One of my series highlights is Aliona's face when her new partner is announced, never change Aliona! It'll be fun to see if there's any hostility between her and Brendan. I can quite cheerfully imagine her giving Brendan a cheeky kick to the shin should the opportunity arise.

[quote=Patchbuncle;78929481]One of my series highlights is Aliona's face when her new partner is announced, never change Aliona! .[/QUOTE

Launch Show should be renamed 'Aliona meets her celeb partner'. Would certainly draw in the viewers!!

BBC sadly will keep Bruno as they feel without him the ratings will collapse.

I would stop watching if a celeb like Sharon Osborne took part. There are other celebs too, but she's the one who comes to mind. It doesn't bother me if I can't watch the show live anymore and can see the time in the not too distant future when I do stop watching altogether.

I watch ITT most of the time, but can't remember the last time I bothered to watch it on iPlayer if I missed it.

Not knowing who some of the celebs are doesn't bother me nearly as much as all the changes made over the years. The show would have become stale if no changes were made, but I don't like how contrived it has become, in particular over the last few years.

still a fan but I dont watch as avidly as I used to and I pretty much missed the entire series of It Takes Two - a show that I used to tape and never missed!

The actual show has changed alot since series one, its less about ballroom and latin dancing and more about entertainment - which is fine for some I guess but I actually would like to see the show go back to its roots

I hate the props with a passion and I really dont see why they were introduced and some of the music choices are just wrong on every level

I dont think I will ever switch off because I love to watch dancing and ultimately that is what it is - its still a show about dancing but the edges have just gotten really smudged

To make me stop watching Strictly ( and throw my TV through the window , after kicking it in ) would be the frightening spectacle of Mr ( Teflon ) Tony Blair, or his partner in crime Cherie. I'm already feeling proper poorly just typing this ( wheres the Vom smilie when I needed it )

Same here

I loved the show up until Series 6, when that goblin Chambers won it. I didn't think anyone on the show could be more smug and slimy than him - then Chris Hollins won! Since then it's been overfilled with props and pointless stuff. Series 8 was pretty bad, 9 was ok, 10 was good, 11 ok but 12 was horrible and the worst series ever without a doubt.

So its for a seriously long time that you have had issues with SCD.

Why on earth do you watch it?

You thought last year was worse than Series 7, where all of the best dancers either had to leave through elimination/withdrawal too early (Zoe, Jade), stalled and then started going backwards (Laila) or had the personality of a wet tea towel (Ali, Ricky)?

Me, too. I gave good parts of last year a miss, or a very quick FF through. ITT got to be OTT for me, so gave it a pass unless one of my favourites was on after a tough Saturday night. Been watching since Series 1, but not so actively anymore. Not giving it up completely, just not such as an involved fan.

I'm like others on this thread in that I haven't stopped watching strictly but I have missed huge chunks of it - ITT I also find hit and miss. I have been very disappointed in the direction the show has taken since the new producer Louise Rainbow took over. I think my biggest problem is I don't think she and her production team have been able to get the right balance of personalties and talent in the line ups. In series 11 they made it so blindingly obvious they wanted a female winner that it resulted in taking out the males who posed the slightest risk to that agenda early on and in an all female final which was all about crowning their chosen one. In series 12, I don't think the balance was right either - you knew the two males who'd got to finals didn't have a chance of winning because they'd both been in the dance off 3 times. I also don't like the way they make it so obvious when they to want to get rid of any contestant that are a threat to their agendas at the soonest opportunity.

Sadly judging from the rumours thread - I don't things are going to change - the producers seem more keen on signing tabloid attention seekers and hyping them up - one of the reasons I don't watch CBB anymore is because it's geared so much towards the tabloids and this is the direction the strictly producers seem to want to take the show more in with type of contestants they're choosing to sign and champion.

