I have loved Brucie ever since I was a little girl watching the Generation Game. He is such a professional and a gentleman and I hope that if I get to my 70s I'm as fit and talented as he is. Ok, so he fluffs his lines sometimes, but so what? He has so much charisma on the stage. I would forgive him anything - except perhaps growing that moustache which he did when I was in my teens and I really don't think it suits him, but that's just a personal thing.

He was great in that. It just showed how he could strike up a rapport with anyone. He was charming, entertaining, natural, fun and informative. He brought loads of knowledge to that programme even when they were talking about breakdancing.

Hey all, I know a few peeps have said this but...

this debate has been had about 2 or 3 times before. A quick search in the past threads pages will reveal them. I welcome further debate but could this not be done on those other threads so people could see what opinion has been offered already and it clutters the board less.

Thanks m'darling

(and no - I'm not auditioning to be a moderator )

enough is enough
jokes are that old that they originally came out in latin

The problem brucie has is that he is so self absorbed that he is under the dillusion that he is the star of the show and that people want to see him "dance" its so painful to watch at times i have to switch over to another channel for 10 seconds. he constantly talks over the judges the other week he started harmonising over someone's song while they were still singing!! thats just too much. theres nothing wrong with the odd joke but he needs to understand that people will watch the show with or without him it's NOT YOUR SHOW!!

I like Brucie, 'He's my favourite!!'

Maybe hes dated but read his autobiography hes done a lot more than Ant and Dec and anyway the show is him and Tess now its like family

Don't underestimate how much of an ATTRACTION to the show Brucie is.

I think there is a real difference in opinion between the viewing masses and the hardcore followers who occupy this forum. I love the enthusiasm in this forum and i'm not knocking it, but you lot are in the minority in treating the show as a dancing competition of any significance. Half the criticisms of Brucie appear to stem from an underlying frustration that he is diminishing the competition element of the show. However, i would argue that for the majority of viewers who, more accurately, view Strictly Come Dancing as a light enetertainment show - Brucie and all his waywardness is actually a big draw.

I keep feeling as though i have to repeat myself in sticking up for Brucie. I agree with you guys on the talking over the jidges part. The rest tho, i couldn't feel more differently. The man is brilliant at presenting the show.

Lastly, some people keep saying that Brucie needs to understand that he is not in fact the star of the show. Keep in mind, however, that we only have Strictly Come Dancing on our screens at the moment because the BBC wanted to find a vehicle through which they could return Brucie to the prime time stage. He wasn't an addition to the show. He was the starting point from which the whole thing was conceived.

Regardless, i don't think he hogs the limelight anyway. He just IS the name above the lights, so to speak.

just to make it clear i'm not trying to start a witch hunt, bruce forsythe is used to being the main focus of attention in pretty much everything he's done but there is no way he is the star of the show. the stars are the celebs i didn't start watching SCD for brucie, i enjoy the drama of seeing how the celebs get on every week. if brucie was showing me something new that haven't seen over the last 20 years fair enough its the same tired routine, when he starts reading from the autocue its like watching the generation game its awful. sometimes less is more

as far as the competition goes i love it but i'm not gonna shed any tears over it i watch in the spirit with which its intended its a light entertainment show i find it fun to watch its the best thing the bbc have come up with in a long time i just love these forums its great to have healthy fun debate!!

I think someone has told him to laugh at his inadequacies and someone else has started to write his lines. They have actually been quite funny in the past fortnight. If he didn't follow on with his stupid explanations he would actualy be quite funny (and I hated him!)

I used to like him and think him good but he is started to get on my nerves he tries to show off how much he knows about dancing by talkin over the judges. Let's just say 'he's not my favourite!'

What I don't get is that a lot of suggestionss for a new host seem to also be big personalities. They will want an opportunity to talk, banter and joke just like Brucie does. A lot of complaints are that Brucie takes up too much time when we could hear from the judges, this wouldn't happen if you have a big personailty. If those wanting to replace Bruce just want someone to say well done, go and receive your scores any presenter could do that. That wouldn't be a host, just an announcer.

And talking of interrupting the judges, they are constantly doing it to each other.
Brucie adds a lot to the show, and something others couldn't.

I do like Brucie, he has had a very professional and distinguished career.
He was providing buckets full of good family entertainment when Ant and Dec were still waiting to be conceived.

However, I believe that it is the show producers who got it wrong.
Because the show is based on ballroom dancing, they thought it would only be a hit with an audience of a certain age group.

That is one of the reasons why I believe Bruce was chosen.

