SUMMER SENSATION "DANCING WITH THE STARS" RETURNS TO WARM UP WINTER, BEGINNING THURSDAY, JANUARY 5

The summer hit "Dancing with the Stars" will return with an eight-week run, beginning Thursday, January 5 (8:00 p.m., ET), it was announced today by Andrea Wong, executive vice president, Alternative Programming, Specials and Late-Night, ABC Entertainment. This summer's only true hit series, "Dancing" will replace the action drama "Alias," which will take a broadcast hiatus due to Jennifer Garner's maternity leave and which is scheduled to return to the lineup with original episodes in the spring.

"We are so grateful viewers embraced this show," said Ms. Wong. "With a new cast of stars and the addition of the results show, we will be delivering to them a season that has even more drama, more dancing and more glitter!"

This second season of "DWTS" will feature a new lineup of celebrities, who will be announced at a later date. A weekly results show will air in the days following the Thursday broadcast. The day and time of that broadcast will also be announced at a later date.

With an average audience of 16.8 million viewers, "Dancing with the Stars" concluded its six-week summer run as the most-watched summer series on any network in the last five years - since the inaugural season of CBS' "Survivor" during Summer 2000. The ABC unscripted show ranked a dominant No. 1 in its time slot among Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, qualifying as the top TV show of the evening on each of its telecasts on both Nielsen measures. "Dancing with the Stars" greatly improved its time period, boosting ABC's performance in the hour by 12.2 million viewers (16.8 million vs. 4.6 million) and by 168% in Adults 18-49 (5.1/15 vs. 1.9/6) over the same weeks the previous summer.

"Dancing with the Stars" is the U.S. version of the international smash hit series, "Strictly Come Dancing." This version is produced in America by BBC Worldwide. Richard Hopkins (UK) and Conrad Green (USA) are executive producers. Izzie Pick is supervising producer. Alex Rudzinski directs.