I never liked Brian or Darren really, so yes, there are people who dislike the pros who have been sidelined. Doesn't mean I'm going to gloat about my favourites staying in - I really liked matt and Ian so I'm still devestated!

[
Yes they really want to kill their biggest cashcowThey dont want the money from the tours or the international versions at all.

Who says their trying to compete with the X factor anymore, shows need to be constantly changed and refreshed or they become stale.
Both Dancing on Ice and BGT lost large amounts of viewers this year by serving up the exact same things with the exact same people as previous.Both shows will be revamped next year.[dancing on ice didnt even break 9m for its Final]

...............

I think, once again, this shows the utter incompetance of the enitre entertainment department at the BBC. They seem intent in ruining everything they get their hands on. This is what needs to be done:

01. Fewer couples
02. High profile, controversial celebrities who actually have personalities
02. Simpler format. They should go back to how it was originally.
03. Move the entire show to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom
04. Better production standards. The BBC should co-produce it with an events engineering company (eg. PRG)
05. Make the interval act a major part of the show. They should book better interval act guests.
06. Ditch the VIP's in the audience and replace them with audience members who actually look as if they're having a good time.
07. Have seperate performance and results shows

The show lives or dies by the standard of celebrities they choose to take part. 2009 had the most boring line-up since the show started and therefore people just lost interest.

It doesn't really matter who the professional dancers are or who is on the judging panel (even though Arlene was a big loss to the panel when she was fired), it's the celebrities and how the public react to them is what is most important to the shows success. The Beeb really need to look at personalities when choosing the line-up as opposed to who could be a great dancer.

TBH I'm reserving judgement - we should really see what the new series is like rather than just dismiss it out of hand. But that said, the signs aren't good.

What I don't understand is that if the BBC wanted to get to the giddy heights of X Factor style ratings, it would be a hell of a lot easier to do so without losing a huge chunk of your current audience (i.e long-time fans of Matt, Ian, Brian, Darren and Lilia). Build and improve on what you've got, don't just dismantle it and try and reassemble it differently.

You've hit the nail on the head. They keep messing around with things that don't even need changing coupled with the fact that the poor production standards is making the show look very dated. This is where their focus needs to be.

Unfortunately, I've noticed that there is a trend with all BBC Entertainment shows;

Strictly Come Dancing 2009 - 10.5m/11.2m for result (lowest rated final since 2005)
So You Think You Can Dance?- 5.5m/6m for result
Your Country Needs You - 2.9m (lowest rated eurovision selection show since 2003, drop of 2.7m compared to 2009)
Let's Dance - 7.2m (drop of 1m compared to 2009)
Over The Rainbow - 5.9m/6.9m for result (lowest rated series of ALW show)
Eurovision - 5.5m (lowest rated ever, drop of 2.3m compared to 2009)

It doesn't help Strictly when the BBC insist on having 2 other dancing shows. This completely saturates the dancing talent show market and makes Strictly less special and less of an even as a result.

01. Fewer couples - Agree
02. High profile, controversial celebrities who actually have personalities - definately (Chris won because of his personality not his dancing though.)
02. Simpler format. They should go back to how it was originally. - don't know what that is as last year was the first one I saw.
03. Move the entire show to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom - expense? surely its cheaper to film it at the studios. I didn't get why only one week there though - why didn't they do the last 4-5 weeks instead.
04. Better production standards. The BBC should co-produce it with an events engineering company (eg. PRG) - again expense?
05. Make the interval act a major part of the show. They should book better interval act guests. - I thought some of them were ok, but alot didn't sing in tune. Like the sodding backing singers - they are really poor.
06. Ditch the VIP's in the audience and replace them with audience members who actually look as if they're having a good time.
07. Have seperate performance and results shows - agree.

One thing I did like alot about last year and DOI could learn from this is the fact the professionals do a routine every week.

I'm sad about Brian leaving, I liked him alot, but keeping Anton he's got to be about 50?

I also thought that Tess was rubbish backstage but when her and that nutty girl were on together I thought Tess was great doing Bruce's job. I just hate his cringeworthy comments.

I agree that dumping the 'consistant' part of teh show is ludicrous. SOme of the dancers that have been 'demoted' are highly talented teachers. The ones they have kpet in and the new ones are 'Sexy', 'hunky', less talented or are their to create drama and tantrums ()and comedy Anton).

This is not what I watch SCD for. I watch SCD because it isn't X-Factor. I hate X-Factor.

THey keep Alesha ho was a failure (IMO) Her comments last year were rubbish or copied from another judge with the "I agree with XXXX"

TBH, I just can't be bothered. The meddling from the beeb is pushing me away each year. There was a time I was over excited that SCD was coming back now I wouldn't care if it was axed.

And I disagree entirely with that last comment - who the judges and pros are is in my opinion even more important than who the celebrities are. You can have a celebrity with the best personality in the worl, but without a likeminded pro who can choreograph to that personality as Ola did last year, and judges who can make creative comment that personality will not come across.

