Ever since Dancing with the Stars started, it has been half up to the viewer to say who they want to go home except for the finale. Well that is about to change for the next four weeks starting on Tuesday. Last night during the elimination show Tom Bergeron announced, “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from you, unhappy to see good dancers go. The bottom two couples will dance simultaneously for the judges, who will then decide who goes. This dance duel will give … one last chance for the best dancer to stay in the competition.†Then it will be up to the judges to say who they want to keep in the competition. So in other words our vote doesn’t count.
So now the judges still get 50% of the vote on Monday night with their scores, then we waste our time calling with our half to put two people in the bottom and finally the judges say who they want to stay. Well as witnessed with years past, they have their favorites and that is who they give their good scores to. Then there are the ones that don’t dance with Derek Hough and Mark Ballas and those stars get lower votes like the once that work with Lacey Schwimmer and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. So that means that once again another boring forgettable person will win the mirror ball trophy and the fan favorites will lose.
This is a show that is still on the air because of viewers and we should have the full vote, like American Idol and America’s Got Talent. This is not a show about the judges, because as we learned from The X Factor and Idol they are all replaceable and no one will miss them. Part of the reason why I gave up So You Think You Can Dance and The Sing-Off is because it was about the judges and they had the final say. My favorites were going home and I was left with no one to root for. So why watch if I don’t care about the people competing for the win.
Oh wait I just remembered I gave up Dancing with the Stars this fall because I didn’t like any of the “Stars” and I was sick of the judges over the top BS actions to make the show about them. Then when this season started and even though I liked a few of the names, I said I really don’t miss it and I am done watching. When I read about yesterday’s decision online, I immediately thought I am so freaking happy I am no longer watching the show. Dancing with the Stars is no longer about the viewer or the dancers or the stars, it is only about the judges. And you know what, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ratings start to drop even more than they already are because we the viewers want to count. When the show becomes about the judges, the viewers change the channel. Look at Idol, that is down. Look at SYTYCD that is reduced to one night a week this year. Those judges made the show about them and people got bored.
If you are going to have a reality competition show with a live results show, you need to make it about the people competing and give only the audience at home the ability to say who goes home. That is what works, not when it all about the judges and only them.
OK I feel better now that I have vented. What do you think of ABC’s decision to change things up?
