One night while watching TV our daughter mentioned a show she watches with her college roommate called The Next Step. It is a Candian show about a dance studio and its dancers. It was clear that she mentioned it because she wanted us to watch it with her, so we decided to give it a try. We now watch several episodes every night and are almost finished with season 2.
It isn’t the type of show you would expect all three of us to enjoy. My wife and I are obviously not in the demographic they are targeting. I pretty much love most TV, so I’m not a surprise. My wife, however, is. I did not expect her to be the one to want to watch this show every night. There are some nights when I would be OK watching a different show and she’s the one to suggest we go ahead and watch The Next Step. I wish I could tell you why we love it so much, but it is unexplainable.
The first season revolves around the studio preparing to compete in a regional dance competition in hopes of qualifying for nationals. The main drama of the season revolves around a new girl who shows up for auditions and makes A troupe even though she is new to the studio. The dance captain, who is not very nice, plots to get her out of the studio. There are also some romance plots, including a love triangle involving the new girl and the captain liking the same boy. There is an “evil” dance studio that is their main competition in regionals.
There are dance battles for various reasons. There are weird little interview segments where the dancers talk about what is happening in the show. There is no explanation of who they are talking to or why. They have a dance studio owner and a choreographer, but it seems like the dancers pretty much do whatever they want. We enjoy the fact that they never actually say they are in Canada, but it is obvious when they show money or generally when they talk.
I can’t say I am particularly invested in any of the storylines, but I still enjoy watching the show. Each episode is less than 30 minutes, so we can watch several every night. I guess the real test of how much we really enjoy the show vs enjoying the time with our daughter will come when she goes back to college in a couple of weeks. I’m going to guess that we will pause and only watch it when she is home but I could be wrong.
The World's Common Tater 
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