I discovered SCD from about series 3 and it quickly became one of my favourite shows. However I'm finding that each year they make more and more changes that cheapen and devalue this once great programme.

I Sky + SCD, and when I watch it back I'm finding that I'm fast forwarding so much of it that I'm actually only watching abut 10 - 15 minutes worth at the most.

I skip the following:

- Anything Bruce says - I can't bear him. He opens his mouth and I hide behnd the cushion in embarrassment.
- Anything Tess says - The jokes with Bruce are painful and her little interviews post dance are uncomfortable to watch
- Anything Alesha says - offers no value, why oh why can't we have someone who knows something about dance?
- Those awful VT's - I used to LOVE them. Seeing the training and how the week went - now they make them do these stupid hammed up "comedy" sketches....ARRRRGGGHH
- The beginning of most of the dances - because they faff about with unnecessary props and don't actually do any dancing.
- All of the Sunday show....what exactly is the point?
- Anything that Aliona has choreagraphed - because it never has any content, which infuriates me no end - Her often excellent celebrities never fulfill their potential as a consequence.

Please bring back the old strictly....yes it may currently be beating X Factor in the ratings - but I feel that this is down to how poor X factor is - not how good this show is...

Well I agree with some of your points. Awful Vt, some props are unnecessary.
And strictly is doing very well because its beating the x-factor in the rating wars or coming close to it.
We cant live in the past.You have to be able to move forward and accept new ideas, new concepts.We have the new pros who have been introduced who are very good and they bring something different to the show.
-The Russians (Artem and Pasha) with great choreographies and lovely personalities to match
-Katya is a little bit like miss whiplash .Aliona with her hit and miss choreography(lets not forget her stubborness)
-Natalie who is very driven and a very good choreographer with a sweet personality
-Lets not forget Robin
Yes , Some of changes are good but others arent. I love the direction the show is taking and yes there are some things that need improvement but on the whole striclty is according to me the best saturday night entertainment and I love it.

The thing i find most excruciating are the 'Hollywood' style montages with the emotional music and the celeb claiming Strictly is the most amazing and profound thing they have ever done and then they always refer to the "the strictly journey"
So embarrassingly cringe worthy and they seem to get worse every year.
I have now virtually stopped watching it, The judges say the same things every week/year.
It has become formulaic and predictable, even the choice of 'celebs' each year has a demographic.
1 ITV presenter, 1 BBC presenter, 2 sportsmen/women etc etc

Still pi**ses all over that garbage the X-Factor though

*lol* You (the OP) must be done watching Strictly in about 10-15 minutes then!
I skip everything the judges say, that also saves a bit of time and annoyance. From what I see of them on ITT I'm not missing anything.

I can imagine it being truly amazing to be on Strictly though! It is something special that you can't do just anywhere.

Hate the "Why I shouldn't leave this week" bits.
Also (often) the judges.
Training clips are now worthless.
Bruce? *shudders*
Guest artistes! *sniggers*

Being as we were out on Saturday we recorded it. However when we got in. I fast forwarded through a lot of Saturdays show, and by accident Chelsees dance. It looked even more hilarious than it did at normal speed

I never said taking part in Strictly would not be an amazing experience, I merely stated i find the 'montages' with the celebs bleating on about it excruciating to watch

The problem with Strictly, is that there's a lot of time to fill between a decreasing number of two minute dances.
So we're getting more and more of the "pantomime element."
All this dressing up in funny costumes described as "here they are in training." is a nonsense.

I'd rather they cut it all out, restricted a lot of the chatter, particularly that of the judges and the inane questions asked of the competitors in the Tess pit and get the show and the results over in one evening. The whole show is recorded in one session, so show it like that.

I too have started recording it and fast-forwarding through the judges comments, the "here they are in training" bits and Tess's contribution. It cuts out at least thirty minutes, maybe more.

ITT is now very frenetic, full of a lot of padding and very little training footage. Visiting "I love Strictly" so called celebrities are a complete waste of time. Who cares what they think about the show? Far too much trivia in it now so I don't bother to watch. I probably watch less than ten minutes of a recorded Sunday show.

Good for you. If I am ff the other show (Z-Factor), I will press the button without lifting my finger from the beginning to the end.

I do seem to skip through most of it...but I can't bring myself to completely stop watching the show because occasionally - there are still a few gems.

There's always that chance that there might be a dance that makes the hairs stand up on the back of the neck and sends goosepimples down your arms - so I keep watching for that...

I'm all for moving forward and making changes - but not changing for change sake - and especially when they seem to be dumbing down more and more elements of the show.

At the end of the day I am convinced that the reason the majority of people watch SCD is not for the jokes and humour, not for the bad acting and general faffing about and certainly not for the little "comedy" sketches and skits ...they watch it for the dancing! If they can see a contestant improve over the weeks - thats the cherry on top! The contestants don't even have to be a top celebrity - it really doesn't matter with this show.

So more dancing, more content, less bad jokes, no naff judges and less pointless props...and I reckon the ratings would go through the roof!!

....as a footnote: Artem's choreagraphy is amazing - jam packed full of content and for the most part I love watching his dances (although its worth noting that he's been lucky with his choice of celebs).

I rarely watch it live these days. If I do, then I put on the red button commentary for a laugh. Watching it recorded means I can skip through most of it and only watch the dances I want to. The best way, in my opinion

Agree with all of the above, Well put.

When watching a recording of the show I fast forward until the first dance, then FF through the VTs - but my digital handset doesn't like it very much. Much easier to FF and WB on the good old VHS.