I find DWTS nauseating in the same way as eating a box chocolates in one sitting would be - however, I do like having only three judges.

I'd rather hear three give considered and knowledgeable opinions (not that they always manage this on DWTS), than rush through four (and occasionally skip one anyway when the show's overrunning). Five from next week is going to be ridiculous.

I’ve enjoyed this series, but there has been something lacking, I don't know exactly what that is but I do think it needs a bit of a freshen up next year.

My vote for changes would be:

Contestants - Personally I don’t care if the contestants are A or D listers, what I’m most concerned about is their dancing ability, their likeability as a person and their chemistry with their partner.

What I am sick of though, is having the older celeb, who’s never going to get anywhere, that has run it’s course now imo. Get a younger cast of stars to have a more exciting competition from minute one.


Judges - I’d go for a big shake up of the panel as a whole, the only one I’d be really sad to lose is Craig, he’s the only one who has enough variation in his scoring that his points actually mean something imo.

Bruno is just a noisy irritant imo , I’d be more than happy to lose him. And Len I sometimes think get’s carried away with a sense of his own importance, I hate it when he acts as though his opinion is the only one that means something. I’d ditch the whole ‘head judge’ thing if it were up to me and like someone else said, use a deadlock thing if they have a tied vote. If they ditched this whole 'head judge' thing, I'd probably go back to liking Len a whole lot more.

I still like Aleesha, but I hope she leaves next year, she just has not been right on the panel. They need Karen, I don’t care what it costs to get her, I’d much rather them make her an offer she can’t refuse than have any number of ‘big name’ celebrity contestants.

Can't we ditch Bruno and let Aleesha go and hire Karen and Camilla, I'd be happy with that!


Presenters - Brucie has got to go, I don’t think he’ll ever quit, I think they need to let him go. I get he’s a national treasure and I admire him for all he does at his age but imo they need to give him a golden handshake and send him on his way.

I know there are loads of people who’s probably dislike the idea but I love the idea of Justin Lee Collins taking over as the presenter. Failing that get Claudia full time backstage and have Tess upfront, I’ve never been a Tess fan and would prefer to lose her all together, but I didn’t mind her half so much when she was upfront the other week.

I could cope with Graham Norton taking over, I think he’s funny, but I hate, hate, hate the idea of Vernon Kay presenting, that would kill it completely for me, he gets on my nerves even more than Tess does.

I’d personally add to these:
[LIST][*]Bring back the Red button![*]More appropriate music, some of the choices this year have been dire and have spoilt the routines for me. [*]I’d love for them to do extra features on the internet, such as a daily video diary, they are filming all of their training sessions anyway so why not have a daily training highlights for each couple? I know we get bits and pieces on ITT, but I'd love to have more, I love behind the scenes stuff. [*]More Blackpool, great idea! [*]I b#tched like crazy when they first split the show over two days, now that it’s one long show again, I find I prefer it in two more sizeable chunks. [*]If the Band and singers can’t play/ sing the piece of music, change it or have an instrumental version. I get it’s tough having to sing all styles but some of the singing this year has been painful.
[*]Please, Please, please sort the d@mn camera work out! Occasionally the camera is swirling around so much or there are so many cuts I’m in serious danger of getting motion sickness. I’m sick of complaining about this to the BBC and being fobbed off, Sometimes it’s impossible to see what is going on and it spoils the routine. [/LIST]

Don't want a lot do I?

Would like a shorter run, like DWTS with a couple of double evictions mid-season. (Preferably 2 lots shows a year like DWTS as well, but not very practical with the tour etc!) Would like to see Bruce & Tess replaced by Gethin and Alesha out front and Claudia as a backstage roving reporter doing longer interviews and behind the scenes stuff that could be shown as part of a separate results show or bbc 3 programme on the night. Would also like to see 3 or 5 judges so no one has the casting vote (and make the judges write down the name of the couple they would like to save before they read their results out, so the last judge isn't under pressure in a tie.) Would definitely like to see Karen as a judge too. Wouldn't change the pros - love 'em! - but like the idea mentioned of a few choreography workshops on the dances they are less familiar with.

That said I have enjoyed this year more than last year and think it would have been a really good year without the injuries and I'm looking forward to the next 3 weeks.

