announced substitutes). For dance fans, it has been one of the show’s big attractions.
The showrunners keep making changes, ostensibly to “freshen” the show and to attract a younger (more desirable to advertisers) audience. But these changes have not attracted those younger viewers, and the show has lost about a third of the viewers it started out with.
The one thing they haven’t tried is putting the show back the way it was when it was a monster hit.
More cost cutting. Ratings go down and they want to save production costs. Which leads to even more fans losing interest in the show.
I’m not sure if I’ll waste my time watching this season. I prefer watching The Voice on Mondays. It’s a PITA to watch DWTS online on a different night.
I’ll have to wait and see who they cast this season. If there’s no one I’m interested in then I won’t waste my time on this show.
First Harold Wheeler gets the boot, now Brooke Burke. Erin Andrews is replacing Brooke. I’m not a huge fan of Brooke, so this could be okay. I don’t know if the DWTS core viewers will tolerate so much chance so quickly, though.
Candace Cameron Bure (actress) & Mark Ballas
Meryl Davis (ice dancer) & Maks Chmerkovskiy
NeNe Leakes (reality show) & Tony Dovolani
Danica McKellar (actress) & Val Chmerkovskiy
Diana Nyad (swimmer) & Henry Byalikov
Amy Purdy (paralympic snowboarder) & Derek Hough
Sean Avery (hockey) & Karina Smirnoff
Drew Carey (comedian) & Cheryl Burke
James Maslow (boy band singer) & Peta Murgatroyd
Cody Simpson (pop singer) & Witney Carson
Charlie White (ice dancer) & Sharna Burgess
Billy Dee Williams (actor) & Emma Slater
(six performers, five athletes, one reality show participant)
Damn, I’ve drifted away from this show – but Drew Carey? Danica McKellar (Winnie!)? I may have to watch this season – esp. to see if Maks has been suitably chastened by his exile.
I think Drew has lost a lot of weight, so he might not be first. Billy Dee Williams is ancient. Ice dancers seems like cheating. They’re giving Derek a double amputee - he might actually not make the finals this year. Diana is fit, but old and not a performer. I’d give her until the 3rd ep.
DWTS tried an amputee with Heather Mills. I recall there were some dances that the prosthetic just didn’t have the necessary movement. Heather did fine with other dances where it wasn’t a problem. Derek will be very challenged coaching Amy Purdy. I wish them well and respect her willingness to try.
I had written off this show too. But I admit this is a great cast. Meryl Davis and Charlie White, and Danica McKellar? I’ll have to watch.
I wonder if they’ll bring in Adrianne Haslet to help Derek train Amy Purdy? Adrianne is a Ballroom dance teacher that lost her lower leg last year in the Boston bombing. It could be a way to work her into the show for an episode or two.
I have mixed feelings about this - on the one hand, they’re part of the fabric of the show.
On the other, some of their arrangements were just odd. There were songs that sounded noticeably wrong (different tempo and weirdness in the singing were the things I’d pick up on) which had to make it more difficult for the contestants who’d practiced to a song that sounded one way and then tried to dance to something that sounded significantly different.
The ice dancers have seemed like nice people when I’ve seen them in interviews - but that’s completely cheating. Ice dancing is literally ballroom dancing on ice. They already know how to do a waltz - they’ve done it on ice. They’re used to dancing in sync with a partner because they’ve done that on ice, where the consequences of being out of sync is slashing your partner with your footwear. At least the dances should be pretty.
At least no one can say that Derek has the ringer this year.
First week:
Billy Dee was just kind of sad to watch. Both the 17 year old & his partner (new pro) were highly unlikable, I want them off my tv screen sooner rather than later. And I really liked watching Diana dance; it was so fun & a she did a great interview segment.
I gave him an A for effort. His age didn’t bother me too much since Florence Henderson was in her 70’s when she was on and she went a little ways before leaving. But combine his age with arthritis in his back and two hip surgeries, why did he even bother?
Are you talking about that Aussie? If so, I thought him and his partner were alright.
I was rooting for Drew Carey. I’m a little surprised he got the scores he did considering he didn’t do much dancing. I want to see him go far, but I’m not sure if he’ll get much better.
Diana Nyad (the swimmer) did a lot better than I thought she would. And I’m really curious how far Amy Purdy will go.
Jimmy Kimmel predicts the winners before the first show of every season. His picks have finished first 7 times, and in the top two or three all but one of the times he missed. Because of this, he is known as Nostradancemus.