totally agree! normally i will always re-watch scd later to watch the dances again, and i'll usually watch the ones i really enjoyed and then a not so good one i found funny. so over the last few series i did that a lot, there was zoe & ian's tango, rachel & vincent's argentine tango (watched this sooo many times!!!), matt & flavia's salsa, austin & erin's paso etc then obviously john sargeant, diarmund gavin etc.

this series..... the only ones i re-watched were jade & ian's v.waltz and chris & ola's charleston. and then it's just the pro dances i'll rewatch (favourite so far: vincent & flavia's tango waltz, and the madonna rumba)

i've been at a bit of a loss why this is the case this series. i missed arlene (and i didn't expect to, she's always been my least favourite judge), really found alesha grating, losing my patience with bruce, getting tired of tess's gurning (though THANKFULLY no guns for her to paw this series) and just missing the magic. the pros have been great, but something's missing and maybe for me it's that i don't really love love love or hate hate hate a couple (like so many here!) so can't get into it so much.

but i know i'm not the only one, a lot of other friends (who don't post) feel the same way.

It's hard to be enthusiastic when you don't care who wins.

I prefer it when I really support a particular couple, but this year I would quite like Ali and Brian to win but if they don't then....meh.

I just don't think the dancing has been very good this year (I don't miss Arlene, but I'll concede that she was good at motivating people to improve).

My interest in SCD has been waning since the fourth series (I disliked the favouritism shown towards Emma and wanted Louisa in the final), but the emergence of a strong couple usually re-engages my interest (and the line-up in the fifth series was very strong).

The last series was OK, but I didn't really do the WOW! thing until Tom & Camilla blew everyone away with their showdance.

I have been keeping tabs on this series in the hope that something amazing will happen, but it hasn't really happened yet (Ali is good but still inhibited and Ricky is being let down by some soso choreography)... and the injuries/withdrawals are such a shame (Jade could have won).

They couldn't find more than one good male and have ended up with one hamming it up and one who was too good at the start. One can't dance well , the other doesn't benefit when he does. Thats new as they have usually found two good males and the ones who could dance have attracted the pro male vote leaving none for the gimick candidates.

Thats made worse by having both surviving males fitting SCD in around their main jobs - they look like part-time contenders.

The female competition was taken out by the public vote and injury and Anton - leaving one. The one has had to cope with injuries and poor music choices and dancing with someone she may be going into a relationship with.

The interesting overseas candidate vanished in week one probably due to the zenophobic bias in the vote. They get a big name and then lose them as soon as they possibly could.

The show has lost its focus because it hasn't worked out what to do with "the entertaining but not very good " contestants. They have tried going along with the idea that people dancing poorly can be entertaining in the hope that they will sound nicer and more attuned to the viewers who want that sort of thing. They had tried everything else and ended up with an ever increasing anti-judge vote so thats understandable - if misguided. They then tried to change the story and get the message over that these people need to go before the good dancers all go. They then confused things even more by creating silly reasons for poor people to stay - like going to Blackpool - which just gave the poor dancers stories whilst the good ones were too busy dancing. They just about got through that with the right people going, in the wrong order, and no anti-judge vote - but the price was that they had confused the purpose of the show. Now they have a funny, cute candidate who is probably the 5th or 6th best dancer and they have a big problem if he wins or goes.

They may also be facing the spin off from the public vote. Once the public vote takes out the real competitors by definition the competition becomes less competitive. This time injury has made the losses even more crucial. The fewer good dancers left the more they seem the exception and the more some people think the show is about something else. If the vote is going for funny acts who are hamming it up or for the pro or anything white and male, it soon doesn't pay the best dancers to go for a public vote thats going elsewhere whatever you do. The judges marks are then key so you move in the opposite direction. Why take big risks when someone falling over gets the votes and a few less marks than you and you need marks to stay in. Why bother if you can't win anyway whatever you do?

This about sums me up too.
I was rooting for a Jade/Ian win and the only other one I was keen to see in the Final was Natalie.

I now find that my obsession is with keeping charts updated instead of the dancing
(Oops perhaps I shouldn't have admitted that )

I don't think it became a forgone conclusion last year until the final as the judges tried to force out contestants more popular with the public to ensure their own less popular darlings got through. When the public took control, Lisa stood no chance.

This year is similar in that we have a QF with two of the judges' favourites and two of the public's. The difference - for me, at least - is the standard of dancing. There have been so few 'WOW!' dances this year. I love Jade and Ian's samba and Team Cola's Charleston ... but there's very little else I'm compelled to re-watch on Youtube.

When they played her comments on ITT last night it made me appreciate her not being there even more !

I will agree with the OP though - it does seem a bit flat this year, especially for this stage of the competition.

Last year we had Tom, Lisa, Rachel and Austin fighting it out, year before Alesha, Gethin, Matt and Letitia but Laila, Chris, Ali an Ricky just don`t seem to bring the excitement to the 1/4 final imo. Maybe it`s because I`m just not bothered who wins out of those four ?

Be proud of your charts. Release your inner geek! I am a graph woman myself...you can't go wrong with a well constructed graph when explaining something.

I think it's all subjective. I'm actually enjoying this series more than last year when I really struggled to pay attention when SCD was on.

Out of the final 3, IMHO there strong personalities, partnerships nor particularly great dancers. There were no wow dancers. Maybe the closest to it was Rachel's Rumba, which I thought was beautiful. While this year I've warmed more to the celebs, couples and I thought Ricky's QS, Ali's VW and CH's Charleston were really sparkly, making me smile and applaude.

