Lifetime Renews 'Dance Moms' for Third Season (Exclusive)

9:30 AM PDT 10/10/2012 by Lesley Goldberg , Leslie Bruce

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The network has ordered 26 episodes of the unscripted series featuring Abby Lee Miller.

Lifetime

"Dance Moms"

Lifetime is filling up its dance card with Abby Lee Miller.

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The female-skewing cable network has renewed Dance Moms for a third season,The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

The docuseries featuring Miller as a dance instructor who navigates training students while dealing with their often overbearing mothers will return next year with 26 hourlong episodes.

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"With major growth season-to-season and a bonafide star in Abby Lee Miller, Dance Moms continues to be a top performer and important franchise for Lifetime," Lifetime exec vp programming Rob Sharenow said. "It's become a force in the docusoap genre and we're very pleased to bring Dance Moms back with more episodes next year."

Season two wrapped in September and ranks as the No. 1 unscripted series in the Tuesday at 9 p.m. slot among women 18-49 and bested its first season in adults 18-49 by nearly 70 percent. Additionally, Dance Moms stands as Lifetime's youngest-skewing current series with a median age of 32, five years younger than its freshman run.

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The show, a Teen Choice 2012 nominee, has also spawned a spinoff, Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, which premiered Tuesday and featured 12 of the country's best youth dancers competing for a $100,00 prize. Lifetime in January also ordered six hourlong episodes of Dance Moms: Miami featuring instructors Victor Smalley and Angel Armas.

STORY: 'Dance Moms' Producer Developing 'Ice Moms' at Lifetime

The series is produced by Collins Avenue, which is also developing a similarly themed Ice Moms, set in the competitive world of figure skating as Lifetime continues to captatlize on the success of Dance Moms.