ABC's Brand Gets Lift From “Dancing With The Stars”

Not even the semi-catatonic ramblings of the second man on the Moon were enough to dampen viewer enthusiasm for Dancing with the Stars in Monday night’s premiere showing of the long-running ABC hit reality program. The show debuted with its best opening-night viewership numbers ever, with a Nielsen-preliminary 23.9 million viewers.

In the opener, it immediately seemed ill advised to include 80-year-old former astronaut Buzz Aldrin among the stars, as he could barely move on the dance floor and his few comments were nearly unintelligible. Dancing’s last octogenarian, Cloris Leachman, at least was an actress with stage presence and a sharp wit.

But the other elements that ABC introduced and tweaked for this 10th season of Dancing all seemed to work nicely, improving the show – and portending continued robust ratings when it returns next week.Continue reading...