I agree with every single one of these except the Sunday show suggestion. Formula 1 has been massively enhanced by the extra red button coverage, and a recent Jonathan Ross show had a Robbie Williams mini-concert on afterwards (I went to bed but my wife loved it). SCD could surely add a lot more than the voice commentary if they sat down and brainstormed ideas.

Thinking about the two show issue - I agree that one loooooong show hasn't worked. Even I get bored, and I'm a big fan so I don't know what the average audience feels!

However, I HATED at the time and still HATE the pre-recorded second show. It loses every ounce of vibrancy and expectation when you know it's already happened when you sit down to watch, plus, everyone was forever spoiling me in some way online! It was a terrible idea.

But....I do want to see two shows again and I don't think twice in one night is always the answer. X Factor has done it perfectly this year with two live shows - and lots of time to vote! 12 minutes is just a ridiculous amount of time, when I was voting for Nat and Vincent a few weeks ago I managed to get through once out of about 30/40 attempts!

I don't see why we can't have two live shows - Saturday and Sunday. Two audiences wouldn't be a problem, in fact, a benefit as you would have a whole fresh new excited crowd in and whilst Strictly has the problem of clothes and make up consistency - it's not that much of an issue.

So do two live shows for 2012!

Most of the changes suggested sound good, however, the idea that the BBC can get A listers to do a reality show is ridiculous, and anyway it doesn't matter how famous they are, as long as they have a good partnership and entertain the viewers, and as it has already been discussed, one person's celebrity is another person's nonentity, so it's unlikely you'll get someone that everyone has heard of.
A replacement for Bruce would be good- as much as I like him, he clearly isn't up to presenting a live show on primetime telly. I don't mind Tess but I wouldn't mind if they replaced her with someone like Claudia.
As for the judging panel, I'm not really bothered, but I wouldn't want them to bring Arlene back, good riddance as far as I'm concerned.

I'm just amazed to discover that the BBC have such a thing as "a crack BBC team of producers"! Where have they been hiding them??

Seriously, I think they should just go right back to the format of the orginal, highly successful, show, which was:

8 couples

No dance off, public decides who goes from the bottom 2. If the public want someone who doesn't dance so well, so be it

Saturday show of one-hour, followed by a break, followed by a half-hour results show

Original judging team, but perhaps they could brief them to concentrate on serious judging and forget the personality contest. Arlene would be fine if restrained slightly, and since she left Len has just taken over her role as most irritating judge. This original team did have a dynamic that has been lost, and might not be regained by playing around with it even more.

And then.......stop tinkering! It's the revamps that are killing the show.

The original version got about half the amount of ratings that this version gets.

It doesn't need a major revamp, just a return to the format that engaged the viewers the first time, ie, the viewers having the power to vote through who they want to see - and if that's the celeb on a journey, so be it. And also the ability to make a decision that will avoid the two-couple final scenario, by reinstating or rolling over. Every other reality show does it.

I don't care who's judging/presenting/appearing/singing - the show is the sum of all it's parts - it's only started to slide since the introducton of the dance off - it worked perfectly well before, with generally the best dancers with the most enaging personalities getting through to the quarter finals.

As much as I love Judi Dench I really don't want to watch her do a Samba.

Unfortunately according to another thread, Alesha has already signed on the dotted line for 2010.
Loved the Charleston the other day, it gave the programme a real lift. Hope it's included in next years prog. Maybe some other dances as well. Non dancing viewers get a bit bored with the same 3 or 4 dances week after week. The charleston was a pleasant change and brought life to a gasping show.

And they're always clapping off-beat. Doesn't matter whether it's a slow foxtrot, VW or a speedy jive. Clap-clap-clap-clap away the audience goes, always in the same beat.
"It's getting on my wick" to quote mr Goodman. Why o why do the producers think it's necessary for the audience to clap along?

I agree that a couple of different dances would be good, also perhaps bring the Argentine Tango forward like they did with DWTS. Whatever extra dance they do don't think they should leave it until so late in the competition though.

I agree there are too many couples to start with and I think this is part of what stops the audience bonding with them as it takes too long to get to know the ones that make it to the end.

