‘DWTS Juniors’ Not Airing Tonight Due to Mickey Mouse Birthday Special

Dancing With The Stars: Juniors took this week off, since ABC is airing a Mickey Mouse birthday tribute special. The fifth episode of the new series will not air until Sunday, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. ET.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of Mickey Mouse’s debut. Disney’s trademark character made his first public appearance in the short Steamboat Willie, released on Nov. 18, 1928. To mark the occasion, ABC will air the two-hour, pre-taped Mickey’s 90th Spectacular at 8 p.m. ET Sunday night.

The special was filmed at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with performances from Meghan Trainor, Tori Kelly, Leslie Odom Jr., the Zac Brown Band, Luis Fonsi, Josh Groban, Sofia Carson and NCT 127. Several actors who have worked on Disney projects, including Josh Gad, Kristen Bell, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Sarah Hyland attended, as did Disney chief Bob Iger, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Dancing fans do still have something to watch this week. There is a new episode of the adult DWTS on Monday at 8 p.m. ET, featuring the remaining duos dancing to country music songs.

When DWTS: Juniors returns, one of the seven remaining dance teams will be eliminated. The contestants left on the show are Black-ish actor Miles Brown and Rylee Arnold; skateboarder Sky Brown and J.T. Church; Avengers: Infinity War actress Ariana Greenblatt and Artyon Celestine; Raven’s Home star Jason Maybaum and Elliana Walmsley; Stevie Wonder’s son Mandla Morris and Brighton Brems; spelling bee contestant Akash ukoti and Kamri Preston; and singer Mackenzie Ziegler and Sage Rosen.

During last week’s episode, reality star Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson was eliminated.

While the adult Dancing With The Stars is broadcast live, every episode of DWTS: Juniors was pre-taped, as DWTS pro Lindsay Arnold explained to PopCulture.com. Arnold is one of the DWTS pros who mentored the Juniors contestants, and worked with her younger sister Rylee and Miles.

“It’s really cool that we now get to relive those moments,” Arnold told PopCulture.com. “Because it happened quite a while ago. So it’s fun to sort of watch it and remember all the times that we had and all the memories that we made.”

DWTS: Juniors is hosted by DWTS season 25 contestants Jordan Fisher and Frankie Muniz. In a recent interview with PopCulture.com, Fisher said he “jumped” at the chance to host Juniors and called it one of the most fulfilling jobs he has had in his entertainment career.

“The kids actually get to be a part of the creative [process] and helped dig their ideas out,” the Mirror Ball trophy winner explained. “If they wanted to jump in and help choreograph a little bit, if they wanted to help with wardrobe and design and that kind of thing, that’s something that … it was a ton of fun to watch.”

Dancing With The Stars: Juniors airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET, while the adult Dancing With The Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: ABC/Eric McCandless