'Dancing With the Stars': Season 31's Schedule and Why It's No Longer on ABC

It wasn't immediately clear to fans why Dancing With the Stars moved to Disney Plus and no longer airs on ABC. But, because it's now on a streaming platform, viewers are curious about the Dancing With the Stars episode release schedule for Season 31.

Unlike other platforms, like Netflix and Hulu, where a handful of episodes or even all of a season's episodes are released at once, that's not the case when it comes to Disney Plus.

Honestly, though, some people prefer it that way. They can enjoy the slow burn of a show's season released gradually rather than feel the pressure to binge watch 12 episodes in two days. Have we done that? Of course. But is it a whole *thing* too? Absolutely.

And with a show like DWTS, which features a competition, it's better viewed over the course of several weeks rather than all at once.

The DWTS Season 31 premiere airs live on Disney Plus on Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. EST. Afterward, you can stream the episode as many times as you want to re-watch it. As with previous seasons of the show, Season 31 features two-hour episodes.

Except in this case, Disney Plus doesn't feature commercials during the show. That's a huge deal for this series in particular and it could entice new fans to take notice of the long-running dance competition show.

Every week, on Mondays at 8 p.m. EST, new episodes of DWTS premiere on Disney Plus. You'll be able to vote for your favorite pairs during these live episodes too.

It's unclear if the season finale, which should drop on Nov. 7, 14, or even 21, will be longer than a standard episode or broken into two parts. But it, too, will air on Disney Plus.

DWTS aired on ABC for 30 seasons over the course of 16 years. But in April 2022, ABC announced plans to move the show to Disney Plus, as Disney owns ABC. And it all stems from the NFL schedule for Monday nights.

"After over 30 seasons of the program on ABC, including two spin-offs, Dancing with the Stars will move off of ABC this fall in order for the network to showcase several Monday Night Football games as well as develop and invest in new and future programming," the network said in a statement obtained by Deadline.

In the past, seasons of The Bachelorette did air in the 8-10 p.m. Monday night slot before, so it's clearly a cushy position for any ABC show to be in. But, starting with Season 31 of DWTS, the dancing reality show has a new home. Ahead of its Season 31 premiere, DWTS was also renewed for Season 32.

So, while it's no longer on network TV, DWTS is still here to stay for a while. You'll just have to open your Disney Plus app in order to watch your favorite B and C-list celebrities do the waltz in an effort to win the coveted Mirrorball trophy.

Watch Dancing With the Stars on Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on Disney Plus.