After the disaster that was Week 1 things have improved.

No one (I hope!!!!!!!!!!!) can be worse than Katy Brand, but subsequent guests with Karen Hardy have improved - though why on earth she needs anyone to accompany her first rate professional opinion beats me!

Pam Stephenson was, well not very good, but since then Henry Winkler & Kelly Brooke have been OK - they didn't talk over things or weren't up their own arseoles. And the obtrusive picture box in top right screen has now moved to lower left - where it is considerably less intrusive - though I feel the commentary should be in sound only. The commentary doesn't seem to override the dance music as much as in the first two weeks.

It's good to see that the BBC are making changes to this - too late to drop the guests as they appear to have been booked, but surely not to limit it to sound only? - given the size of the onscreen "red button box" it's hardly huge publicity for any star who appears on SCD as you'd be hard pressed to tell who it was purely from the picture on your TV screen.

So many SCD fans are also Karen Hardy-as-a-judge-fans as well so it is worth hearing what she has to say - and for me largely more interesting than the ratings driven (nothing wrong with that) pantomime arguments amongst the judges' panel.

Of particular interest on tonight's show was the comments Karen made re Harry Judd's dance. Alesha has been slagged off on a number of DS threads for giving a "10" to Harry Judd.

Forgive me if you've already seen this, as I've posted it on about half a dozen threads already, on tonight's red button commentary, Karen said she hoped that Harry Judd's dance would get at least one 10 from the judges.

So the overall point of this post is that the red button commentary can be invaluable to non-experts like me and that it has improved since week 1, but that there is still improvement needed.

Just watch the commentary seperately on http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlyc...mmentary.shtml

Yeah, but I think they're ignoring this salient fact and hoping that if they don't pay any attention to it, it'll go away!

Thanks for the link!

Isn't that always the case? This fact does not compute with my opinion - let's conveniently ignore this fact altogether.

same old same old on this forum.

"Karen Hardy wouldn't have allowed this to happen if she was judge."

"actually Karen said she loved it and thought it deserved at least one 10"


*tumblweed*

It's selective hearing, or reading, I think!

Just like the calls for bringing back Arlene (over my dead body!!!)

Everyone seems to have forgotten (conveniently!) that before Arlene actually left, there were numerous threads calling for her head and criticising her judging - and not just in the year she left, but before that, too! And yet, apparently, she's now some kind of genius judge.

Er. No.

That is true, of course, but do we know that the same people who criticised Arlene and wanted her to leave, are the same people who really admired her and were subsequently upset when she was replaced?

Thanks for this - wasn't aware of it!!!!!!

When is the commentary made available ?

Wow, great find!!!

Thank you.

There have been quite a few threads criticising the other judges too. You are criticising other people, yet you are being very biased and selective yourself. Making every thread which mentions Alesha into a "lets bash Arlene" thread is quite childish and uncalled for.

I didn't even particularly like her, but all of the judges have their foibles. The only one I wouldn't want to lose is Craig.

I don't know it's only for seven days. I saw some week 3 clips and this morning they're gone!

Kelly Brooks knows what she is talking about doesn't she?

So, if I don't want Karen as a judge (minority, I know) and didn't think that Harry and Aliona deserved a 10, my opinion still counts...good to know!

Me neither, so you're not alone!!

As much as like Karen and respect her opinion, I still dont want her as a judge on that panel.

The link changes, but you can catch Kelly Brook's commentary here;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedan...mmentary.shtml

I tried to listen to it the first week but I found it useless as she mainly gushed about how cute or hot the men were and then added, almost as an afterthought, her opinion on the dance. There is no doubt Karen knows what she is on about but she comes off as really patronising so I am pleased that she's not on the panel.

She actually commented on the dance. I didn't hear the first week commentary, I was told that Katie woman was hopeless and Karen couldn't control her.

Agreed, just been listening to it and both the ladies probably needed a dress change afer Harry´s performance

Just bumping this thread with the note that the guest tonight is Adam Garcia, who has a dance background (tap) and was a judge on Got To Dance on Sky.

And is quite easy on the eye

But seriously, I love watching him dance - the opening of the Sydney Olympics when he taps solo gives me goosebumps. Will definitely make the effort to listen to the commentary next week (as I expect hubby won't want it on screen tonight)

Thanks for the link.
I watched it the first week and found it distracting and silly.
Watching it on I-Player afterwards is interesting, and as some have said moving it to the bottom left and reducing the size has helped.
Wouldn't watch it in the live show though.

I love watching the red button commentary after the show. During the show I find it too distracting.

I loved Adam Garcia as the guest with Karen,and noticed that she asked his opinion several times

didnt she say he would be guesting this week as well?

She could wrestle her into submission. I'd tune in to watch that. With or without mud.

this week's RBC with Martin Offiah is up

http://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedan...mmentary.shtml