Is strictly getting too samey?

[SimplyRed1972]

I've always loved watched Strictly, for me it's the start of winter before ima celeb comes back <3

But can they do more than just dance? It'd be better if they did other stuff or am I weird?

Couples choice is a pile of wank.

Too much out of hold.

Nowadays they simplify the dances: thinking especially of the recent jives, Viennese waltzes, rumbas, sambas. American smooth is just a mish mash of other styles and shouldn’t be there.

Motsi is absolutely awful. She doesn’t really seem to have much of a clue what she’s talking about.

I still enjoy it but I have plenty of caveats, as you see.

Yes has presented SCD (very cringily) since 2004. Surely it’s time to let someone else have a go.

Tess and Claudia ruin it for me. Especially when they do their ‘jokes’. It’s time they had a decent host. I don’t like all the talking and videos, but I can see why some people would.so I record it and skip through about half of the show. And I genuinely don’t understand why they get someone semi famous in just to tell you to call.

*Tess

I don't understand what you mean by "can't they do more than dance"? What do you want them to do? Sing, knit, bake.

Of course they dance, it's a dance show

I agree! I still really enjoy it, and I don't mind the judges, but I think they put so much energy and time in to over elaborate sets, all the glitter and razzamatazz, the sob story narratives, the jumpy camera work, and all the satellite spin off stuff like ITT and the podcasts and sm, that the actual dancing is diminished somehow. It's become like an over sweet sickly dessert.

I think they need to par it all back a bit! And up the taste levels. Yes it's a popular show and it's never going to be high art but they could exploit the sheer physicality, technical prowess, and artistry of the dancers more and have better music and costumes. Instead it's like the producers are pandering to the lowest common denominator: they seem to be happy to roll out the same popular hits and similar routines and focus on a close up of a competitor crying and spouting bilge about their life's dream! It's too tacky! Eugh!

Tess and Claudia make me want to throw up. I loved it when it first came out but it’s embarrassing now.

I tape it on TiVo and start watching an hour after its start time, so I fast forward everything apart from the dancing couples, judges and scores.
I am bored by it though and I detest the Halloween themed Strictly .

It does seem to be far more about the 'show' than the actual technicalities of dancing now. You can't see people improving week by week. Half the time it isn't all that easy to work out which style of dance they are doing either, as so many of them are reminiscent of what you might find on stage in a musical.

There's always some story to the dance, with costumes to match, some of which are really outlandish and distracting. The many props don't always help matters either.

They need to find their way again, I reckon.

I'm missing the more well known pros. I only recognise a couple of the pros now. They seem to have less personality than the big names from before.

I don't mind a bit of modern dance but I've not liked almost all of the couples choices.

I still love it for cosy pre-Christmas telly but:

Get rid of CC
Limit the theme weeks- hate Halloween week especially
Get rid of the nan vids and sob stories
Get rid of the lighting tricks and CGI crap
Stop booing at Craig as he does know what he's talking about and is, along with Anton, fairly constructive
Tell Motsi that "you go girl" is not constructive
Bring back more of the traditional dances, and possibly go back to half doing X and half doing Y
Have fewer contestants to start with
Don't have ringers
Have the results on Saturday.

I do still love it, honestly 😂

I have to admit I have been bored with it for a couple of years now. Same with Dancing On Ice. Got bored with X Factor, and am getting bored with Britain's Got Talent. They're all too samey and predictable. I even went off Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. Not sure what can replace it all though.

Reduce the showbiz fluff, superflous faffy props CGI and twirly cameras.

Maybe do CC in one week in the second half of the series so that the judging is fairer on criteria (or lack of)

More emphasis on dance technique.

Confiscate the judges paddles 7+ in the first weeks so there's better progression of scoring through the series as contestants progress.

I’m going to go against the grain and say I’m glad some of the old favourite professionals have left- because they are now often more of a celebrity than their “celebrity” partner - i overhead two woman talking about it the other week and one said they liked “Johannes’ dance”.

I also thought it was better in the older years when it was mainly sports people who did it, I know it was originally designed to be part of the sports relief charity tv coverage, but it worked having people who knew how to train, are fit and strong but no clue how to dance. Actors who’ve done a bit of dance at stage school don’t really have the same interesting journey.

Also think it would work better if you moved it to after Christmas. Or reduced the number of contestants to make it a shorter series.

