Dancing with the Stars

The first season of Dancing with the Stars debuted on ABC on June 1, 2005. Six celebrities were paired with six professional ballroom dancers. Tom Bergeron and Lisa Canning were the hosts for this season. The premiere drew over 13 million viewers, the biggest summer debut ever for an American reality series. The second week climbed to 15 million viewers, and the show climbed to No. 1 in the summer 2005 TV season ratings, where it remained for the remainder of the season. The season finale aired July 6, 2005.

The second season of the U.S. edition of Dancing with the Stars premiered on the ABC network on January 5, 2006, and ended February 24, 2006. This season expanded to ten couples from six in the previous season. Season two expanded each program from an hour to 90 minutes, and added an hour-long results show the following night. Two couples were declared safe in an earlier portion of the show, the remaining couples were then named off until only the bottom two were left.

The third season of Dancing With the Stars premiered on September 12, 2006 and ended November 15, 2006. The number of couples expanded from ten the previous season to 11. For this season, the scoring system was changed. Fan vote only counted for 25% of the total score and scoring was now translated directly from percentages rather than into ordinals. The judges scores were added up, and each performer was given points based on the percentage of the total points distributed among all performers. The fan vote was handled the same way, with the points based on how much of the total fan vote the star received. The results shows of this season featured the Slim Fast Dance Challenge, where Tysonia Sichinga and Christian Perry illustrated how exercise such as dancing could aid weight loss. Unfortunately, Tysonia wound up gaining 5 pounds from what she said, "too much Slim Fast".

The fourth season of Dancing with the Stars premiered on March 19, 2007 and aired until May 22, 2007. To avoid direct competition with Fox's American Idol, Dancing with the Stars changed time slots from the previous season. In this season, the performance show aired on Mondays, and the results show aired on Tuesdays. No elimination was scheduled for the first week, in order to allow viewers two weeks to see all of the couples perform both Latin and Standard ballroom dances. This season was broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom on Sunday afternoons from Sunday, July 15, 2007. Captions appeared on screen throughout the show to remind viewers that this was recorded earlier in the year and that they could not vote on the outcome. None of the first three seasons was screened in the UK. This season beat season two for the highest amount of perfect scores awarded, and fifteen perfect scores were awarded.

The fifth season of Dancing with the Stars premiered on September 24, 2007 with a special three-night premiere week. The season ended on November 27, 2007. As with previous seasons, CTV Television Network had aired the series in Canada. "24" became the most popular lowest score per round. Eight were given to couples that landed in the bottom of the leader board. The show was hosted by Tom Bergeron, with returning judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli, and Carrie Ann Inaba. Co-host Samantha Harris gave birth on September 23, 2007; during her leave of absence season two champion Drew Lachey served as co-host. On October 15, 2007 Harris returned to the show. On August 29, 2007, the celebrity cast was announced on Good Morning America by host Tom Bergeron, judge Carrie Ann Inaba, and reigning celebrity champion Apolo Anton Ohno.