"Dancing with the Stars" won't have another all-star season, ABC exec says

Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani perform during the "Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars" finale on Nov. 27, 2012, in Los Angeles. / ABC

There's no second act for celebrities on "Dancing with the Stars."

ABC Entertainment Chairman Paul Lee said Thursday that was the lesson from the past few months, when the network brought back some favorite contestants from its long-running competition series and the show fell flat.

"It turns out people like to see bad dancing as much as they like to see good dancing," Lee said during the Television Critics Association's winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif.

• "Dancing with the Stars" timeline: Past seasons and champions

36 Photos

"Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars" finale

Melissa Rycroft, a former contestant on "The Bachelor," beat two returning "DWTS" winners -- Olympian Shawn Johnson and actress Kelly Monaco -- to win the show's first all-star edition. Nielsen said its viewership of 14.8 million on Mondays last fall was down 21 percent from the year before. Even worse for ABC, viewership among the younger 18-to-49-year-old demographic was off 31 percent.

13 Photos

"Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars"

Lee said it is clear the show's fans enjoy the journey of celebrities learning how to dance. This spring's edition features first-time competitors.

The average "Dancing with the Stars" viewer this fall was 61, making it ABC's oldest-skewing show. But it has had an important side benefit for ABC the past few years in boosting "Good Morning America" ratings when dancing contestants appear on the morning news show.

This fall's failure notwithstanding, ABC said it will continue to air separate new editions of "Dancing" in the spring and fall.

"There is a lot of life left in it," Lee said.

The show's slippage had much to do with ABC's problems in the fall. Viewership is down 7 percent from last fall for the third-place network behind CBS and NBC, although both CBS and Fox had steeper declines, Nielsen said.

Lee said he was disappointed that no new ABC shows, and no shows on broadcast TV in general, were hits this fall. ABC already has axed the freshman dramas "Last Resort" and "666 Park Avenue" so far, and the much-touted "Nashville" is hanging on. Lee said ABC has found that its country music soap "Nashville" has done well with a younger audience, but the country connection has been a barrier for older viewers.

ABC needs shows that are "smart with heart" and lead with emotion to succeed, he said.

"If we ever have a 'do not enter' sign for women, that's not going to work for us," Lee said.

[MYOPINIONONLY]

I would love to see some REAL dancing NOT some dance that is like a coriagraphy (sp ) for some some braodway musical. TANGO?? I don't think so, watch the real pro's on channel 11 and tell me which Tango is a REAL TANGO!!!!!! Waltz, fox trot etc. The only thing that may attract the male viewer is that the women are all but naked

[MYOPINIONONLY]

2012 stunck!! The judges were not fair as far as I'm concerned WELL they never are. All Kelly wanted to do is spread it out for Cheremsky ( sp )
They were all off kilter if you ask me. I hated the whole season and kept channel surfing. Hopefully 2013 will be better if not OUT with the whole show.

[MYOPINIONONLY]

2012 stunck!! The judges were not fair as far as I'm concerned WELL they never are. All Kelly wanted to do is spread it out for Cheremsky ( sp )
They were all off kilter if you ask me. I hated the whole season and kept channel surfing. Hopefully 2013 will be better if not OUT with the whole show.

[hoeldy]

Message to the Palin Family: Viewers are not idiots. You cannot keep telling them how trim and fit and beautiful and confident and mature you have become. Who cares? This is a dancing competition and we don't care how big your ego is or who your Mama is or how many managers you have trying to convince the viewers how great you are. We all have eyes and we saw some of the better dancers get perfect scores and Bristol stay there, dancing like a person with two left feet and no energy and looking more like a greedy pig there only to collect a paycheck and get media attention but making no effort to dance at the same level as the rest of the All Stars. Time for ABC and the Palin family to realize that her performance was embarrassing and certainly not classy. Lesson to learn is that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Palins are hillbillies and trailer trash from a little town in the middle of nowhere and who cares if Bristol has a child out of control who craves cupcakes and has tantrums?

[webbot87]

ABC needs to realize that it was never smart to air against 'The Voice'. That show is extremely popular and it also took away some of DWTS viewership in Spring 2012. 'DWTS' needs to find a new night and time-slot.

[Cathyx]

ABC did not listen to their viewers: they chose three contestants who were there not because of their dancing skills or their fans and many viewers simply would not watch: Pam Anderson, Bristol Palin and Kirstie Alley. There were problems with the voting system: and groups like Vote for the Worst and Sarah Palin fans make a mockery of the show. Somewhere along the way, DWTS decided to put these three in to add divisiveness or controversy or interest to the show--and this is not why the long time viewers tune in. It is a problem when a good show is ruined because certain people are voted through as a joke--and you see the better dancers go home too early and some of the worse dancers stay. Give your judges more voting power; let them say negative comments about a dancer if she is not even trying -- but for heaven sakes, if you are having a dancing competiton, put the emphasis on dancing skill rather than trying to make a poor dancer believe it is all about how trim she has become or how much confidence she has gained or how hot her Mama is. ABC looked like they were competing with FOX and giving a political statement--and make all your dancers practice together. Also they shouldn't have some dancer trying to get all the media attention and contacting the tabloids to make it all about them. Spread the family coverage around too--it wasn't fair that Mama Palin was shown and interviewed week after week; and we saw a lot of Melissa's husband and parents; and Shawn Johnson's parents--but nothing of Apollo's.