BBC Concerned about Strictly Ratings:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/strictly...y-ratings.html

1) Scores out of 100 to be able to show real progress. This means if Len wants to give a 7 or then 70, he can show progress between 70 and 79 and differentiate slightly more. I know this would mean changing the paddle system as that could end up getting confusing! And might mean that scores got slightly more confusing but you could take an average rather than giving it out of 400, which I don't think would be too complex to understand.

2) Get rid of Alesha and bring in Lorna Lee (head of ISTD latin dancing) or similar. You can then have bruno and craig as performance experts and len and lorna as ballroom/latin experts respectively.

3) Get rid of Bruce and bring in Gethin or Aled Jones

4) Stop all the personal life on the main strictly shows. Stick it all with Claudia on ITT as it is better for "that kind of show" and means the attention stays firmly on the dancing on Saturday night.

5) Split the performance and results show by sticking Merlin or whatever it may be in the middle.

6) Start with 16 couples but have double eliminations for the first fortnight.

7) Get them all doing a group dance every week from the beginning.

8) Better camera work. More "dull" straight in front of them so we can see them dancing and their feet etc.

9) More instrumental, traditional music as the band are Fantastic. If a pro specifically wants a piece of music not suited to the singers ability, they should get in a session musician for that piece of music, and try to employ good singers on a weekly basis rather than a one size fits all type policy.

10) Get rid of the dance off. All on judges scores & audience vote.

Strictly has become its own worst enemy.

My bet is that those appearing next year will be even lesser known people than this year.
To commit fourteen weeks right up until to Christmas, with the the level of dedication, fitness and hours of training now required to compete and not look a total idiot, has put most "names" and "lovies" off.

bruce must Retire.
hes not even remotely funny anymore.

Len is another who needs to move along

please no kate thornton, shes fine for loose women but look how bland she was on x factor :yawn:.

think alesha has to go from the judging, shes not bringing anything to it at all. she should replace tess as the presenter.

if bruce was to go then im not sure who i would like to take over but the ones i know i wouldnt want are terry wogan or graham norton. that really would make me turn off.

i think it could even be a good idea to change it round a bit and get someone like fern britton and steve jones to do the presenting.

defo karen and brendan on the judging panel though i would really miss brendan dancing if that was the case.

-Go back to just 12 couples.
-Seperate main and results show, both on Saturday night.
-No clashing with The X Factor. It benefits nobody.
-A more qualified judge would be ideal in Alesha's place.
-Ditch the dance-off when only six couples remain.
-Also, if it's still a four-judge panel.don't give Len the deciding vote. Either it's a 3-1/4-0 majority or the public vote decides. Yeah, it's ripped off the X Factor, but it IS a better idea.
-Some more well-known names would be good, but that's not too likely.

Strictly is a great show, but I think the changes they've made since series 4 have ruined it somewhat. It needs to go back to basics. Sometimes, less is more.

If Brendan were to become a judge, could he please be contractually obliged to sit next to Craig?

Paddles at dawn!!

Brendan and Camilla have made up years ago. He judges her on another show.

Given the concern over the poor ratings is has the problem been caused by Jay Hunt - the programme controller

More SEX ♂♀ and VIOLENCE .

Thanks to those who were so kind about my earlier post.
I used to be an Strctly fanatic, as were my elderly parents and teenage kids.
We watched avidly from Series 1, but if I could pinpoint one moment when I started to think it was all going horribly wrong, it was during series 5, when the judges kicked Gaby Logan out in favour of Rod Stewart's wife (her name is as memorable as her dancing ability) becuase of the introduction of the dance off.
The BBC were so amazed at it's popularity that they felt they had to keep making it bigger, better, longer and now - The Most Difficult Ever.............. and it's sense of its own importance turned it into a monster ( a situation personnified by its 'presenter').

I don't watch the XFactor, so that's not an issue for me.
I love the whole event of Strictly and wouldn't miss ITT for the world - it's small and intimate and friendly and Claudia always has a positive, excited attitude which is infectious.
But I rarely tune in on Saturdays now because it's not the happy, feelgood programme it used to be.

