I completely agree with this and have said similar in other threads.

For me, the rot set in last year, where the producers incompetently tried to up the reality element. At the same time, they colluded with the judges and very obviously tried to manipulate the leader board so that two contestants who were not that popular with the general public made the final. Add to this Sergeant-gate and Arlene going OTT and it left quite a bitter aftertaste for the viewer.

This year should have been a chance for the show to successfully reboot. Instead, the dancing has been overshadowed by Arlene/Alesha, Laila/Anton and the scheduling debacle. Blackpool-gate was a very obvious attempt to hype up a weak contestant in a bid to generate media coverage; however, why should/would the public engage with a contestant who has no charisma on the dancefloor?

I completely agree that the focus needs to go back to the dancefloor. There have been some dances I've liked this year - but nothing that has really had the 'WOW!' factor. The reality element is part of the show, sure, but it needs to take a back seat.

As for the NOTW 'story' ... well, what exactly do you expect? They will run anything they can to make Strictly look bad. However, I suspect their policy in coming weeks will be to leave SCD standing in the shadow of the X Factor juggernaut ... which may, in the long run, be no bad thing - if, that is, the producers are prepared to bide their time and leave it there.

If you think Strictly is manipulated, what about Simon Cowell saving the Irish twins that he despises last weekend, IMO just so that a proportion of the viewers will still have someone they love to hate, and the "Jimbob and Cletus faction" will have someone they love, full stop.
Thus are high ratings made.

It must be remembered that, before last year, Strictly was ahead of X Factor overall. What has happened in the last couple of years is that Cowell and his team have blitzed every available avenue to make their show number one-and not a little of its current popularity is the influence of Britains Got Talent bringing an older audience directly to X Factor (John and Edward are so bad they would have been perfect for BGT)

Amidst all this the BBC have simply no clue how to deal with a show like SCD. They havent had another true hit entertainment show since Noels House Party in the early nineties-and it shows. This year a naieve decisions have meant a wheel has come off and then all the BBC haters in the press start taking advantage of this until ordinary fans start to drift away.

Next year is extremely important for SCD and the BBC need to invest in it far more than they have this year. There desperately needs to be a separate live results show as viewers have turned off during the filler and when the result is a foregone conclusion like last week. They need to look carefully at the scheduling and who they get on it.

Otherwise it will start to sink.

I totally agree.

I agree with much of what you say - but while you are right that the ratings nosedive partway through the show, this is more because of TXF than because of the filler.

And while I concur that there should be a separate results show later in the evening - as used to be the case - the problem now is that it would have to play quite late (certainly for the initial weeks of both series, when there are more contestants), i.e. 10pm, to avoid a scheduling clash.

The BBC do need to learn from the lessons of this year - but then they had lessons to learn from last year, too, and I'm not convinced they have ... There seems to be a school of thought there that SCD should compete with TXF, both in publicity profile and for viewers. For all the reasons you cite, TXF is now unstoppable and yet, unfortunately, I don't think this penny has quite dropped at the BBC yet.

While there is still much to enjoy in this year, I think there needs to a clear-out among senior staff at Strictly and the show needs to go back to its roots more. I don't think there is anything wrong with the celebs - the point of shows like SCD is that you get to know (and hopefully like) people you didn't really know previously: Alesha and Gethin are perfect examples of that.

The problem this year is that the brand has been tarnished by some badly handled management decisions and the press have smelled blood and will now not let go. SCD's downward media profile will do little to enhance its popularity and the BBC would do better to let the Jedward saga play its course than try and find things to compete with it (e.g. Blackpool-gate).

There is nothing wrong with the format, but I too am concerned for the show's future if BBC management cannot get a grip ...

Yes, but bear in mind that the article didn't actually say "A-List", and it's only a headline, which may have been written by someone else, that says "B-List".

The article doesn't say anyone is A-list.

In any case, it's the media that decide what "list" people are on, not you or me.

Of the ones you mention, the only ones I'd ever even heard of are Martina Hingis (but only because I used to follow tennis) and Phil (but only because of "I'm a celebrity").

I'd like to see George Galloway do it ... but only on the proviso he's got to wear Ola's dresses and dance with James Jordan.