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It would be a shame, IMHO, if the last action on this thread (or, indeed, any currently active thread) before TVF closed was a disagreement - so I'll post a few of my own thoughts regarding the judges.
Firstly, I don't think Katarina Witt has been mentioned up to now. She was only on the panel for the 2012 series, but I thought she was pretty good (indeed, she's been a judge on the revived German version too).
A shame that (1) the show was already in decline in 2012, if the viewing figures for the two previous years are any indicator, and (2) she had alongside her Louie Spence, who somehow succeeded in being even harder to tolerate than Jason.
Secondly, it seems that quite a few people liked Ashley Roberts as a judge. While personally I don't have anything against her, I'm afraid I have to agree with those who feel she was a fish out of water...
Call me cynical, but I felt then - and still do now - that ITV appointed her because she had just made a big impression on I'm A Celeb (even if she didn't quite win it), and so they thought "If we put her on the DOI panel - and bring Jason back, too - it's not unlikely that viewing figures will go back up." How familiar she was with figure skating didn't matter (sadly, I don't think it's unfair to say that she was less familiar with it than Jason was).
This could be sloblock, of course.
In any case, viewing figures *didn't* go back up, and so ITV rightly decided to rest the show after the 2014 series.
Lastly, Jayne and Chris will always be legends - but even I have to agree that they are not as good as judges as they were as mentors (and obviously as performers). Score is right that the show needs to come ahead of any individuals on it - including Phil and Holly (I agree, too, that they don't need to be joined at the hip for the whole show - indeed, I have to admit that even after four series it's still a strange feeling for me hearing both of them announce who's through to next week, having become so used to just Phil doing it in the original run... ). And if moving Jayne and Chris off the panel is seen as a demotion, and the reaction from the tabloids and social media is overwhelmingly negative (which unfortunately is quite likely), then yes, that's tough luck.
Firstly, I don't think Katarina Witt has been mentioned up to now. She was only on the panel for the 2012 series, but I thought she was pretty good (indeed, she's been a judge on the revived German version too).
A shame that (1) the show was already in decline in 2012, if the viewing figures for the two previous years are any indicator, and (2) she had alongside her Louie Spence, who somehow succeeded in being even harder to tolerate than Jason.
Secondly, it seems that quite a few people liked Ashley Roberts as a judge. While personally I don't have anything against her, I'm afraid I have to agree with those who feel she was a fish out of water...
Call me cynical, but I felt then - and still do now - that ITV appointed her because she had just made a big impression on I'm A Celeb (even if she didn't quite win it), and so they thought "If we put her on the DOI panel - and bring Jason back, too - it's not unlikely that viewing figures will go back up." How familiar she was with figure skating didn't matter (sadly, I don't think it's unfair to say that she was less familiar with it than Jason was).
This could be sloblock, of course.
In any case, viewing figures *didn't* go back up, and so ITV rightly decided to rest the show after the 2014 series.
Lastly, Jayne and Chris will always be legends - but even I have to agree that they are not as good as judges as they were as mentors (and obviously as performers). Score is right that the show needs to come ahead of any individuals on it - including Phil and Holly (I agree, too, that they don't need to be joined at the hip for the whole show - indeed, I have to admit that even after four series it's still a strange feeling for me hearing both of them announce who's through to next week, having become so used to just Phil doing it in the original run...
). And if moving Jayne and Chris off the panel is seen as a demotion, and the reaction from the tabloids and social media is overwhelmingly negative (which unfortunately is quite likely), then yes, that's tough luck.