why is there only 2 judges on dwts

The reason there are only two judges on the Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) Season 34 premiere is that longtime judge Carrie Ann Inaba was absent due to illness. The showrunners decided not to bring in a guest judge to replace her for the premiere, resulting in the judging panel consisting only of Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough for that episode. This is unusual for the show, which typically brings in a substitute if a judge is missing, but ABC chose to proceed with just the two judges to keep the focus on the contestants and the excitement of the season premiere. There will be no score out of 30 or 40 as usual but rather a total out of 20 points from the two judges on this occasion.