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The biggest distribution shift yet.
The same show on a different screen: a platform shift that changed how the format reached its audience without changing the format itself.
Twelve episodes, a streaming-exclusive debut.
Season thirty-one is the show's historic distribution pivot. After fifteen-plus years as an ABC broadcast staple, regular episodes moved exclusively to Disney+ — a shift that changed where the format reached its audience without altering the structure. Tyra Banks and Alfonso Ribeiro returned as co-hosts, twelve episodes played out in the familiar competitive shape, and the arc followed the expected pattern. What changed was the platform, the screen, the delivery model, everything around the format rather than the format itself.
The #30 slot.
Slot #30 of 34 in the Dancing with the Stars Editor's Canon. Season thirty-one moved the show's regular episodes from ABC to Disney+ — ending a broadcast run that had lasted since 2005. The format itself stayed intact: celebrity-professional pairings, panel of judges, live vote, weekly elimination. What changed was the distribution model, and the change was total. Tyra Banks and Alfonso Ribeiro returned as co-hosts for a second year. Twelve competitive episodes played out in the familiar structure. As a competitive season it delivered the format reliably; as a chapter in the show's history it marks the clearest break the format has undergone since its American debut.