Originally Posted by thenetworkbabe:
“Its been changed to give the people watching what they want (or put another way, from an alternative viewpoint, dumbed down to give them what the producers think they want) Its what they think an audience that kept in John Sergeant, likes panto rowing judges , and voted for Chris Hollins wants. They seem to be a year behind the times, after Kara won last year, but thats probably right for TV thinking timescales. . Everything else follows. And good people from previous series wouldn't be walking it because "it" has changed and its changed in the direction that made, Ricky or Ali or Rachel runners up in the first place They would look good against this year but they might have fewer votes still.
This series has great potential as Chelsee, Holly, Harry and Jason were capable of a real competition. If you had to have a joke act, Russell was a good one, and the public played its part and got rid of him before he did any damage.
Its been blown off course by poor pairing (Brendan should never have been with Lulu, and Artem shouldn't have been with Holly, and Vincent should have had someone better) That was because the producers decided they wanted stories over dancing. Its, as you say, lost its structure with dances turning up randomly- presumably as someone deemed that too many people doing the same dance was boring.
Most importantly its been turned into an entertainment show with optional dancing. The judges marks are random, and their comments all over the place, because there's no decision or consensus on what should be happening. There's little dancing, because half the acts are going for entertainment and not being penalised for avoiding the actual dance. The pros don't know whether dancing loses more in votes than it can gain in marks, and the judges give high marks for avoiding it and lower ones for making mistakes attempting it, as they swap marking logics. Rows between judges , dances with little dancing, suitably irelevant music, lack of development, and lack of wow dances all follow.
The result is what you have. Chelsee gets a good mix of steps and entertainment, and her technical issues don't count against her on the leaderboard, as no one else does technically more, or better, Anita and Alex try and be contestants from an earlier series, but don't have to do much thats difficult to score highly. Artem is constructing artistic displays for Holly - regardless of whether its too difficult, fits her character or can compete with the entertainment or simplicity elsewhere. He thinks it worked last year, but hasn't cottoned on that the problem is the producers have changed the game. Jason plods on trying earnestly ,makes errors trying, but still scores highly, Harry takes his shirt off, does a few steps well and then watches Aliona for most of their time and scores higher. Ola wants you to watch her, and Robbie's chest, and wants their twitter following to remember why they follow - and succeeds brilliantly. Alesha marks chests and entertainment, Bruno marks the same, with some deductions for mistakes, Craig marks consistently, but has stopped penalising lack of dancing as he would have, and Len can't decide if he should object to the lack of dancing, or avoid boos by marking up the entertainment. he does both in the end, randomly.”
“Its been changed to give the people watching what they want (or put another way, from an alternative viewpoint, dumbed down to give them what the producers think they want) Its what they think an audience that kept in John Sergeant, likes panto rowing judges , and voted for Chris Hollins wants. They seem to be a year behind the times, after Kara won last year, but thats probably right for TV thinking timescales. . Everything else follows. And good people from previous series wouldn't be walking it because "it" has changed and its changed in the direction that made, Ricky or Ali or Rachel runners up in the first place They would look good against this year but they might have fewer votes still.
This series has great potential as Chelsee, Holly, Harry and Jason were capable of a real competition. If you had to have a joke act, Russell was a good one, and the public played its part and got rid of him before he did any damage.
Its been blown off course by poor pairing (Brendan should never have been with Lulu, and Artem shouldn't have been with Holly, and Vincent should have had someone better) That was because the producers decided they wanted stories over dancing. Its, as you say, lost its structure with dances turning up randomly- presumably as someone deemed that too many people doing the same dance was boring.
Most importantly its been turned into an entertainment show with optional dancing. The judges marks are random, and their comments all over the place, because there's no decision or consensus on what should be happening. There's little dancing, because half the acts are going for entertainment and not being penalised for avoiding the actual dance. The pros don't know whether dancing loses more in votes than it can gain in marks, and the judges give high marks for avoiding it and lower ones for making mistakes attempting it, as they swap marking logics. Rows between judges , dances with little dancing, suitably irelevant music, lack of development, and lack of wow dances all follow.
The result is what you have. Chelsee gets a good mix of steps and entertainment, and her technical issues don't count against her on the leaderboard, as no one else does technically more, or better, Anita and Alex try and be contestants from an earlier series, but don't have to do much thats difficult to score highly. Artem is constructing artistic displays for Holly - regardless of whether its too difficult, fits her character or can compete with the entertainment or simplicity elsewhere. He thinks it worked last year, but hasn't cottoned on that the problem is the producers have changed the game. Jason plods on trying earnestly ,makes errors trying, but still scores highly, Harry takes his shirt off, does a few steps well and then watches Aliona for most of their time and scores higher. Ola wants you to watch her, and Robbie's chest, and wants their twitter following to remember why they follow - and succeeds brilliantly. Alesha marks chests and entertainment, Bruno marks the same, with some deductions for mistakes, Craig marks consistently, but has stopped penalising lack of dancing as he would have, and Len can't decide if he should object to the lack of dancing, or avoid boos by marking up the entertainment. he does both in the end, randomly.”
That's it in a (large) nutshell.
Is there a way out or will it be more of the same next year? It's hard to see how this format can be turned around as long as it pulls in the punters? Maybe we'll just have to wait until the format wears thin and viewing figures take a serious dip? Maybe less earnest or 'stiff' celebs might do the trick?
Pehaps just a little less fakery all round, more consistency in marking, less pleading and false modesty from the celebs, more dance content and less cheesy PR is all that is needed? The balance between 'celeb dance competition' and 'shameless showbiz personality contest' seems off-kilter this year.
*camera close up - cop my watery eyes, quivering chin*
"I hope my young kids, the population of Wales, everyone over 60, everyone up for it, everyone who wants more of my pecs/thighs/bum/boobs/teeth, everyone who is buzzin, all my sportsworld/soapworld/musical theatre/political mates have my number on speed dial when it comes to voting. Please continue to root for me because I'm really not a dancer and only achieve what I do through constant hard work and the love of the GBP.
It's all about you not me. SCD is the best thing that has happened to me and it has turned my life around.
I love everybody."
