It’s not ‘must see’ tv for me any more, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the fault of BBC or production or whoever. We humans are pretty fickle, and that makes it hard to please us consistently. We get a memory of how great something was before and how it made us feel, and sometimes the next time the same thing comes along it doesn’t have the same impact. Or we still love the thing until the fifteenth time. Whatever that ‘thing’ is, there’s part of us always chasing how it made us feel (or how it tasted, like the best fish and chips ever on the seafront when you were eight), and when the next incarnation doesn’t live up to that, we can end up a bit disappointed.
What I realised last night was that I am still happy that from October through to December if I’m knackered from work or at a loose end, I can watch people dancing, or at least trying their best to learn. I think that’s really special. I hadn’t watched any of this series until last night (knackered from work and at a loose end, you see!) and it was exactly what I needed.
It’s also quite moving stepping back a bit and picturing all the different people who are watching it, from little kids (maybe it’s their first time, and this will be the series they unfavourably compare everything else to!) to grandparents and everyone in between. Plus all the people who will watch clips of the dances on social media during the week, and get inspired to have a go themselves.
(Erm, not sure where all this came from, but anyway I think I will post it!)