Another thing I've found off putting is the 'novice' storylines - it's just irritated me the way it's been as subtle as a sledge hammer - the way it's banged on about certain contestants not having dance training - I think all it does is create bad feeling against contestants that do have training - I think most viewers aren't idiots and they can gauge for themselves the contestants that have the advantage of previous training from the ones that really are 'novices'.

I have feeling that if all of us who have commented on this thread were sitting round a table, we would all be nodding our head in agreement, to some degree, with practically everything everyone has said! (Golly - that would have to be a first)

Strictly does need to evolve to keep going forward but inevitably it will come to an end. I suspect eventually the reality TV format will end or alter completely
I prefer some years to others and some aspects more than others.
It still remains my joint favorite TV show(Rupaul's drag race)
The peoples Strictly was absolutely amazing and had every aspect of perfect viewing, if they could conjure up some of the sparkle and enthusiasm of those contestants then it will shine for many more years

I was going to say that if they filled the line up with Hollyoaks/day time TV stars or /boy-girl banders I might switch off because I wouldn't know any of them but maybe that would be a good thing and I could just treat it as a dance programme and enjoy it

Nothing will stop me from watching it entirely, like others have said the 'comedy' vt's are a bore but I usually use those to top up my glass or for loo breaks

The blatant vote rigging to ensure the tour celebs get to the semis/final are another bore and Craig's bias towards Funnity was rather bemusing until it was announced she was doing the Strictly Story thing that he was producing/directing then the penny dropped

Because the only really bad series were 8 and 12. The rest have been ok, plus it's a habit.


Yep. Until the final few weeks when the Hobbit won, it was ok.

Last series was horrible, just horrible: dull Simon, boring Steve & Mark, boring Frankie, judges pet (in the last weeks) Caroline, that tennis mum who was stiff as an old crutch. The whole thing felt boring and contrived, and for the first time since Series 8, I seriously considered switching off. If this coming series is as bad I'll quit for good.

Sue, I quite agree. I really found it refreshing after the last few years offerings.

You know, we could just ask them to dump the celebs this year and get non-famous people to participate, and then perhaps more of us would care about the journey and the outcome!

Heck, one of us might be on it!

Although I enjoyed the 'People's strictly' - the problem I'd have with a non famous strictly is it would most likely just end up like other non famous reality shows like 'the Apprentice' and 'Big Brother which is populated with boisterous and outrageous contestants who want media careers and to extend their 15 minutes of fame....that's why I don't watch those shows anymore - it seems all about being geared towards getting tabloid attention.....I wouldn't mind another 'People strictly' but I think a whole series of mostly celeb wannabes would be a big turn off.

If the Tories get their way in the root and branch reform of the BBC which looks very on the cards, there may not be a Strictly any more for the fans to agonise over.

I can't link to the full article in last weeks Sunday Times, but here is the headline: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/...cle1580368.ece. If anybody's interested. I can try and scan the full article and post it as I still have the newspaper.

And The Guardian's take on the story: http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...-popular-shows

Make no mistake the the new Culture Secretary John Whittingdale is really gunning for the Beeb.

The "tennis mum" you're referring to is Judy Murray. She ended up lasting a lot longer in the competition than I thought she would.

Yes, it is.

I'm going to repeat something I just said in another thread. I don't mean to be rude or start any fights but while I fully agree that Judy Murray was a really bad dancer, I wish people would stop regarding her as solely a 'tennis mum.' She's a very successful tennis coach and the current captain of the British Fed Cup team. She may be best known because of the high public profiles of her sons, but that doesn't negate her own achievements.

Agree entirely. I knew of Judy Murray (and other sports stars) because of my sporting interests whereas most soap actors and boy/girl band members leave me asking "Who?"
As you say Judy is very successful in her own right and whilst she struggled to master dance she also demonstrated her sporting pedigree with the ability to smile through criticism and keep trying.

An admirable lady.

I agree about avoiding people that you describe. Strictly draws its celebs from those either on TV or in the papers/magazines.
There are a lot of people who are achieving things but are not getting much of that type of publicity. They might not be big names, but they might be a lot more interesting than the people we usually get.