ABC will once again have Dancing With the Stars on its air after the long-running competition series took a brief detour to Disney+ last year.
The broadcast network will air the 32nd season of DWTS in the fall, and it will stream live on Disney+ as well. The reversal (first reported by Vulture) comes a little over a year after the surprise announcement that the show would become a Disney+ exclusive, with hopes that the weekly show — which averaged better than 6 million viewers for its last ABC run in 2021 — would help draw and maintain subscribers to the streamer.
Dancing With the Stars will now run on both platforms, as well as stream the next day on Hulu. Moving the unscripted series back to the broadcast network could also be a form of insurance should the Writers Guild of America strike, which began Monday night, last long enough to impact the normal start of production on scripted shows for the fall.
The show that’s returning to ABC will also look somewhat different than when it was last on the network. Tyra Banks announced in March that she was departing DWTS after serving as host for three seasons, including the last two on ABC. Alfonso Ribeiro, who co-hosted season 31 with Banks, will take over emcee duties for the coming season, and former DWTS pro and judge Julianne Hough is returning as co-host. Hough’s brother, Derek, is among the judges along with Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli. Derek Hough is taking the chair previously occupied by Len Goodman, who left the show after last season and died at age 78 on April 22.
