Last night and this morning I had a couple of ideas that I want to share and pass on. I think they're good ideas and I think people should listen. So here goes:
To the producers of Dancing with the Stars - I've watched your show from the beginning . . . season one. The only episode I've ever missed was the one that aired the day my new dog (at the time - I've had him several years now) chewed through the cable line and I had no antenna. In my defense though, I DID watch it online the next day. I only say this to point out my dedication to the show over the years so that you know what I say is out of love and intended as constructive criticism.
That said, let me get to the point . . . stop wasting my time. I've long ago accepted that elimination night is roughly 20 minutes of commercials, 35 minutes of crap no one cares about and 5 minutes dedicated to announcing who is going home. I quit watching it live so that I can fast forward through all the useless stuff and get right to the point of Tuesday night's show.
I've also stopped watching competition night live. This season I started watching How I Met Your Mother first, then jumping over to DWTS so that I can fast forward through commercials and the timing works out such that we end at the same time. BUT, these last two weeks, when I've switched over to DWTS, competition night hadn't even started yet! The last two weeks the first thirty minutes or so were wasted on showing us useless stuff that had nothing to do with the competition. Don't get me wrong, I loved watching the Top Ten Favorites last night but that's usually useless stuff that's aired on elimination nights. What gives with that? If you don't have enough competition to fill the night, cut down how much time you allow for it. Give another show a shot at the wasted air time.
But I said I wanted to offer some constructive criticism, and I do. So here it is, let's cut out elimination night. I know that sounds like I'm eliminating something kind of vital to the competition but hear me out. In season one you only aired one night a week. Go back to that but put a spin on it. Here's what I propose . . .
On week one, everyone dances for judges scores and viewer votes as usual. The following week, the first five minutes are dedicated to announcing the bottom two dancers, who have prepared a new dance for the week. They have a dance off for scores and the it's the judges scores that week that send a dancer packing. The scores for the saved dancer carry over and are combined with viewers' votes that week and the show continues in that way. That way only one night a week is dedicated to the show and it kind of kicks up the tension each week.
Just promise you'll think about it, okay?
But there's something else. You need to get some published authors on the show (publishing agents/editors you need to get on board with this too!). If you did, you'd get viewers that you might not otherwise get because I can tell you from experience, writers (romance writers in particular) are very supportive of one another. (To the publishing agents out there, get cracking on this because not only would your authors get free marketing, they'd get paid, which means you'd get a cut!)
I even have a few suggestions to help you out with this. I think Mary Higgins Clark would make a great partner for Tony Dovolani. Or how about Julia Quinn with Derek Hough? Jill Shalvis with Max-with-the-unspellable-last-name (I'd love to see how he did in the wilderness when she does her nature walks and hears wild animals. Or how he reacts to spiders. I bet he'd scream like a girl! heehee). You could even partner up Stephen King with Kym Johnson.
So there you go. I've given you a few suggestions to start with, what you do with it is up to you. But the bottom line (and forgive me for repeating myself) is, you need to stop wasting my time with useless crap that adds no value whatsoever to the show!
There now, I feel better. :-)
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