SEX and VIOLENCE!

LOL!! Always good for ratings!!

My suggestions:

Brucie to go... sorry but weeeeell past it, the outburst at Craig shows poor judgement, and if the host cant be controlled and unemotional in a show its a problem.
Not sure on replacement. Some good names bandied around:

Paul O'Grady- the sardonic wit (toned down) would go a treat.
Vernon Kaye- actually I do HATE him on TV (better on radio IMO) but the right kind of presenter IMO
Julian Clary- a good choice if toned down. And hes been on the show which is another plus point.
wogan- as an outsider choice. V unlikely to happen but I could see him being very well suited to SCD. Hes a bit ancient though... Im not being ageist (honest!) but if the talk is of Brucie being past it and at the end of his career couldnt we say the same of Terry?

NO's:

John Barrowman: Tendancy to be LOUD, OTT and attention seeking. We cant have a presenter who appears to be dominant, he needs to be a facilitator making everything flow along. ( i like Barrowman btw, but this isnt the correct vehicle for him)
Graham Norton: I liked him on Ch 4, but hes never blown me away as a presenter on the BBC. seems to have had his wings clipped a bit- I find him lacklustre.
Aled Jones- sorry- I dont watch Songs of Praise but wouldnt he be a little bit....... dull??
Anton: Not a cat in hell's chance...

Looks like we are stuck with Tess for another year so will pass on that one!

Judges: There are noticeably poorer rating this year and i think Alesha will be made to fall on her sword (although all the problems are not due to her) A female with some SCD experience (like Karen)... or poss Camilla might be a good idea....

Pros: Less is more (same with celebs). Can we get rid of the increasingly obvious lame duck Anton please? there are always lots of new female dancers, rarely any males. A new male would be appreciated. And 12 or 14 rather than a ridiculous amount...

Celebs: Less please! So you can offer them better wages and that might attract a better calibre of celeb. Im not particularly bothered that there are soap stars there (always were) but the fact that the show doesnt pay well must surely be a disincentive to higher profile people who might otherwise fancy a go at it, but wont work for a pittance...(in showbiz terms). Low wages attract low profile celebs, and the more desperate element, so its a vicious circle...

Time: Earlier again please! despite earlier starts in prev years the rating were higher. Its not cos of the singers on X factor this year- they are a particularly poor bunch... but the prospect of v famous celebs on the show is irrisistable. So DONT clash- make the dance off LIVE ffs, but an HOUR after the 1st show ends (say about 9.30-10ish) so theres a decent time to vote. This way people are hooked in before Xfactor starts, and will be back later on for the results...

I'd also push for the introduction of a secondary dancing show to run in the spring before Strictly starts in September where we look for a new male and female pro chosen from members of the public. It would work like Strictly, but be on a smaller time scale and budget, and be judged by Craig, Karen, Anton and Camilla. The dancers would swap partners each week and the male and female who won the series would then debut on the following series of Strictly.

Length of series: 10 weeks

Presenters: Gethin Jones and Alesha Dixon
Judges: Craig Revel-Horwood, Karen Hardy, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli

Male Professionals: Brendan Cole, Brian Fortuna, Darren Bennett, Ian Waite, Matthew Cutler, Vincent Simeone

Female Professionals: Erin Boag, Flavia Cacace, Katya Virshilas, Lilia Kopylova, Natalie Lowe, Ola Jordan

Saturday show aired between 6pm and 7.30pm; LIVE Sunday Results show 7pm-8pm.

Keep strict roles for each person - the presenter presents, the judges judge and the celebrities listen.

Spend more money on attracting better celebrities instead of relying on people wanting time in the public eye.

She's called Penny Lancaster

My Mum STILL goes on about that and STILL insists that it was because Rod Stewart was in the audience and Len felt pressured to keep her in because of it! Not upsetting the big superstar sort of thing. She might have a point. I'm sure Len has said it's the only dance off decision he had sleepless nights over.

