Why did the US and the rest of the world call it Dancing With the Stars? It has to be the most unimaginative title for a program ever. What was wrong with Strictly Come Dancing?

Assumed that as it's the original other formats have to go by a different title to distinguish: it's exclusive to the bbc.

I thought they changed it in Australia because there was another show called strictly dancing and then that name got adapted everywhere else.

The BBC called it Strictly Come Dancing because they already had had a successful programme called Come Dancing. There was also a very successful Australian film called Strictly Ballroom, so they amalgamated the two and came up with Strictly Come Dancing. No other country had the programme "Come Dancing" so it meant nothing to them whereas Dancing With The Stars did exactly what it said.

Its much easier having different names for both of them anyway...

But I agree that SCD is a more inventive title.

I agree it is a goofy title but better than "Dancing with the D Listers."

Like putting the word "Strictly" in front of the name of an old program - Come Dancing - is imaginative?

Isn't it because the BBC have to pay someone to use 'Come Dancing' in the title? I can't remember his name, it might be in the credits. Presumably the BBC wanted to use it to make reference to a show that had run in the UK for so long despite having to pay for it and other countries didn't have Come Dancing so that reference might be lost on them and of course they also avoid having to pay for the title!

Far more likely is that other countries (other than UK I mean) didn't want their program to be associated with the old old-fashioned Come Dancing!!!

Come dancing was a well known programme in the Uk but it wasn't anywhere else so they went with a say what you see title - dwts

Come Dancing was pretty well known about amongst dancers in quite a few other countries, mostly referred to with a bit of a smirk! And towards the end of its run, it had teams from Poland, Holland etc etc all taking part.



To return to original question, I think DWTS is probably a more apt title for the show, because the dancing is hardly "STRICTLY" in the dance sense.

[Although maybe "Dance with some stars and a load of z-listers" might be more apt - bit long though!!]

they should since the professionals are becoming bigger stars then their partners!!! lol

Having compiled a book of 1300 quotations about dance on TV, this is by far the best quote about the DWTS name I have seen:

"Dancing With The Stars is easily the best show on television. No, wait, not best - we meant least accurately titled. It’s true. None of the words correlate. The Dancing With The Stars contestants aren’t actually stars, let alone the definitive star collection that the titular use of the word ‘The’ suggests. Second, their graceless plodding technically isn’t dancing. Third, we’re not dancing with anyone - we’re just watching. Really it should be called Looking At Some People You Vaguely Recognise Clump Around A Bit." So who's looking forward to Season 10 of LASPYVRCAAB ?? So I guess DWTS is not so bad after all.

Colin
Dancing With The Quotes

I've always thought Strictly Come Dancing was a stupid title. Just a hotchpotch of Strictly Ballroom and Come Dancing which ends up sounding - to me - clunky and daft.

There was a similar discussion a couple of years back though and I said then the trouble is we couldn't call ours Dancing with the Stars, it'd have to be Dancing with Celebrities at Least Two of Whom Must Have Appeared in Eastenders.

I've always assumed the "Strictly" was used because of the Baz Luhrmann film.

Strictly Ballroom (1992)

Its an American film, so you think the reference might have made its way over to the American version of the show, but I think they were enamored of making it clear to an increasingly celebrity obsessed audience that celebs were involved (and to be fair, the fame level of the celebs in the U.S. version, while it started out pretty small, has gotten significantly bigger).

Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom is strictly an Australian film set in Oz and financed by the Australian Film Finance Corporation with a mainly Oz cast and director.

So no reason why Strictly Come Dancing with its half Aussie and half British hybridisation would mean anything to an American audience.

Then again no reason why SCD shouldn't have worked globally but (without debating the level of dancing or stardom on show) Dancing With The Stars does sum up the show much better. Which all makes the UK show look like the one on the outside.

It also meant I had to publish two different book titles: Dancing With The Quotes and Strictly Quote Dancing.

Colin

Maybe the title is ambiguous. Maybe they want you to think that the "stars" are the celebrities, but secretly the stars are their pros. Or maybe that's just the name they came up with. Either way it's a good show and not everything has to have a witty title to be good.

"Strictly Come Dancing" was named after the old "Come Dancing" show, which just about everyone over the age of 10 in the UK will have heard of - even if they never watched it, or even hated it!!

Initially, I heard, it was going to be called "Come Dancing Again", but thankfully, the word "Strictly" was added, almost undoubtedly because of the film "Strictly Ballroom", which was, as far as I know, made on a limited budget and beat all expectations.

Although it's all really a case of "A Rose By Any Other Name", I do think that the American "Dance With The Stars" is a better name, because, whatever may have been intended at the start, the dancing is not in any way STRICTly accurate.

Apart from tempo issues, lack of technique etc., you only have to look at SCD's attempt at the American Smooth, which my American friends find hilarious, as they (Strictly pros) still insist on dancing a "Smooth" quickstep.

So "Strictly" it may not be, but great fun and entertainment, both shows certainly are.