I thought Dance Moms would be like Toddlers and Tiaras, a show I’ve reviewed before but I was pretty surprised.  I’ll admit I’ve only seen one episode of the show so far so I feel like I can’t form a completely solid opinion about it, but judging by some previews for the show, there have been some disputes in the past. The episode I saw seemed to have a lot going on, so that’s hopefully enough.

When you compare Toddlers and Tiaras you see some pretty big differences: the girls in Dance Moms have actual talent; they (for the most part) work as a group, they aren’t sore losers, and they don’t badmouth their competition. The show is called Dance Moms, so I shouldn’t be surprised that the show revolves around the mothers of the girls in the dance group. I was surprised that they were so childish and petty though, and that spoils the show a bit.

I wish the show focused more on the girls because, like I mentioned previously, they’re talented and seem nice and supportive of others. They certainly have more class than some of their parents. There was a mother that decided to take a vacation with her boyfriend instead of watching her daughter compete in a national competition, and another woman got into a huge argument with the dance instructor, Abby. She told Abby where she could stick a trophy and later dragged her daughters out of the studio, leaving them unprepared for the competition. There was also a dad that threatened to remove his daughters from the group. Fortunately, not all the parents are like that, but there is unnecessary screen time devoted to the rude and selfish parents.

I will say this about the show: despite its flaws, it’s better than the other shows I’ve reviewed. The girls’ talent makes it tolerable. (They won the competition by the way).