Dancing With the Stars 2 Premieres January 5th, 8pm, on ABC
ABC Hits 'Dancing' Floor Again in January LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) ABC will send reinforcements to the trenches of the Thursday night ratings fight early next year, booking the new season of "Dancing with the Stars" for the night. The second season of "Dancing," a surprise hit last summer, is scheduled to premiere at 8 p.m. ET Thursday, Jan. 5. It will take the spot currently occupied by "Alias" for eight weeks, running through February sweeps and likely facing off against the next installment of CBS' "Survivor" for at least part of its run. "We are so grateful viewers embraced this show," says Andrea Wong, head of alternative programming at ABC. "With a new cast of stars and the addition of the results show, we will be delivering to them a season that has even more drama, more dancing and more glitter." "Alias" was scheduled for a midseason break before ABC made its scheduling move to allow star Jennifer Garner time for maternity leave. Her child with husband Ben Affleck is due next month, and her show will return in the spring. Aside from its airdates, details about the second season of "Dancing with the Stars" are scant. ABC has yet to announce which "stars" will be taking part in the ballroom-dance competition, won last summer by "General Hospital" star Kelly Monaco. John O'Hurley won a "Dance-Off" special in September after fans complained about the confusing judging process. Season two will also feature a weekly results episode, a la "American Idol." The network hasn't scheduled those episodes yet, although airing the results show on Friday would make sense both logistically -- so as not to make fans wait out the weekend -- and in the ratings. ABC has struggled some on Fridays this fall. "Dancing with the Stars" was an immediate hit for ABC this summer. It averaged 16.8 million viewers over its six-week run, and the finale pulled in better than 22 million viewers -- making it the most-watched broadcast of a summer series since the finale of the first "American Idol" in September 2002. The "Dance-Off" specials, which aired during premiere week in September, didn't do quite that well. Still, the two shows averaged 10.7 million viewers, a number ABC would probably be thrilled to get on Thursday nights come January. So far this fall "Alias" is averaging about 6.7 million viewers.Source: zap2it.com
ABC Hits 'Dancing' Floor Again in January LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) ABC will send reinforcements to the trenches of the Thursday night ratings fight early next year, booking the new season of "Dancing with the Stars" for the night. The second season of "Dancing," a surprise hit last summer, is scheduled to premiere at 8 p.m. ET Thursday, Jan. 5. It will take the spot currently occupied by "Alias" for eight weeks, running through February sweeps and likely facing off against the next installment of CBS' "Survivor" for at least part of its run. "We are so grateful viewers embraced this show," says Andrea Wong, head of alternative programming at ABC. "With a new cast of stars and the addition of the results show, we will be delivering to them a season that has even more drama, more dancing and more glitter." "Alias" was scheduled for a midseason break before ABC made its scheduling move to allow star Jennifer Garner time for maternity leave. Her child with husband Ben Affleck is due next month, and her show will return in the spring. Aside from its airdates, details about the second season of "Dancing with the Stars" are scant. ABC has yet to announce which "stars" will be taking part in the ballroom-dance competition, won last summer by "General Hospital" star Kelly Monaco. John O'Hurley won a "Dance-Off" special in September after fans complained about the confusing judging process. Season two will also feature a weekly results episode, a la "American Idol." The network hasn't scheduled those episodes yet, although airing the results show on Friday would make sense both logistically -- so as not to make fans wait out the weekend -- and in the ratings. ABC has struggled some on Fridays this fall. "Dancing with the Stars" was an immediate hit for ABC this summer. It averaged 16.8 million viewers over its six-week run, and the finale pulled in better than 22 million viewers -- making it the most-watched broadcast of a summer series since the finale of the first "American Idol" in September 2002. The "Dance-Off" specials, which aired during premiere week in September, didn't do quite that well. Still, the two shows averaged 10.7 million viewers, a number ABC would probably be thrilled to get on Thursday nights come January. So far this fall "Alias" is averaging about 6.7 million viewers.