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Dancing with the Stars (US TV series)

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Dancing with the Stars is a reality show airing on ABC in the United States. The show is based on the BBC TV series Strictly Come Dancing.

The concept of the show is to pair a celebrity with a professional dancer in an attempt to win a high score from a panel of three judges and then a high number of votes from the viewers, who can call in and vote online. The person who receives the lowest score is eliminated, but they are allowed to dance one last dance at the end of the show.

The panel of judges in both seasons is Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli. The Musical Director is Tony Award Nominee Harold Wheeler.

Contents

Season 1

Eventual winner Kelly Monaco and partner Alec Mazo on Season 1 of the American edition of Dancing With The Stars.
Eventual winner Kelly Monaco and partner Alec Mazo on Season 1 of the American edition of Dancing With The Stars.

The American ABC Network adaptation, hosted by Tom Bergeron and Lisa Canning, premiered on June 1, 2005, to over 13 million viewers, the biggest summer debut ever for an American reality series. The second week climbed to 15 million viewers, and the show climbed to #1 in the ratings, where it remained for the remainder of the summer 2005 TV season. The contestants were:

The success of the show quickly inspired a similar show from the Fox Broadcasting Company entitled Skating with Celebrities. (Another dance show, So You Think You Can Dance, a contest featuring unknown aspiring dancers, was already set to air before Dancing with the Stars premiered.)

Some viewers felt the outcome of the show was unfair, as half the winning points came from the judges' votes, instead of solely from the votes of viewers, and Monaco and Mazo had received a "perfect 10" from the judges that night (this view reflected a misunderstanding of the scoring system; in fact, because the scoring was based on ordinals and the audience vote was the tiebreaker, Monaco and Mazo must have received more audience votes). In response to the criticism, ABC announced a 90-minute special, Dancing with the Stars: Dance-off, a rematch between Monaco and O'Hurley (with their respective partners), to air September 20, 2005. The winner, determined solely by fan votes, was announced in a September 22 results show. This time, O'Hurley and his dance partner Charlotte emerged as the winners.

Season 2

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Season two (premiered January 5, 2006) expanded from six couples to ten. Celebrity participants for season two of the USA edition of Dancing with the Stars were:

Tom Bergeron returned as host. Samantha Harris replaced Lisa Canning as co-host. In many ways the second series cast was similarly assembled to that of the first season: Both had a retired athlete (Holyfield/Rice), an ex-boy band member (McIntyre/Lachey), a model (Hunter/Carerre), a soap star (Monaco/Rinna), and a debonair older man (Hurley/Hamilton).

The second season expanded the series from an hour to ninety minutes, and added an hour-long results show the following night (in the first season no couples were eliminated in the first week; the first couple was eliminated at the end of the second episode, the second couple at the end of the third episode, and so on). Two couples were declared safe in an earlier portion of the show, the remaining couples were then named off until only the bottom two were left (the last two couples had the lowest amount of votes, with the exception of week seven, where the show explicitly stated that the order of all but the eliminated couple was random).

Musical guests such as the Pussycat Dolls, Jesse McCartney, Natasha Bedingfield, Michael Buble, Bill Medley, Burt Bacharach, Mary J. Blige and Barry Manilow performed while the professional dancers demonstrated various routines. In week four the results show introduced an encore of what the judges considered the previous night's best routine - twice going to Drew Lachey (the paso doble in week four and the rumba in week seven), once to Stacy Keibler (the samba in week five) and once to Rinna (the quickstep in week six).

In the second season, Drew Lachey and Stacy Keibler were considered the early frontrunners, as both had solid early performances, and some prior dance experience: Lachey's stage performances with 98 Degrees were extensively choreographed, and Keibler had childhood dance training as well as being a professional cheerleader. Although both Keibler and Lachey were assumed to have some form of a fan base, there was no way of knowing whether 98 Degrees fans or WWE fans were responsible for their success - Drew credited the people of Cincinnati, Ohio for helping him stay in the competition). Lachey was lauded for his passion and willingness to take risks, and Keibler for her long legs and technical perfection. With regards to the judges' scoring, in nearly every week, Lachey and Keibler held the top two spots in the judges' scoring (either first-second or tied for first). In addition, Lachey and Keibler are the only dancers to receive a perfect score (Keibler four, Lachey three), and have three of the four "encore" performances (Lachey twice, Keibler once). In week seven, Stacy and Tony became the first couple in series history to receive two 30s in a row. Drew and Cheryl were always among the top two highest scores and along with Jerry Rice and Anna Trebunskaya, were the only couple to never be chosen for the bottom two. The judges repeatedly told Keibler and Lachey that they were the best or among the best dancers in any of the international versions of the series.

