What do you miss about some of the earlier series of Strictly?
crispyduck1234
Posts: 4,325 Forum Member
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Place just for people to vent about what they miss from previous series- whether it be major or minor; whether it be as far back as Series 1 or even as recently as last year. This isn’t a ‘bring back (insert thing here)’ post but more a post to reminisce.
- I miss Bruno (and to a lesser extent, Len- but genuinely think Bruno is a bigger loss to the show than Len was)
- In fact, I miss the 2012-16 panel- that was the panel that really defined the show I think
- I miss when 10s weren’t handed out Willy-Nilly- the 2020 series it went into positivity mode all the time which was understandable but it hasn’t shook it off since- even Craig is far more lenient than he once was
- I miss Lance as a singer on the show
- I miss Zoe on It Takes Two
- I miss Brucie- to a degree- dropping him was a wise move for the show, helped it gain more viewers from the younger demographic and he left at the right time (perhaps 2-3 series too late), but I miss the class he brought to show. There’s a generation of entertainers like Brucie and Wogan where younger celebrities were extremely honoured, privileged, and Starstruck to work with them- I’m not sure who fills that role since their passing- maybe Ant and Dec in 20 years time
- I miss the original style of VT showing the good, the bad, and the ugly side of training. They’ve decreased the comedy VTs the last few series, but the current VT format is all a bit saccharine.
- I miss the judges desk
- I miss Flavia as a pro- she was lovely
- I miss the Friday night opening shows- when Week 1 was split between Friday and Saturday
- I miss the hour long It Takes Two shows on a Friday
- I miss the eventful feeling- it’s somewhat lacked that ‘ooh, I can’t wait’ factor the last couple of series barring the finals but even the opening dances haven’t been that great since maybe 2018?
- I miss when rabid teenage social media trolls hadn’t taken over the fanbase hating on the judges all the time for giving their favourites a low score- Shirley in particular gets it really bad from these stan accounts who claim to care about ‘being kind’- this one has only really been a major issue since 2018 when Joe Sugg’s fans whined that he didn’t get a 10 every week, but sadly those immature users haven’t gone away- and have given the show’s online community a very negative feel.
- I somewhat miss the Television Centre (2010-12) set (though not the 04-09 one- that set looked tiny)- it’s only very subtly different to the current one but different enough for the more eagle eyed to notice the difference.
- I miss when the casting niches weren’t so predictable- at the moment every year there’s the up-and-coming presenter (Tyler, AJ, JJ Chalmers); the kiddy signing (Hamza, Molly, Rhys, Karim, Joe); the comedian (Ellie, Jayde, Judi, Bill, Chris, Seann), then there’s the one with the upcoming BBC project (Kym, Ugo, Michelle)- it’s all become very predictable- at least Emma Weymouth (much as she was underwhelming as a contestant) was a really left-field surprise.
- I miss Bruno (and to a lesser extent, Len- but genuinely think Bruno is a bigger loss to the show than Len was)
- In fact, I miss the 2012-16 panel- that was the panel that really defined the show I think
- I miss when 10s weren’t handed out Willy-Nilly- the 2020 series it went into positivity mode all the time which was understandable but it hasn’t shook it off since- even Craig is far more lenient than he once was
- I miss Lance as a singer on the show
- I miss Zoe on It Takes Two
- I miss Brucie- to a degree- dropping him was a wise move for the show, helped it gain more viewers from the younger demographic and he left at the right time (perhaps 2-3 series too late), but I miss the class he brought to show. There’s a generation of entertainers like Brucie and Wogan where younger celebrities were extremely honoured, privileged, and Starstruck to work with them- I’m not sure who fills that role since their passing- maybe Ant and Dec in 20 years time
- I miss the original style of VT showing the good, the bad, and the ugly side of training. They’ve decreased the comedy VTs the last few series, but the current VT format is all a bit saccharine.
- I miss the judges desk
- I miss Flavia as a pro- she was lovely
- I miss the Friday night opening shows- when Week 1 was split between Friday and Saturday
- I miss the hour long It Takes Two shows on a Friday
- I miss the eventful feeling- it’s somewhat lacked that ‘ooh, I can’t wait’ factor the last couple of series barring the finals but even the opening dances haven’t been that great since maybe 2018?