I think it’s boring now too . They need to go back to basics on the dances / techniques and cut the fluff

Couples choice is awful. Contempowaft is ok if done right but more often looks like the work of some earnest GCSE students

Diane and Neil can both absolutely fuck off with their “hip hop” routines which mostly consist of them skipping around gurning.

There are too many contestants I've never heard of. Calling them 'celebs' is too much of a stretch.

Agree with every word posted by SolInvictus and everyone else.

The poor lighting and jerky camera work was so over the top tonight that I could hardly see the contestants!

And the intervening vids on Halloween night are a total cringe fest.

Also I think they have kind of lost the discipline. The judges are fighting for attention (what was Shirley on tonight?) and as pp said, you can hardly tell which dance is which. And I agree that couples choice is usually dreadful.

The judging is off as well. It’s like the judges have decided who to bolster up, and who to bring down, before they have even seen them dance.

I do still enjoy watching it though in a mindless sort of way but it needs a complete makeover.

I think it can be hard with a show like Strictly where there isn't a huge amount of scope to change things up much as the format is very fixed and there's only so many ways you can vary up "celeb learns a dance in a week and performs on Saturday for public votes" ... Having said that there are something's I think would make the show better:

1. Every celeb has to alternate Ballroom/Latin every week, so no celeb can front load their "journey" with an 'easier' route by focussing on more ballroom or Latin if they realise they're better at one than the other.

1. Limit each week to a max of 2 ballroom and 2 Latin dances so that we're comparing like to like ... I don't want everyone to do a waltz in the same show as there's only so many times you can watch a waltz in a single show, especially early on when there are lots of couples, but I think limiting it - eg week one is either waltz/foxtrot or cha cha/samba; week two is foxtrot/quickstep or rumba/jive; week three is Viennese waltz/Tango or paso/cha cha etc - means that we get a decent variety in each show but we also have a chance to compare like to like and judge relative to the other couples.

1. Limit the Couple's Choice to the quarter/semi final - getting to do a CC should be the "reward" for getting to that point - you've proved yourself over various ballroom/Latin, now you can express yourselves however you want.

1. Less theme weeks - a Halloween/Movie and or Musical/Blackpool weeks - are more than enough. Every other week the couples should not have a "story" to their dances, they should just be dances where you can appreciate the beauty of the performance.

1. Get rid of all the "faffing abaht", as Len used to say, no props/stupid costumes/CGI etc Just the couple, a billion sequins and appropriate attire on the dancefloor.

1. Along with that, appropriate music for the dances! I would rather see a waltz and hear a lovely orchestral version of Chopin's Minute Waltz than the singers murdering some pop song just because it is in the appropriate time and "cooler"

1. Judges need to give constructive criticism ... I agree with whoever said that everyone needs to stop booing Craig every time he speaks, it's just cringeworthy - he's the only judge who gives truthful feedback consistently without sugar coating it, although Anton has definitely more constructive than either Motsi or Shirley, and it shows in the fact that a 10 from Craig is something that is earned and highly coveted, unlike the other judges who give them out like sweets.

1. Either have a stricter criteria for the scoring that is made clear to viewers, or split the score so it's a "technical score" and a "performance score" added together so that it's easier to understand the scoring. Sometimes a performance may be technically poor but is an amazingly entertaining performance and others are technically brilliant but just missing the performance element. Occasionally it doesn't seem like the feedback matches the scores but it's usually because the feedback has focussed a lot on criticising the technical elements but it has been judged on the performance merit and that has boosted the score, or conversely the feedback has been effusive praise about the performance but then there's a low score as technically it was lacking in technical elements.

1. Less focus on nans, journeys and family sob stories in the VTs and more on the learning the dances and maybe even some "technical masterclasses" so if a couple is doing a waltz then their VT highlights some key steps/technical elements you'd expect to see in a waltz so the audience is both learning and has something to look out for in the dance and can see where the judges technical feedback comes from.

Does anyone else think the camera angles are terrible this series? I found myself saying it again last night. They keep missing showing you the actual dancing. One example from last night - Hamza was doing what I suspect was some very nifty leg work, they just showed their top halves. There’s been a few things we’ve mentioned each week.

I stopped watching as I liked the dancing not the filler bits. I don't care if they visited the celebs cousins dogs primary school for example.

It needs to go back to being an actual dance competition, with actual proper foot movements and arm placement.
‘They should have dresses above the ankle so you can see the feet.
Its not a ‘dance’ competition, and hasn’t been for years.

They need to get rid of the bits Claudia does on the mezzanine. Cringe. Just go to the scores.

Totally agree.