'Dancing With the Stars': Why a former Backstreet Boy could win it all
Another celebrity contestant departed the reality competition 'Dancing' as the end of the season nears. Meanwhile, can 'Dancing' pull in younger viewers?
'Dancing With the Stars' contestants Lindsay Arnold (l.) and Alek Skarlatos (r.) perform on the show.
Adam Taylor/ABC/AP
The newest episode of 鈥淒ancing With the Stars鈥� ended with the departure of singer Andy Grammer and his professional dance partner.
The 鈥淗oney, I鈥檓 Good鈥� singer and his partner, Allison Holker, left the show after performing a Viennese waltz during a week in which contestants were asked to base their routines around someone who inspired them. Grammer spoke about his late mother.聽
Meanwhile, former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and his partner Sharna Burgess earned a perfect score of 30 for the night. Two teams tied for second place, conservationist Bindi Irwin and her partner聽Derek Hough, and聽singer Tamar Braxton and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
"Dancing" is approaching the end of this season's competition, so it will be interesting to see if the three can maintain the momentum to make it to the end.
"Dancing With the Stars" remains a popular show in terms of overall viewers 鈥� during the 2014-2015 TV season, 鈥淒ancing鈥� placed among the top 10 most-watched shows of the year, coming in ninth.聽
However, 鈥淒ancing鈥� seems to appeal mostly to older viewers. Among the desirable 18-49 demographic, the show doesn't even crack the top 40.
By comparison, the NBC competition 鈥淭he Voice鈥� manages to appeal more widely to different demographics, drawing more 18-49-year-old viewers, coming in tenth place for the 2014-2015 TV season.
Why is 鈥淰oice鈥� so much more popular with young viewers? The singing reality competition has an unusual gimmick: judges listen to prospective contestants with their chairs turned away and must decide whether they like them based only upon their voices. Perhaps younger viewers are attracted by this fresh concept, which is different from previous singing competitions like 鈥淎merican Idol鈥� and 鈥淭he Voice.鈥澛�
In addition, "Voice" judges are often musicians who have current hits.聽For the latest season, judge Adam Levine鈥檚 band Maroon 5 has been a consistent presence on the Billboard Hot 100. Judge Blake Shelton's "Reloaded: 20 #1 Hits" was released in Oct.Millennial viewers are no doubt familiar with the songs of judge Gwen Stefani鈥檚 band No Doubt, and judge Pharrell Williams has had several recent hits over the past few years, including his mega-hit 鈥淗appy鈥� and collaborations with Daft Punk and Robin Thicke.聽