It's not perfect, but I'm loving it this year.

Losing Martina Hingis in week one didn't help. Someone as athletic as that was bound to improve. But the clodhopping BBC guy got the nod from Len, hmmm. Or was it done so as not to piss off their new acquisition Aliona?

The real disaster was Jade having to go, though.

I agree with a lot of what Thenetworkbabe said.

I think this series has suffered from too much dilution, due to too many couples. They seemed to have tried to get as many weeks as they could for as little money as possible and the show has suffered.

The costumes have been a mixture of more bad than good and the camerawork has generally been worse this year.

The change to the first two weeks was a good idea and I think it worked.

ITT has been much better this year, due to Claudia being more prominent.

The new scoring system is an improvement, but the judges have messed it up by not using a wide enough range of scores, and the resulting draws closed the gap between the better dancers and the worst, leaving the better dancers more at risk. It may be though that the increase of the publics influence could result in a lower average standard of dancing surviving compared to previous years, but I dont myself think that that is the cause - I just think the celebs overall have less dance talent this year.

The standard of the guest entertainment has been absolutely dire.

There has been more emphasis on injuries this year, and Jade's was a disaster for the show, but there have been injuries every year, and with 16 contestants, there was almost bound to be a problem. The producers were thick as planks, to not have built in a double elimination at the semi-final stage, to allow for someone dropping out, after the warnings from the previous years.

Twelve contestants, chosen with a bit more foresight as to what they are likely to contribute, and who they should be matched with, should allow the quality of the dancing and entertainment to improve next year.

Ever since the first series someone says this; it's the same with big brother, x-factor, dancing on ice, celebrity. You can't please ALL of the people ALL of the time. By the way - great job Alesha!

I'm loving it! I didn't think I'd find another couple I care about winning like I did with Tom and Camilla but Chris and Oka fit the bill! An Ali & Ricky final would be a dreadful borefest but I'm just hoping it won't happen.

It could do without Alesha, such a pointless addition.

No, I'm loving it. But then I take every series as it comes and don't feel the need to keep harking back to the 'good ol' days' - all the series have had their share of controversies and negativity.

Everything up to Blackpool was fine, then the show hit a three week long doldrums (from the second Blackpool finished until Chris' Charleston started) that it has just started to recover from, even if what's to follow is almost certainly going to be a predictable retread of what's happened previously in another series.

They do need a 3 person final though - where you would at least have the interest of whether Ali or Ricky managed to beat the other into second. The other options are Chris vs Ricky/Ali which would be a one-sided snoozefest or Ricky vs Ali, which half the audience would have no interest in.

Or you know, Laila could make it or something, although I don't how much extra interest that would generate.

I love the show in general, but have to agree with those who say this series hasn't been as good or interesting as previous series.

For me the celebs have been quite dull or just plain irritating. Jade was the one exception - she was bright, intelligent, worked hard and was definitely improving, and great to watch. I show definitely is weaker without her. Zoe and James were also a loss.

Craig, Ricky G and Phil were all peas in a boring pod.

I don't dislike Ricky or Ali, but they were both fair dancers in week 1, and although the series is nearing it's end, neither of them have improved to become great.

Sorry all you Cola fans, but I just find Chris H just too irritating to even watch. I now mute the sound every time he opens his mouth - danger of throwing something at the tv if I heard one more sickly "yeah baby" and it simply proves how bad everyone else has been at the dancing, that he is in the final 4.

And Laila: well she had potential, and might have proved that potential if she had had a different pro partner, but especially with the Latin, she didn't stand a chance with Anton. She might make the final.

I also think the dancing has been, well not quite poor, but when I watch clips of the good dances from other years, I'm struck by how much better they are than anything seen this year.

All of the celebs, except possibly Jade, have been disappointing in one way or another; and (for me), only Ali, Jade, and possibly Laila have done dances that were worth the time it took to watch them.

I also feel that the show has been desperately over-hyping some "personalities" (Natalie C and now Chris H), perhaps as a way to create an impression of excitement and fun that is not actually there. And as an over-reaction to last year's "it's an entertainment show" attack. (The has been some ridiculous gushing in the past, for instance about Alesha -- but at least she was a good dancer.)

On the plus side, ITT has been very good, partly because it's scaled back on Len-related filler. "Choreography Corner" has usually been excellent.

Feels like a nasty element has entered the show. The innocent fun is slipping away.

The problem is that they have had too many actors/actresses taking part. The other problems being getting rid of Arlene, Karen and Camilla.

If it wasn't for Jade or Chris then I wouldn't have been watching.

The only 2 sparkles that are left, for me, are Chris & Ola.

On the other hand Claudia on ITT has been excellent.

Thanks for that - I'll go cancel my therapy session in that case

I do find the show dissappointing this year but I'm not sure if thats cos of me being unable to watch some weeks or if I'm just going off reality tv haven't been able to get into x factor or im a celeb either this year. I thought I'd love this year cos I love ricky whittle. but something just hasn't hit me this year.

...such as a naked mud wrestling tournament as a filler between the last dance and the Moment of Truth?

Contestants:
Darren & Lilia v. Craig Kelly and Flavia
Kristina and Joe v. Natalie and Vincent

Got any more mind-boggling partnerships in mind?

And should it be scored on entertainment or technical merit?