I lost a lot of interest in SCD last year - partly because I was disappointed at the changes made, especially Alesha, and partly because I didn't have a couple to root for. There was no Jodie and Ian, or Austin and Erin, or Mark and Karen, or even Gethin and Camilla. Much as I liked Chris and Ola, I couldn't get behind him in the way I've loved other couples.

This year, without Ian, Darren, Lilia and Matthew (I'm not really a Brian fan), I can see myself losing interest even more. It's not me stamping my feet and refusing to accept change, it's simply that the show won't be able to hold my interest. The only male pro I really like that's left in the competition is James Jordan, unless one of the three newbies grabs my attention. Lilia was my favourite female pro, and while I'll still have Ola and Flavia to root for, I've lost the one I really was invested in.

With no Camilla or Brian and very little Matt and Ian they have lost a viewer here

Let's just wait and see. I stil think the programme's bigger than any of its individual players, even it seems weaker than originally.

We should all wait and see,
it's the usual mad forum frenzy already, all based on a very limited bit of information, If anyone reads through the various posts then it's obvious that even just on this forum, that opinion is divided. Lots of people are great at assuming that the changes are for the worst, it's like in Football when a team loses its star striker, everyone calls for the manager to be sacked, then the next season when they bring in a replacement and it all goes well, people say it was a good move to get rid of so and so.
I'd love to have the crystal ball that some people on here seem to have....... might be able to predict my lottery numbers...

At the end of the day, what makes a great series is the quality of the contestants....... And nobody has any idea yet as to whom they might be... so a bit early to write it off

Couldn't agree more.

they are trying to ruin strictly

Most changes that are promised I doubt I'll mind and many of the favorite alternate ones proposed here don't actually excite me (I much prefer the intimate sense in the studio to the vastness of Blackpool, for example). Yet the choice of pros to sideline does seem incredibly strange and I would really be interested to hear some sort of explanation of how they were selected. I have a slight fear that they were chosen to open the way for more showmance, since we've lost a married couple, two gay guys and someone with (in the terms of the show) a high-profile romance. Probably an unlikely explanation, but it does worry me.
Last edited by Pasta : 16-06-2010 at 18:31

But in terms of showmance of the ones who are left:

James and Ola are married, Erin is married, Brendan is getting married, Flavia, Vincent, Kristina, Natalie and Katya are all in relationships and I doubt anyone would have a showmance with Anton! it seems new pro Jared Murillo is also in a relationship.

That just leaves Aliona (not sure if she's in a relationship or not) and two of the new boys: Artem and Robin.

So 5 pros cut, 2 new ones who could have potential showmances () That doesn't add up at all!

Oh, I know it's nonsense. I didn't say it was rational!

Nope, true - it's the BBC, I think we just have to assume there is no rationale behind it! (I was just pointing out how ludicrous it would be if that was the reasoning!)

Is this scd or blind date ?

The main problem with Strictly is that it isn't as good as the US version Dancing With The Stars.

The US show is far more entertaining and the standard of Celeb contestant far outstrips the poor selection they put on over here. The do actually have stars taking part not also rans trying to reinvigorate their flagging career.

The voting system on the US version is far more honest as well as there have often been instances when a couple were at the top of the leader board but the power of the home voters still meant they ended up in the bottom two. Even the final decision of who goes is down to the viewers choice and the judges can't intervene. There's no dance offs at the end with the judges engineering who they want to go through.

The UK show is just a poor relation as far as I'm concerned.

Whilst I am really really disappointed that most of my fave pros won't be competing with celebs this year, I will be watching still. I do think the show needed freshening up but for me, the changes I would like to see are in production values, format and presenters.

For me, getting bigger name celeb contestants isn't a big issue - if you look at past winners, how many are "big" names anyway? Also, possibly setting aside season one, none of the winners were showmance couples.

IMO what all the winners do have in common is how much enjoyment they had in the dancing and how their pros brought out their full potential and fun factor. What I want is to see the enjoyment of it all, be taken out of myself with the glitz, glamour and fun - I can get drama, tears and tantrums on nearly every other show!

This is one of my biggest disappointments with the pros "lost" as they have a track-record of bringing that out in their celebs and the partnerships they forged are a big part of my enjoyment of the show.

I'd like to see the beeb use celebs that all have a small amount of dance experience already, and level the playing field in the early weeks in particular and to stop concentrating so much on the histrionics/pressure of it all in the training VTs.

As for choice of pros, I think the ones who have stayed are the ones that create the most column inches and media attention - I don't mean that negatively, or disrespectfully to anyone or that they don't deserve to stay - just imo that could be the reason.

Couldn't agree more about Darcey - lovely person, but a dire judge and not at all right for the show.

I'm happy to wait and see how the show goes, BUT I do think the wrong pros were relegated to the dance group for the reasons already given -[LIST][*]they are all excellent teachers[*]they are amongst the most popular pros[*]they are all better dancers than at least three of the other pros[/LIST]I can see almost any other change working well, but the BIG risk to bring new guys in for the Fallen Five.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

BUT

you never know it may be good *I hope*