After converting last week's episode onto DVD (yes, im sad.. lol..) I was surprised to see that SCD is only 1 hr and 20 mins long!

This is minus all the celebs introduction at the beginning, minus the vt's and the 'crap' at the end where they all talk about how much they want to win the show!

This would be an ideal time instead of 2hrs straight.

What do you all think?

i agree there is too much padding of course the voting has to be carried out and then the scores worked out but look at ITT thats got plenty of padding they have run out of ideas so get the wives and friends of the celebs in and ten minutes of what the cameraman does :sleep:

Yep, this year's ITT has been good but today was the first time that I skipped through most of it and only watched Jade & Ian and Darren & Lilia..

It's far too long now. (BBC ratings chasing).
Too many couples, which in the end becomes tedious.

Wants to be no more than an hour and a half or a break in the middle.

It depresses me when I hear the words "everyone has now danced, and the phone lines are open", and I look at the clock. It makes me dread what the remaining 45 minutes are going to be filled with.

More padding than Britney Spears' cell.

Lol. What's even more boring is the recap of all dances and the dance-off. If they had to do a different dance like the x factor (where they sing a different song) it would have been good, not watching the same dance twice..

Do you think they should just air Panda Watch for half hour before going back for the dance off?

They should split it like they used to. Time to put the dinner dishes away and kids to bed would be great...

I miss having the results on Sunday. It was a nice way to end the weekend, cup of tea, buttered crumpet and half an hour of strictly come dancing.

Have to say that we record the whole thing now, precisely because of the filler!

We start watching half an hour in, then zip through the 'training', Bruce's 'links', the Tesspit, the recap of all the dances and the dance-off.

I agree that they should bring back the separate result show, after Casualty.

They should show the dances, open the vote line, then switch to the lottery show results and then come back for SCD results...sorted!

If they also cut out Brucie's 'jokes' it'd be down to about 1 hour

I agree that it was better when it was split - back for the results after comfort break, as it were

I agree, split the main show and the results show, but have them on the same night.

Keep the result show short and sharp.

- pro dance

- guest singer

- voting on couples who are through

and ditch the dance off

20 mins tops!

I guess that they also need time to allow the dancers to change if necessary (or to get their breath), for new camera positions to be set up, or new mic positions set & tested (for any guests playing/singing live) etc. It is a live show after all and has to look as if it flows. There is plenty going on that the transmission feed will not show (unless there is a mistake in the gallery).

As for ITT - I find the behind-the-scenes stuff interesting even if others don't. Funny old world isn't it.

Your not the only sad one then cos I’ve been doing this for the last few years of SCD, its nice to be able to have something to remember the shows each year - although I haven’t been as excited about this years contestants or dances so am abit slow in converting the shows to DVD yet but the few I have done like you say its amazing how much shorter the shows are without all the waffle at the beginning and end of the main show

I'm obviously in the minority here, but we don't mind the length of the show at all. We settle down with the wine and sweeties to just enjoy it ! We record it and then "bookmark" our favourite bits to watch later, thus missing out what we don't want to watch again. As for ITT, I too find the behind-the-scenes stuff interesting, although the music reveal and sketches of dresses is my favourite bit.

I am also with you on all of that.

And as a purely practical suggestion to those who want a shorter programme/time to make a cuppa/have a break etc, if the bits that you consider to be superfluous are long enough or in the right places, turn away from the TV and do that "something else". That way both groups of people are catered for.

I've been doing this with X Factor for the past couple of years. That show has an extraordinary amount of padding - even more than Strictly.

I like the training bits pre-dance on Strictly and I don't mind the stuff in Tess's room so long as she lets them speak rather than interrupting and attempting to flirt (I assume that's what she's doing when she's gurning at the camera) but agree that removing the repetition and Bruce's dazed and confused "jokes" would help the pace. I don't think the jokes actually take up much time but they drag the show to a standstill as he fumbles them especially when he follows them up with "I'm only joking" - yes Bruce we know!

Any show that's longer than 2 hours needs to be a lot tighter than Strictly has been this year.

I like the show this length as well, and also find the behind the scenes on ITT really interesting.

The only thing I miss is having a Sunday show. Ideal for me would be the Saturday show as it is, and then another one on Sunday - although god knows what they'd put in it

Never watch the X-factor, but it's been on when I've been swopping channels, yet I never caught any performances. Just the "hype" and the "rabbit."
So as an experiment I recorded one show. Then fast forwarded from the beginning to check.
There was only one act on before the first commercial break, then just two before each successive ad breaks and I think one between the last ad break and the end of the show.

Talk about dragging it out!

We have got the X factor down to about 35 minutes if we skip everything but the actual singing, 45 if we include the Judges verdicts. The rest we use our trusty twaddle button on the remote to skip over. We manage to fit it in in between the end of Strictly and the beginning of MOTD, with often time for making a cup of tea and doing the washing up.

I Liked it back when Casualty/Lottery aired between the main show and results. (The lottery did air in the time between, didn't it???). It was a nice amount of time to have toilet breaks (), make a fresh brew, find snacks and be all ready for the results. I miss those days.

That said, if I'm really in need of a brew or whatever, I just use the time when the guest singer is on, whoever it is. I'm sure if they were anything special I'd be happy to rewatch at a later time via iplayer.

pandacam

Yep. Getting Strictly results on Sunday worked a lot better than getting X Factor results does.

I tend to keep the judges comments in but I agree it still comes in at a tidy 45 mins at most.

Strictly is nowhere near as bloated as XF.