Someone mentioned 8, I think that's too few, 12 is probably about right.

The clapping is dreadful and gives the show the appearance of an amateur dance show in a village hall.

The other things that "get on my wick" in particular are the ridiculous pantomime boos whenever Craig opens his mouth and both Len and Bruce's attacks on Craig who is the only judge left who ever says anything worth listening to.

Bruce has to go, obviously, as does the dreaded Alesha. I wouldn't mourn the passing of Len, as long as he was replaced with another ballroom/latin professional, but Bruno is entertaining and it would be a shame to lose him.

The band can stay but Hayley the Banshee should be quietly shown the door.

They wouldn't need to fill the dance floor with Hollywood A listers to raise the show's profile but we do need to be able to at least recognise the "celebrities".....

The day that BBC Entertainment has "a crack team of producers" will be the day pigs can fly.

I think whoever wrote that phrase originally must have read it wrong.
Surely it was "a team of crack producers"

points 2 & 3 are fine - but I would say to allow Tess a chance at the front of house role in her own right

But Craig as Head Judge?? No No NOOOOOOO!
He has no ballroom dancing credentials to allow him to be in that position on a judging panel for a ballroom dancing show.

Now Karen Hardy however........

Fully qualified Ballroom Judge - tick
Past winner of the show - tick

Karen for Head Judge with Craig and A.N. Other (possibly another dancer/ choreographer but NOT Arlene) either side of her.

I agree with everything except Justin Lee Collins I can't bear the man. If his heart is up to it I think Paul O Grady would be good he seems to have a geunine interest in the show and everyone from Strictly who's been on the show he's been good with.

Much as seeing Austin go last year really made me see why people hate it. It wasn't all hunky dory for it was introduced as Spoony went whilst Jan poxy Ravens and Georgina Bouvova survived despite doing appalling jives - would the dance-off have stopped that? I don't know - could we have lost John Barnes and Matt DA before they had the chance to deliver their great salsa again I don't know? Could Gaby and Austin have progressed further without the dance-off? - I don't know although in Austin's chance quite probably. The only thing I will say is that it should either be scraped or done on the worst dances when it gets to the two-dance stage.

We’ll have to agree to differ about JLC.

But Paul O’Grady is another good suggestion, I’d be very happy for him to take over if he was up to it.

- replace bruce, i've taken to skipping his bits now i discovered the button on my freeview hard drive recorder thing which skips a minute, i use it at the top of the show, intro to judges, intro to couples -- cuts down an already too mammoth show.

- 2 shows, i like results show on sunday

- allow voting for 24 hrs like x-factor, allows those of us who do actually go out on a sat to still vote

- have claudia backstage, she was class!

- bin alesha. we don't need a judge whose 'critique' of chris & ola's v.waltz is to point out they are small and that he had to lead. we have 4 year olds who can do that.

- bring back arlene. or give us karen hardy, she's fab on ITT.

- don't bring back katya or natalie lowe

- stop dance-offs at quarters

- allow more traditional music and stop treating us like musical imbeciles who can't get into SCD unless we recognise the tune from the current charts. zoe & ian's was one of the greatest tango's ever BECAUSE they didn't try to use some current muse track (which is then half-murdered...)

- more blackpool -- injected much needed glitz to the show!

I think they should just do it with fewer couples, but keep them all in a "league". That way the John Sergeants are there for people that like that sort of thing, but the serious dancers get better, and more points. At the end of the run, the couple with the most points win. Public votes could still be added to the judges votes, which would add that unexpected angle.

Also, if they did this, people could get to do all dances and conceivably improve and surprise us all! I always think it particularly unfair on the couple voted out in week 1 or 2 - they've had hardly any chance to shine, and it all depends on the celebs popularity.

*What* somebody say Alesha has signed for 2010

surely that cant be true

Reading this thread - and the other almost identical threads on the same subject - there is a remarkable consensus. Just the details that need filling in. The producers (crack, cack or otherwise) should be able to handle that as we've done the hard work for them

One thought on the band - yes they have a tough job, but let's face it, they do let the show down. The celebs train to edited recordings all week. Why not just use them? The original music's got tio be better. It would also provide a larger floor area for the dancers.