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ShowsDancing with the StarsSeason 5
Aired fall 2007 · The highest-rated season of the run

Peak Ratings

Season five drew the largest audience the show had attracted to that point, confirming Dancing with the Stars as a genuine network institution. Eleven episodes across the fall carried competitive stakes the audience had fully internalized — the format was no longer a novelty.

Filmed
Los Angeles, California
CBS Television City, Los Angeles
Premiered
Sep 24, 2007
ABC · September 2007
Episodes
11
Format
Celebrity ballroom · 11 episodes
Record viewership for the series
Host
Tom Bergeron
fifth season with Tom Bergeron at the helm
On this page
  1. 01The take
  2. 02The shape of the season
  3. 03Where it sits in the canon
  4. 05Adjacent in the canon
  5. 06Also appears in
01The take

Peak Ratings.

This was the moment the show stopped being a hit and became an institution.
02The shape of the season

A rhythm worth tracking.

Season five is the ratings high-water mark — the fall 2007 run drew the largest audience the format had produced and established DWTS as a genuine network cornerstone. Eleven episodes gave the competition room to develop week-to-week tension, and the audience responded in numbers that reflected how deeply the format had settled into appointment television. The casting energy matched the moment: a season that felt, from the premiere on, like the show at full confidence.

03Where it sits in the canon

The #02 slot.

Slot #02 of 11 in the Dancing with the Stars Editor's Canon. The seasons on either side show what I ranked it against.

No spoilers. Every page is reviewed before it goes live.
06Also appears in

Cross-references.

Dancing with the Stars — Editor's CanonEditor's Canon · #02
Dancing with the Stars S5 — Peak Ratings — tiered.tv