Why? When I attended the Finale last week, I spoke with producers and show spokesmen as well as the crews and ABDC personalities. They said encouraging words about Season 4. But it felt --- forced. Kind of like a family celebration where you know that the couples may divorce, or a Christmas party at a company that may have to start layoffs. The words are there, but you still feel uneasy.
What's the problem? Not ratings or lack of talent. So, it might be production costs. As Chrissy at Yahoo! TV wrote last week, ABDC is one of the most expensive programs for Viacom (MTV's parent company) to produce, especially with the costs of music clearances. Viacom has had financial problems and recent layoffs, and they might not be willing/able to maintain the show in its current form.
I REALLY hope this isn't the case. However, if MTV did drop ABDC, I also hope that another cable or broadcast network would pick up the show. Back in October 2008, I spoke to ABDC creator and executive producer Howard Schwartz at the NY ABDC auditions. He told me that originally NBC had been interested in the program, but eventually passed on it. Perhaps NBC (or another network) will now be sold on the ABDC for a few key reasons:
- ABDC has shown that it can deliver ratings and loyalty with a younger audience.
- The show would be less expensive for them to produce than star-laden dramas or situation comedies
- Oher dance shows are prospering on broadcast TV, so this format is not a risky unknown.
