Dancing With the Stars to Return to ABC Midseason  7/21/05

THE DANCING SHOES ARE GOING BACK ON, AS ABC ANNOUNCES THE RETURN OF "DANCING WITH THE STARS"

The Dazzling Summer Hit Is Set to Return for Midseason

"Dancing with the Stars" will return to the ABC Television Network in 2006 as a midseason series with all new episodes, it was announced today by Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment. The series will continue to be produced by BBC Worldwide Productions, creators of the British hit show, "Strictly Come Dancing," on which the ABC show was based. Richard Hopkins and Conrad Green are executive producers.

"'Dancing' has played a pivotal role in a great summer season for ABC," said McPherson. "The show is tremendous fun, perfect for our brand and a wonderful boost for our schedule. Having 'Dancing' and 'Brat Camp' both emerge this summer as assets for the future gives us great upside down the line."

The series pairs celebrities with professional ballroom dancers. The couples train in such dances as the Viennese Waltz, the Rumba, the Cha-Cha-Cha and the Tango, and then compete in front of a studio audience - and a live national television audience. They are judged by a panel of experts, as well as by viewers at home, with one couple being eliminated each week.

"I love everything about this show," said Andrea Wong, executive vice president, Alternative Programming, Specials and Late-Night, ABC Entertainment. "It was an odd left turn, so it's especially gratifying to see it embraced by so many people."

"We love it that the American public has gone crazy for 'Dancing with the Stars,'" said Wayne Garvie, head of BBC Entertainment Group. "For the second season, we guarantee even more tears, tantrums and tangos than ever before."

During its premiere season, "Dancing with the Stars" emerged as the biggest summer hit of 2005. The broad-appealing unscripted series ranked No. 1 in its Wednesday 9 o'clock time period among Total Viewers, across each of the key adult demos (Adults 18-34, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54), as well as among Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11. On average it towered over its closest competition in its hour (NBC) by 9.2 million viewers (16.8 million vs. 7.6 million) and by 143% in Adults 18-49 (5.1/15 vs. 2.1/6), and ranked as the No. 1 TV show on Wednesday night among viewers and young adults on all 6 of its telecasts.

The No. 1 TV series this summer, "Dancing with the Stars" also qualified as the most-watched summer series on any network in the last 5 years - since the inaugural season of "Survivor" in Summer 2000.