‘DWTS’ EP Reveals Whether Results Show Will Come Back After Tom Bergeron’s Suggestion

On Tuesday night, one of five couples will be awarded the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy on Dancing With the Stars after they perform on the show’s finale. However, there should also be an accolade handed out to executive producers Conrad Green and Deena Katz, who’ve produced another winning season, bringing in a whole new audience to the show in process.

DWTS‘s September premiere had its biggest debut in five years and saw a 49% ratings bump from Season 33, premiere voting had a 163% increase over last season’s premiere, and has increased, according to Variety.

TV Insider chatted with Katz last week right on the ballroom floor after the semi-finals that revealed the five pairs competing in the Season 34 finales would be Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa, Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy, Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach, Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten, and Robert Irwin.

The show’s ratings are up, voting has increased, and there’s lots of critical acclaim. How does all this feel?

Deena Katz: This show is my baby, and I love the show so much. I’m proud of the show. It’s such a pinch me moment because if you would have told me back in Season 1 that we’d be having a Season 34 and we’d be the No. 1 show on broadcast television? It’s crazy. I’m so proud of the show. I love the show so much. And I love that everybody loves the show even more after all this time than they ever did.

In Season 19, YouTuber Bethany Mota competed on the show in an attempt to bring in a different type of audience. Now, this season, it’s social media personality, Alix Earle.

My 24-year-old daughter told me to me, “Mom, [Alix Earle] is the most famous person you’ve ever put on the show,” which I think is funny, in a way, but in that world, she really is.

Disney/Eric McCandless

How would you describe the journey of making Dancing With the Stars become appointment TV for audiences that are used to watching content on their phones?

I’ve tried for so long [to make that connection]. We’ve had people on who have had huge followings, but it never seemed to cross over into viewers [the way it has now]. Three seasons ago, we had Charli D’Amelio [who won], and then, we had Harry Jowsey. Things started to shift a little bit. All my daughter’s friends are in that world where TikTok has become such a huge thing. They got invested [in the show] on TikTok, and now, they almost felt like that have to watch the show to keep up with TikTok. Once that happened, they were like, “Oh. Wait. We love the show.” So, it was this backwards way of not watching the show [on broadcast first], seeing it on TikTok, and it turned itself around.

You’ve found a way to merge the two worlds.

Other people have tried, and I can’t take the credit. It has to happen organically, and it’s just happened organically with this show. Look at Witney [Carson] and Danny [Amendola] in Season 33 and their leg lift. Everybody in America was trying to do it. Once something like that happens, it’s lightning in a bottle. It was fantastic. What I love is that it keeps the fun of the show going all week long until the next episode.

This 20^th birthday year has brought back a lot of favorites including past Mirrorball champions Cheryl Burke, Kym Johnson Herjavec, and the six OG pros (Alec Mazo, Ashly DelGrosso, Louis van Amstel, Jonathan Roberts, Charlotte Jørgensen, and Edyta Śliwińska), who took part in the opening number on birthday night.

I love bringing them back. They know so much about the show. They know the history. They have such great things to say about the show, and I feel that’s part of the reason why the show works so well. We’re a family. You see people from past years in the audience. We brought [the OG pros] back to dance in the opening number. Anytime you can bring the family back, it’s a good thing.

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Our audience has kids, parents, and grandparents who can all watch the show together. I feel like a lot of our audience now is comprised of parents who used to be kids when they first watched the show. Now, they’re watching with their kids. It’s great for them to see the people who have a history with the show in any capacity back on it.

When I first texted the six OG pros, I didn’t want to say it like this, but I felt that they all need to do this because it’s not going to work if it’s not all of you. I told them I had this idea and I wanted all of them there. It wasn’t until after that Louis [van Amstel] told me that he took me off the group text, and then he texted everyone else and said, “We really all need to do it!” Charlotte said yes immediately. That shows the kind of love there is for this show. I thought them all coming back was lovely.

Tom Bergeron made a plea to ABC during his guest spot at the judges table, asking the network to bring back the results show, which used to air on Tuesday nights (following the Monday two-hour performance show). Thoughts?

You know…I think we’re going great right now. But I used to love the results show. They were so much fun. It was like doing a big variety show. We had music, dance…it was everything. It was great. It’d be fun to do those again, but I feel we’re doing great right now. I’m thrilled with what we’re doing.

Dancing With the Stars, 3-hour Season 34 Finale, Tuesday, November 25, 8/7, ABC