How wrong were they!
The show has proven to be a hit across ALL ages and deserverly so.

Having said all that, most of us here are now addicted to a show that has always been and still is fronted by our Brucie and Tess.

I have resisted the temptation to comment before now because I know what a good job Bruce does.

Bruce Forsyth is an entertainer, he has been doing it for 50 + years, and a large proportion of that has been on live tv. There is no one alive who better the skills and the demands of presenting a live show. IF he fluffs lines, there will be a reason, if a link is bad Bruce will have done his utmost to prevent it showing AND will have brought every ounce of his experience to do so.

IMHO if SCD seems to be mistake ridden at any time I would put my money on it NOT being the fault of BF. The fact there seem to be errors suggests to me that some of the crew on the show are not upto the job and the whole organisation is very complex. I feel that there are probably more problems than the majority of us find and the reason is BF knows the job better than anyone and can cover MOST of the cracks.

No doubt that he's had a great career but that doesn't mean he is good in SCD. he makes me cringe when he does this show. He is so used to being the star that i don't think his style of presenting can adapt to incorporate the true stars of the show, the celebs. This ain't the price is right where he needs to crack gags at every turn. Whats with his "dancing" segment he insists on doing? Why can't presenting the guests suffice? the time he wastes on cracking tired old gags could be used to get more comments from celebs or judges. on the rare occasions he actually just presents the guests he is effective

I do appreciate and respect Brucie's talent, and how well he presents a live show *however* it's probably time to hand over next year, as he's repeating himself and I do find his habit of talking over the judges (even if I don't agree with them, I want to hear them) and stating the obvious annoying. He's presenting it like a game show and it's not. Although I'm not a fan I think Graham Norton would be excellent, I was very impressed with him on Dance Fever and he didn't feel the need to butt in every 10 seconds.

And Claudia for co presenter as well as doing ITT, she'd be fantastic and funny backstage with the couples, but the Beeb seem to love skinny blondes out of a mould for prime time.

yep I agree 100% too.

Fair comment, I would reply that IMHO and MHO only if you think there are problems with BF presenting and the 'cracks' showing now, ANY modern presenter would be left floundering and it could turn out a mess.

WHEN Brucie leaves I suspect the format of the live show will have to be altered quite considerably in order to accomodate a presenter who does NOT have 30 odd years experience of live tv, that or many will be demanded the return of the 'Master'.

It's true, you don't often know what you've got till it's gone.
How many people could carry a live show with all those links and happenings on a Saturday night, and deliver the bad jokes from the autocue and still keep most of the audience entertained? The last person I can remember to carry off an awful joke with aplomb was the late, great, much missed Richard Whiteley.

I do like Bruce. He lends gravitas as one of the nation's last song and dance men. I get the impression that the rest of the team and crew do respect him and like having him as Master of Ceremonies, the dancers and celebs have said they respect him greatly too.

Can we stop with the bashing? I know that the show will finish tonight and yet another thread will be started (we've already had two before this one!) to have the same argument again.

We have Bruce, he may only do one more series and we should leave it at that

Thank you happyfeet, I thought I was fighting a losing battle.

Well said, Happyfeet! We'll miss him when he's gone. When you say "he may only do one more series", have you got some insider information or is that a best guess?

You aren't. I'm not rabid about getting angry at Bruce or at the judges, because it's a waste of energy and we can just be happy we have a charity programme and we can watch and influence things by voting ourselves.

EDIT: put part of this on a differentmore relevant thread

I'm worried about the weekend backlash we always get on this forum. There's often many many new threads started with each disgruntled person stating their own opinion before checking back through this Forum to see whether there is already an open thread available for discussion -and people get ever so defensive about things and start lashing out at other couples or the judges or Bruce or the programme. Sorry Mini-rant over now - I'm crossing my fingers for some calm and measured opinion and general happiness that it's Dance Night on the BBC tonight

It's a pure guess. Some other astute FP said on a thread called 'SCD 2006' that at his age, he may have considered winding down in showbiz but when SCD came up two years ago he coudn't pass it up. He has then stayed because it has been so amazingly successful, but you have to imagine that after 4 series he may decide to step away if they find a replacement. Personally I hope the programme becomes a Saturday evening classic in the vein of The Generation Game (in the good years) and runs for years and years, raising money for charity with Bruce at the helm, or someone else with a love and respect for the programme, over their own profile.

Agree with all the non bashing Bruce threads and wish this thread would die a death as Brucie is a legend.

I hope I am still as good as him at his age!