2018 Season Overview and Air Dates
The twenty-sixth season of Dancing with the Stars premiered on March 12, 2018, on ABC, with live shows airing on Monday nights and results on Tuesday nights. The season ran for thirteen weeks, concluding with the finale on May 21, 2018, and the schedule followed a standard format of rehearsals, practice performances, and live results shows. The season featured a mix of returning professionals and new cast members, with episodes typically starting at 8:00 PM Eastern Time on ABC and streaming same-day on Hulu. For the full broadcast history, see the ABC schedule archive at abc.com.
Each week of the 2018 season focused on a specific dance style or theme, such as Latin night, Disney night, or movie night, shaping the rehearsal schedule and choreography assignments. The broadcast schedule included two live episodes per week for most of the season, with a mid-season break that aligned with major sporting events and network programming shifts. The consistent Monday and Tuesday time slots helped the show maintain a stable viewership pattern throughout the spring run.
Cast, Professional Dancers, and Scoring
The 2018 cast included celebrities such as Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez, NFL player Von Miller, and actress Miranda Cosgrove, each paired with a professional dancer from the show's rotating roster. The professional lineup featured returning dancers like Witney Carson, Lindsay Arnold, and Gleb Savchenko, alongside newer professionals integrated into the season's competitive format. The scoring system used a 30-point scale per dance, combining judges' scores from Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli, with the lowest-scoring couple facing elimination each Tuesday results show. Detailed cast bios and weekly scores were published by ABC and referenced on Forbes entertainment coverage.
The average scores for each couple were tracked weekly, with the bottom two couples facing a dance-off judged by the panel to determine who stayed and who was sent home. The scoring data influenced the rehearsal intensity, with lower-scoring couples often receiving extra practice time and choreography adjustments before the next live show. The combination of public votes and judges' scores created a dual-weighted system that shaped the competitive standings throughout the season.
Episode Structure and Broadcast Details
Each episode typically opened with a rehearsal montage, followed by the live performance, judge critiques, and a final score announcement before the results segment revealed the elimination. The 2018 schedule included special themed nights that required additional preparation time, such as Latin week, team dance challenges, and celebrity-producer duets that added variety to the standard format. The show's production team coordinated with the ABC broadcast calendar to align live episodes with other primetime programming, minimizing schedule conflicts for viewers.
Viewers could watch full episodes and bonus content on Hulu the same day, with streaming availability extending the schedule accessibility beyond the live broadcast window. The show's social media channels, including Twitter and Instagram, provided real-time updates, rehearsal clips, and behind-the-scenes content that complemented the weekly episode schedule. For the official network and production details, see the Disney-ABC Television Group page at disneyabctv.com.