CBS recently unveiled their Paula Abdul reality competition series, Live to Dance. Some have been waiting to see what Abdul would do ever since she left the judging table at American Idol. Will this new TV series be a big success like Idol or cancelled after on season, like so many others?
On Live to Dance, dancers from across the country and of all ages audition and then compete for the crown and a $500,000 prize. On the show, Abdul serves as lead judge as well as coach and mentor to the performers. At the judging table, she’s joined by choreographer Travis Payne and singer/dancer Kimberly Wyatt. The series is hosted by Andrew Gunsberg.
The reality series debuted on Tuesday, January 4th, with an okay showing — a 2.4 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic and 10.22 million viewers. The next night, viewership dropped nearly 25% to a 1.8 rating and 7.65 million viewers. Not a good sign. The third installment fell once again, to a 1.5 demo rating and 6.71 million. The most recent episode fell 33% in the demo to a truly horrible 1.0 rating and just 5.08 million.
Live to Dance is currently averaging a 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demo and 7.41 million total viewers. In the CBS rankings, that puts it below low-rated Friday shows like CSI: NY and isn’t far above 48 Hours, the network’s little-watched Saturday night true-crime series.
In essence, Live to Dance is a ratings bomb and there would seem to be no reason for CBS to renew it for a second season. In fact, at this point, its very possible that the network could try to send it packing to Saturday nights — except reruns of crime dramas sometimes get better ratings than Live to Dance’s latest installment.
But, what do you think? Is Live to Dance worth saving or should it be cancelled? Can you think of any ways to fix it to attract more viewers?
Image courtesy CBS.
I agree that they had to pack too much into the audition show because they only had one night to do them. This show needs to be longer and it will be fine. It’s not a true ratings picture when a brand new show gets moved by an Obama speech it’s third episode and has to go up against the season premiere of Idol in it’s fourth episode. How is that fair? The live shows are great and I like to see the varied dance acts as opposed to SYTYCD which just seems like a bunch of professional dancers all… Read more »
Keep it, Paula’s show is amazing, I know there are many dance shows out there but this one is different anyone can join this and I find it’s an amazing show! You have to keep it!
Keep it. It’s a good show that unfortunately goes against Idol. It’s a good little show with interesting dancers and judges know what they are talking about. Paula is much harder on the contestants than she was on Idol and everybody who actually watched the show noticed that.
Didnt like it, the format is all over the place…I would have loved it if it was more like “so you think you can dance”, dancer vs. dancer, not old, yound, groups, duos, all competing against each other- how do you judge that?
Cancel it!
The show had no real plot. I thought they were searching for the Best Dancer or act in America? Well, the show is not even close. The best trained dancer and performer was Austen Acevedo and he got 3 stars. WHAT? The judges are Crazy. This is why the show will not last.
i think you should keep it i love to see ppl dance well and embarrase them selves too
ugh. MOVE THE DARN SHOW!!! It would be great in ratings if it weren’t up against Idol! You can’t know based on the previous week either, cuz the show got bumped by Obama’s speech! All we really know is the premiere and no one is gonna watch it if it’s up against idol unless they DONT like Idol, because it’s the same demographic. I watch live to dance cuz I’m sick of idol and liked it better with paula abdul and simon, and yay now paula’s back on tv. BUT THEY NEED TO MOVE IT. Not cancel. just anytime but… Read more »
I think they should keep it. It’s a show that has a lot of potential. I would suggest that they make the audition rounds longer than just two days to give the audience time to get to know the contestants. Also give the other judges a chance to mentor the contestants. Invite artists to perform in some of the shows.
I thought some of the dancers were good, but the judges and judging and rest of the show was boring. My favorites are So you think you can Dance & Dancing with the Starts.
I hope they keep it, Live to dance did not have a chance, first it was moved by obama speech and then american idol (which have been on tv for years) move the days too. I actually like more Live to dance; I don’t watch AI anymore, so I hope it gets a second season, cause if people actually watach it they will love it!
keep it they should bring it back next year in a different slot the first episodes were a little choppy and moved to fast but the live shows are great it’s a pretty good show.
I’m sorry but Paula’s less than stable. She’s all too gushy for me. I can’t believe she’s not medicated.
Get rid of it and bring back a good show they cancelled like Cold Case or Without a Trace
I’m sick of all these dance shows. Cancel them all!
What he said.