Dancing with the Stars is hoping to start production for the fall season in September. Currently, ABC and BBC studios are working through the health and safety protocols that will allow the show to proceed.
DWTS is entering it’s 29th season with former America’s Next Top Model and America’s Got Talent host Tyra Banks serving as host and an executive producer.
DWTS and ABC still figuring out if the show will go live
ABC is hoping the show will be able to keep it’s traditional mid-September start at 8 pm. However, sources close to ABC and BBC Studios tell Deadline that the schedule is fluid and continuously evolving with nothing set in stone as a result of the ongoing nature of the virus. These sources say that they are still figuring out whether the show can go live.
Right now, COVID-19 cases are rising in California, forcing Governor Gavin Newsom to roll back opening the state. For now, film production is still on track to move forward, with strict protocols in place.
According to Deadline, the production team is currently working on and submitting its planned safety procedures to the unions and guilds, though it’s too early in the process to have full approval.
ABC relying on lessons learned from DWTS territories around the world
ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke told Deadline that BBC Studios had taken lessons from other markets where the show is produced.
“I have seen the presentation from the Dancing with the Stars producers on how we are planning to produce this show, post-COVID and with the health regulations in place because they have the advantage of making it in other territories and I am blown away by the ingenuity and the care which they are producing it,” she said. “We are bringing all of those innovations to the American broadcast. I’m really confident in their plan.”
Former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe is the first star lined up to waltz over to the show. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba claims the judges will return, including Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman (Len is currently in the UK. Whether the 76 year old is willing to travel to a Covid-infested USA, in addition to working through the red tape to get a special visa to work around the travel ban, remains to be seen.)
Tyra replaces Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews, who were fired from the show.
