ABC has been running their new reality show on Monday nights, Skating with the Stars. With a similar format, it took over for the network’s immensely popular Dancing with the Stars in the Monday night timeslot. Last night, the competition came to a close with actress Rebecca Budig taking home the golden skates trophy. Will she be the series’ first and last winner? Does ABC have another big hit on their hands or a disappointment that will be cancelled and quickly forgotten?
Skating with the Stars pits teams of professional skaters and “celebrities” together as they perform routines on ice. They are judged and scored by Johnny Weir, Dick Button and Laurie Ann Gibson. Those scores are combined with votes from viewers and the team with the lowest total leaves the competition each week. Vernon Kay hosts with Tanith Belbin providing color commentary.
Debuting after this year’s final Monday night edition of Dancing with the Stars, Skating with the Stars attracted a decent 2.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 9.36 million total viewers. On the downside, it lost about 50% of its lead-in audience in the demo and 60% of total viewers.
In week two, the demo rating fell 50% to a 1.2 with 6.06 million viewers. In week three, they fell another 33% to a disastrous 0.8 rating and 3.94 million total viewers. In week four, the numbers stabilized with a 0.8 for the demo and 3.79 million. This past Monday night, opposite repeats on most of the other networks, Skating with the Stars incredibly hit a new low and fell a staggering 38% in the 18-49 demo. It hit a 0.5 rating with 3.37 million viewers.
Will Skating with the Stars return for a second season? No way. Based on these numbers, the network execs surely couldn’t wait for this show to be over. If it weren’t the holiday season and an ongoing competition, they would have cancelled it weeks ago. It’s a huge disappointment in the ratings.
But, what do you think? Have you enjoyed Skating with the Stars? If it were up to you, would you renew or cancel it? How would you fix it?
Image courtesy ABC.
keep staking with the stars
yes oh yes they should keep it it is and was my creation they should keep it based on my idea to begin wth it is every bit as good as dancing with the stars they should bring it back for more celebrities like kim kardashian
I believe that this show as great potential. If they could only find more well know people to participate and maybe get more personality in judges and hosts, then people will want to watch. I agree with a comment made that the show should not have been aired the same time Dancing With the Stars was still on, people would want to watch the end of a show than the beginning of another. I also agree with another comment made about the skating area being to small, does not seem as professional if its just a small area. The thrill… Read more »
OK, i have to say that this show should NOT be cancelled ! the problem i think is the, celebrities. The show needs BIG stars like Paris Hilton, A Kardashian sister, and of course a Disney Channel Star! this will for sure improve the views and ratings. trust me i know, i am 16. i know what needs to improve. Put Better and BIG Stars on the show and watch your ratings go UP!!
there they go again.. like what they did to numb3rs, which was a great show, but got cancelled..
PLEASE DON’T CANCEL!!!! Think of all the figure skaters who don’t get enough credit for what they do!Like me and all my friends! This was the one show to really show what we do and just how hard it is. PLEASE
It was embarrassingly bad. I don’t know who chose Vernon Kay as a host but they need their head checked out for damage. Celebrities… Were they really? Could have been Skating with the passers by and I would have known them about as much. Could the panel be any more irritating or less interesting, I think not. The whole things smacks of cheap budget and low cost. The original British version on the show which is called Dancing on Ice is superior in practically every way, better hosts, better panel, celebrities who still actually have an active career, better ice… Read more »
No, I would not renew Skating with the Stars.
I really liked it, but I didn’t watch entire episodes on TV, I just watched the performances on YouTube the next day. I did watch a couple on Hulu after the fact so now I understand people’s complaints about the host being annoying and the judges being so-so. I think they should get a new host, maybe replace a judge or two and try again. I found the actual skating performances very entertaining!
I was not too thrilled with this show either; although, I liked watching Rebecca Budding skate, and I always like Betheny Frankel’s frankness. This show just didn’t do enough to keep me watching every week. It’s possible that the execs chose a bad time to introduce it after the DWTS season. It may have seem like a good idea to place the DWTS spin-off show at the end of that shows season, but when you take into consideration all of the hoopla going on with DWTS last season, I think a lot of people were just tired of sitting in… Read more »
This show is terrible. It is the first show this year that I started watching but could not force myself to watch. There are many other good shows out there more worth saving than this — namely Detroit 187 — that ABC should just dump this and move on.
Too much personal background and not enough on-screen skating. I say ditch it.
I gave this show a chance, but like the others, didn’t really like the hosts, judges, or the “celebrities” really enticing to watch. The whole program was really “blah” for me. I found myself cringing every time the host, Vernon Kay makes a catty remark that went completely over the head of the audience and the entire timing of the show was somehow off. Also, I found that the set was just a tad too small for a real skating competition and everything seemed really cramped on set. I’m a Canadian and I found that the CBC-produced “Battle of the… Read more »
One comment – as for Dick Button, whether anyone knew him or not, he came off as did the rest as someone whose opinion you could care less about. They should have had someone more contemporary, thought that would not have helped this poor idea.
Nothing worked. Their personalities were terrible. No one was attractive and talented. It’s that simple.