“Dancing with the Stars” premieres this Monday on Disney+, making it the first competition series to debut live on the streaming service — a feat that executive producer Conrad Green says will get everyone’s adrenaline pumping. sure.
“It’s like a NASCAR pitstop,” the producer told TheWrap.
Green is returning to the series after launching the show on ABC in 2005. After exiting in 2014, he said that it only felt right to return to the show when it was going through another historic transformation. And for Green, the key to success will be “pushing the boundaries” to create a show that’s even more spectacular than that on broadcast television, he said.
In a new interview with TheWrap, Greene explains how he’ll do that, which includes pulling back some fan favorites like Sky Box and Dance Troupe, along with hitting the two-hour deadline.
TheWrap: What are the big changes that viewers can expect? [while] Watching ‘DWTS’ on Disney+?
Conrad Green: The biggest change in many ways is that there are no ad breaks. So this is a live live show. I mean, it’s always been a [most] Live shows on TV in that regard. Now, it’s even more so because it’s like a Broadway production, where the whole thing doesn’t have time to breathe. So the result is that we are bringing back the Sky Box where celebrities used to hang out. Alfonso has joined as a host, which I think is going to be wonderful with Tyra. So it would be more like the pattern where Tyra used to talk to the judges. [and] gets points. [Contestants] They go to the box, they talk to Alfonso and when they are in the Skye box they get their score. Then we chat a little more. So, in that sense, it will be familiar to people who have watched the show from day one. But that means all we’re doing on the floor is like swans trying to look regal, but furiously in the name of paddling. We’ll try to clean the floor and put in the next props and all that sort of stuff. So it’s a technical challenge for us as a production, but now we’ve got such a good, reliable team on the show that we believe we can [can] remove it. I think what it will do is make the show even more engaging and lively.
So while the audience is getting more time with the contestants, the production will be less.
Ad breaks used to be a time when we could comfortably switch props, but now it’s just relentless. This also means that the shows will be longer and there will be a little more time with celebrities. The judge will be able to talk a little longer. It won’t be as frantic as it [had] There has been some early shows, but it will still move at a good pace. Otherwise what we really want to bring is the show. After all, it’s always been a show about the stories of people learning to dance and trying to do the impossible. While it seems like it’s the same thing every time, it’s absolutely not the case. There’s an infinite amount of those stories, because everyone’s journey on the show is a little different.
We’re bringing back the dance troupe, who are going to be two amazing boys and girls that we can use in the middle because the guys are going out. We can, on some shows, get the lane [Goodman] To come out from behind your desk and actually give us a little tutorial when people are walking by. He can say ‘Well, it’s a Roomba. Here’s how it works, and what I look for.’ he can do that [a dancer] moves so that you can literally point to them. We are looking at different ways to slightly vary the flow of the show so that it doesn’t get too continuous.
Do you see Disney+’s move as an opportunity to tap into the digital side of things and make shows more interactive?
I mean, at the moment we’re focused on the transition, which is just getting the show over there. To be honest, doing a big, live entertainment show on a streamer without a break is the first of its kind. So that is a thing in itself and the people who watch the streamer are used to tuning in in real time, rather than having everything happen when you want it. Of course you can watch it later. But if you want to be on the show, if you want to have control over who stays and who goes, you have to treat it like a live show. So first of all that part of it is our challenge — to bring some of the urgency of the show live on ABC.
I’m thinking about your approach to casting and how you tap into the cultural conversation to find the right contestants.
I’m back on the show, so I had a few years away from it. But from day one, we have always had people’s wish lists. Dina Katz, who casts on the show and is co-executive producer, is amazing. She’s been running since day one, and she’s so inspiring. some people started talking [with] That’s when we did the first show in 2005, and they didn’t show up until 2020. A lot of people find this quite intimidating. On the other hand, there are those who almost immediately came out of the ether. They suddenly present themselves, and we think ‘that would be a good idea.’ I think we always try and do the show what kind of people we have. So like last season, we had our first same sex couple. It is always good to just change the dynamic and have a different experience. We have got a contestant in this show who is different from any of our previous contestants, and I think it will be really interesting to see. We also want to move with the times. We started in 2005. This was before the arrival of the iPhone. So that was before social media. We are now in a world where the traditional old school media has been disbanded. We have to try and stick with it and make sure that we are not leaving our core audience behind. So it’s a balancing act.
You mentioned that there will be more challenges because you can no longer pay attention to ads. Then how are you going to prepare for the unexpected? what’s the plan?
I mean, this is what makers keep awake at night dreaming. What if a terrible catastrophe is about to happen? It’s difficult. In the past, you could throw to break. So one of the things we’re trying to work on is what is the equivalent of throwing to breaking? … overall, most [emergencies]We have some sort of plan, but that’s why you have great hosts and a responsive team. We’ve managed to work around a lot of things that I never would have imagined. … I was very impressed with what the team did over the years of COVID, managing to pull off a show in this way amidst all the restrictions and hardships of shooting. Obviously COVID has not gone away, but the world has changed its relationship to COVID a bit. So we are definitely bringing back viewers this season, which I think is extremely important. It’s a great entertainment show, and enjoying it, without seeing humans in the back shot – that takes a lot away from it. So we’re really happy that we’ve been able to bring back some of these more familiar aspects that feel like people have enjoyed so much over time.
This all sounds a little intimidating.
It’s like a NASCAR pitstop. Now we have to treat those swap overs almost like a stopwatch, because from the moment the dance ends, and the judge has given his comments and sent them to the Sky Box for a chat with Alfonso… you ‘ Maybe I’ll get a total of three minutes to quietly pull out the props. I was on the show from day one, and I then look back on the set and it looks so primitive. Over the years, we’ve gotten better and better at squeezing that room to get more and more production out of that room. I look at it now and it’s a huge improvement compared to when I was gone. So now we have to learn what we can do and keep pushing the limits. And that’s kind of funny. I think the adrenaline comes from pulling it off.
“Dancing With the Stars” premieres Monday 9/19 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on Disney+.