Controversies over fan voting

Once again, fans accounted for half of the vote total, which was in part responsible for the extended presence of Master P, who was considered one of the worst dancers and refused to wear dance shoes, but in spite of harsh criticism from some of the judges, he stayed for several weeks. This was attributed to his strong fan base, as well as fans who saw him as the underdog or who wanted to "vote for the worst". After the surprise departure of Giselle Fernández and low scores (a total of just 8 points for his final dance - the lowest score in the history of the series) from the judges, he was finally eliminated.

Jerry Rice also benefited from the fan vote - in the closing weeks of the competition, the judges became increasingly critical of Rice and although they acknowledged that he continued to put great effort in his performances, they felt he no longer deserved to be there. Rice and his outspoken partner Trebunskaya rebutted those criticisms, and the fan vote sided with them, ensuring Rice never placed in the bottom two. In week seven, in a matter of some controversy, Rice advanced to the finals, and Lisa Rinna (whom the judges and some viewers felt was a superior dancer to Rice) was eliminated. However, in the final three dances, the judges began to admire Rice's effort and his scores improved, though he still lagged behind both Lachey and Keibler.

Second Series finale

Week seven of season two saw two dances per couple. The judges' scores for week seven were combined for a total possible score of 60. Lachey and Burke garnered perfect scores and much buzz, especially for their cowboy-inspired freestyle. Keibler, on the other hand, received praise for her jive, but criticism for an underwhelming Saturday Night Fever-esque freestyle. In the final round, Keibler and Dovolani had to choreograph a new samba routine as their final dance of the season. Keibler blamed her performance on an ankle injury, but proved unbreakable to the end with a perfect score (despite the fact she took third place). Following the finale, when asked if Stacy deserved just-3rd place, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli both concurred; Stacy should have atleast been honored as the runner-up.

The two scores from the week eight finale were combined with the score from the final show for a total possible score of 90. All of the previously eliminated contestants were on hand for the second series finale. Keibler received a 30 and Rice and Lachey a 27 for their final dances. However, in a decision that surprised some viewers, Keibler was the first performer to be eliminated. Even Kenny Mayne - who was the first overall to be eliminated - was critical of Keibler's elimination, blurting out as he was interviewed by Bergeron, "Well, we just eliminated a girl with a perfect score!"

Due to the complex scoring system, many viewers suspected that the only way Jerry Rice could have won was if he had been in the final two with Keibler.

Sure enough, at the end of the finale, Lachey and Burke won what he had jokingly termed the "ugly" trophy, with Rice playfully attempting to steal the prize as the closing credits rolled.

Season two improved upon the ratings performance of the first season, generating tens of millions of viewers and holding its own against or beating such competition as Survivor, American Idol, and the 2006 Winter Olympics. The finale brought in an audience of 27 million viewers.

Judges' Scoring summary

Bold scores indicate the highest for that week.
Team Week 1
Jan. 5 		Week 2
Jan. 12 		Week 3
Jan. 19 		Week 4
Jan. 26 		Week 5
Feb. 2 		Week 6
Feb. 9 		Week 7
Feb. 16 		Week 8 & Finals
Feb. 23 & 26
Mayne/Hale 13
O'Neal/Kosovich 23 17
Fernández/Roberts 23 24 22
Master P/DelGrosso 12 16 14  8
Carrere/Chmerkovskiy 20 22 26 25 22
---
Hamilton/Sliwinska 18 22 22 21 24 23
Rinna/van Amstel 19 20 25 26 25 27 26+27=53
Keibler/Dovolani 22 29 27 26 30 30 27+28=55 30+26+30=86
Rice/Trebunskaya 21 23 19 24 23 23 20+21=41 26+27+27=80
Lachey/Burke 24 27 27 28 27 30 26+29=55 30+30+27=87

Season 3

Season 3 of Dancing with the Stars will begin in autumn 2006, airing on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Rumor has it that Melissa Joan Hart, David Carradine, Masiela Lusha, Mario Lopez, Vivica A. Fox, Jerry Springer, William Hung, and Harry Hamlin will be among the stars participating this season.

See also

External links

 

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