Dancing Returns… As Might Six Degrees!
Addressing literal critics on Sunday morning, ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson confirmed that DANCING WITH THE STARS would return with a pair of two-hour episodes in mid-March, and surprised some with the news that failed serial SIX DEGREES remains in production. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the exec said that DANCING would air on March 19 and 26. He also indicated that both THE NINE and SIX DEGREES might return in the spring, saying that the latter was still producing the final installments of its 13-episode initial order.
Apparently, there was fierce debate behind the scenes as to whether or not DANCING should face-off against the juggernaut of IDOL. In the end, McPherson said that viewers should “not have to choose between IDOL and DANCING.” He did, however, note that it seems likely the two will cross swords at some point during the season. “I’m sure FOX will air as many two-hour IDOLS and as many IDOLS as possible to win the 18-49 [demographic] and beat up on us.”
The End Of Lost?
In other news, McPherson addressed criticism that LOST had, well, lost its way. “You know,” he said of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer-centric beginning to the season, “I liked it.” Not exactly a stunning proclamation from the big cheese. He did, however, admit that allowing the show to go on a nearly-four-month hiatus might have been a mistake, and speculated that in the future, the network might opt to air all of the season’s episodes back-to-back. “I think coming into next fall,” he said, “coming into next fall there’s a good chance we would run it 22 straight either in the fall or in the spring.”
Meanwhile, LOST’s executive producer, Carlton Cuse, admitted to those gathered at the TV Critics Association press tour that he and the network were in discussions as to when — and how — the series would end. “It’s time for us to find an endpoint to the show,” he said. “It’s a struggle for us, because we don’t know if we have three years, four years or more to go. If we had an endpoint, then we could figure out where everything goes.”
Cuse admitted that giving fans a timetable might also allay many of their questions about whether the show knows where it’s going. “Once we figure out when [it will conclude], a lot of those concerns will go away.” Asked to speculate when the end might draw nigh, the exec first speculated that the show could end at the 100th episode mark (which would come during season five), but admitted it seemed more likely that the show would run through the seventh season, at which point many of the stars’ contracts would expire. He cited THE X-FILES as “a great show that probably lasted two seasons too long,” while pointing to the Harry Potter books as a potential role model. “J.K. Rowling announced seven [books, allowing a] certainty that the story is drawing to a conclusion.”