I just wish they'd get rid of the dance off altogether!

Boddism , Aled is anything but dull !

Very funny ,very quick and very witty and very much used to live broadcasting.

He is a past contestant and , though this is no recommendation !!, whilst on series 2 he and Brendan were big pals .
If you met him , you would find he is not at all the innocent choir boy some think him to be .

He still does Songs of Praise ; Good Morning Sunday on Radio 2 live every week ; he covers regularly for Ken Bruce and Sarah Kennedy and has a weekly programme on Radio 3 ; he has also hosted 20 editions of the current series of Escape to the Country and that's just to name a few of his media commitments

I'm a big fan,having met him on numerous occasions , the last time when he was in an 8 week run of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in Cardiff last July and August. He bought us drinks after the show, sat chatting for well over an hour and he then had to find a security guard to let us all out of the Millenium Centre as the staff had all gone home .

He may well be a bit too young for Brucie's job , whereas his mate Terry could well be just old enough

D'ya think??

Ok, I dont know Aled well, Ive not seen him presenting too much... but I think a BBC stalwart would be better at this tbh...

Id go for Vernon or Julian meself...

what worries me is the amount of people calling for karen as a judge - did none of you see her on that living programme she was awful. She is good on Choreography corner because she has had time to think and plan out what she will be talking about - if you want to kill the show then use ex dancers as hosts/judges

SCD is becoming tired re vamp it bring in NEW people don't cling on to the old ones someone said Lorna Lee well yes she is more than qualified and they have had Shirley Ballas around again more than qualified to be an absolute credible judge

Great - So my 3 year old daughter who loves it, looks forward to it all week (and Bruce btw) - can sit through 2 hours of 'back passage' and 'fisting' 'jokes'.

ditto - Graham Norton, Paul O'Grady

Karen as judge

she knows what she is talking about on It Takes Two

she is a fair judge and her dance analysis for each dance is great

One fisting joke over ten years ago. Time to let it go.

That said, when he presented the Lottery quiz a few years ago (with Newsnight's Emily Maitliss as his assistant) he did seem rather hesitant and unsure of how to pitch himself for an early saturday evening show.

I think that would be more of a reason why he shouldn't do it rather than a few innuendos.

Bruce and Tess to go - bring in people who will treat the idea of ballroom dancing with respect (i.e.: NOT, for example, Terry Wogan who helped ruin the image of ballroom dancing with his stupid innuendoes when he hosted "Come Dancing".)

JUDGING:

To save all the arguments have the judges there to judge and comment on different elements of the dance :

Len - on the technique
Craig - on the choreography
Alesha (or whoever) - on the musicality
Bruno - get rid of!!!

That way it could be far more feasibly and acceptable for Len - say - to give a 7 for technique, and Craig to give a 4 for choreography, and Alesha to give a 10 for musicality.

Something along those lines anyway.

I agree with you, Bendy, Karen is of course qualified to judge, but there's an awful lot of competitors (in the world of 'real' dance comps) who question her judging!

Lorna Lee? Allegedly, Lorna, along with many other pros, was considered as a judge when they were initially putting the first series together, but was turned down as being 'unsuitable' for television. I think it was Len's sense of humour (even if some people don't like it) along with his experience and knowledge that got him selected. He openly admits he was far from the first on the list of possibilities.

Bruce has to go..........
Tess has to go ..........
Alesha.......she is not adding much...but I dont see her staying anyway when Darcy starts.

New female pros....im not impressed........

Judges - Len has to go....bring in Nicole Cutler - world class dancer.
Bruno.....tone it down....its getting old.
Craig....your not Simon......stop trying to copy him..

BBC floor managers/ camera managers........not a good job. Cant follow the dancers properly.

They have decided the skimpier the female pro dancers outfits are, is the way to go.
Oh dear.

This is the best idea yet apart from having a live results show on Sunday. This would mean the dancers and celebrities would be working seven days a week for 10 weeks! A bit tiring for them which would make it possible they would get worse instead of better.