You really have to commend whoever it is at ITV who comes up with new programme ideas. It must take a lot of imagination to turn to the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing and then come up with a completely undetectable fresh slant on the format. It is a bit like their recent take on the Dragon's Den, even featuring one of the same entrepreneurs to make it even more subtle.
Of course like almost every television show these days it has to feature 'celebrities' who hardly anyone has ever heard heard of. The latest line-up has just been revealed and what a surprise. Tom Cruise? No. Halle Berry? No. David Beckham? No. Lisa Scott-Lee (Steps), Stephen Gately (Boyzone) and Duncan Something or other (Blue)? Yes. Singers whose solo career has hardly been record-breaking, indeed they would probably have to buy several hundred of their own singles just to get into the charts at all. Then there is the newsreaders, the obligatory soap star, the even more obligatory Ulrika Jonsson and some others who struggle to get on TV by their own merit.
That is my only really major problem. The rest of the show is great if you like watching or performing ice skating and it is certainly not much worse than the BBC dancing show, though there was far too much carrying of certain skaters in the last series (e.g. Bonnie Langford) that takes away a little of the credibility. I just don't know why they can't create this sort of talent programme using 'ordinary' people. The public voting is often unfair as they are probably more likely to vote for participants they have heard of (if any). "Stars in their Eyes" used to score high in the rating without resorting (apart from specials) to the increasing number of z-listers there are out there, especially created it seems to appear in 'reality' TV. I simply cannot understand why if these people are apparently so popular they need to appear on these shows. I suppose you must give the participants some credit for doing something that requires skill, dedication and significant physical risk compared to sitting around in a house, on an island or in the jungle - all moaning and swearing. Overall though this means that yet again we fail to get any break in the schedules between 'celebrity' this and 'celebrity' that as by the time 'Celebrity Big Brother' is finished we will be onto another series of 'Dancing on Ice.' Have the producers no pity?