- I miss when rabid teenage social media trolls hadn’t taken over the fanbase hating on the judges all the time for giving their favourites a low score- Shirley in particular gets it really bad from these stan accounts who claim to care about ‘being kind’- this one has only really been a major issue since 2018 when Joe Sugg’s fans whined that he didn’t get a 10 every week, but sadly those immature users haven’t gone away- and have given the show’s online community a very negative feel.
- I somewhat miss the Television Centre (2010-12) set (though not the 04-09 one- that set looked tiny)- it’s only very subtly different to the current one but different enough for the more eagle eyed to notice the difference.
- I miss when the casting niches weren’t so predictable- at the moment every year there’s the up-and-coming presenter (Tyler, AJ, JJ Chalmers); the kiddy signing (Hamza, Molly, Rhys, Karim, Joe); the comedian (Ellie, Jayde, Judi, Bill, Chris, Seann), then there’s the one with the upcoming BBC project (Kym, Ugo, Michelle)- it’s all become very predictable- at least Emma Weymouth (much as she was underwhelming as a contestant) was a really left-field surprise.
13
Comments
Proper costumes
Proper judging
No Charleston
No CC
Brucie
Len (until he got too crochety)
Claudia on ITT
Proper showdances in the final.
- ‘proper’ pro dances when you could actually identify them and the floor wasn’t flooded with ‘spares’
- Lance singing, he was class
- Dances that didn’t include lifts
- The red button commentary
- Lilia
- Full camera shots of the couples dancing, far too many close ups where you can’t see what their feet are doing.
Pro dances being about what the pros are good at rather than what they are average at.
Why employ a load of people who are among the best in the world at what they do, and then take all their creativity away for the main part of the job and make them do stuff they're not very good at in the rest of it? For the life of me, I do not understand this.
It's noticeable how those who are loudest in preaching "Be Kind" are often the least likely to practise it. Kindness only goes in certain directions, apparently.
I miss Vincent and Flavia.
I miss proper ballroom dresses and tail suits.
I miss Lance too. He was the one who sang Gagnam Style and was thanked for it on the show. Then it was incorrectly attributed on ITT to Tommy 😡
I miss proper scoring too. It used to be exciting when a 10 was awarded. Now the only excitement if when Craig uses this paddle.
If only.
I know that now the series is longer there needs to be more than 10 dances. But any contestant who gets to the final should have done all of the 10 dances. Each of the pro dances should be recognisable as one of the styles danced by the contestants. And all that Couple's Choice does is devalue the show dances in the final, it should be dropped for that alone, never mind the dross it produces and the shoehorning of contestants into songs and costumes they obviously didn't choose.
TL;DR: back to ballroom please.
I miss Bruno too. He added something to the panel that is now missing, a bit of comedy but with useful feedback. I don't think the current panel works well at all. 9 times out of 10 their comments and scores don't equate and are just a load of platitudes.
Don't miss Bruce but someone with a bit more personality up front would make a difference. Claudia downstairs and Rylan upstairs would work maybe.
The whole show has become overproduced to an inch of it's life and suffers for it. Castings are also very formuliac now.
Rules don't seem to count much anymore.
Sticking to the 10 dances for the first 5 episodes at least instead of starting people on AS and charlestons would make more sense and really enforce the idea that people are learning to dance rather than producing a routine the producers have thought up months beforehand.
and Matthew Cutler
Coming to a cinema near you in time for Christmas.
Starring Kevin Costn Clifton.
I'll get me coat.
😂😂😂
Tho rereading my post, I should have said, dances where the rules are observed, and deviations penalized.
In effect, the ten dances done as they’re supposed to be.
They always type everything in all lower case too. It really winds me up. It’s like they’re trying so hard to be quirky and different and forget that it’s not a unique typing pattern- practically all the other fans use it. I think the whole online fandom feels more like a clique now which has only been a problem since Joe Sugg’s series.
Decent ballroom dresses, that was when dresses were dresses
Lets dance germany has rules but lifts are allowed in every dance there as long as there is a majority of basic content too