Saturday night TV is dying and not even Strictly Come Dancing can save it

Times have changed and TV hasn't escaped. Honestly, I can't remember the last time someone turned to me and said: "Did you see that amazing show on Saturday night?" These days, the conversations I have include discussions about the twisted nature of Netflix's new documentary based on serial killer and grave Robber Ed Gein, whether Wayward is getting a new series, or if I've finally caught up with the new season of Slow Horses on Apple TV.

What do all of those have in common? You stream them. There was a time I genuinely looked forward to Saturday nights. I'd sit down with friends or family and we'd warm up with a game show before getting properly into Strictly Come Dancing. After that, we'd sit and unfairly judge contestants on The X Factor. Obviously there were times where we had to jump between both as recording wasn't an option. And of course, I'd stay up for The Xtra Factor. That lineup was Saturday night. It felt like a proper event. But now Saturday night TV just doesn't feel the same. And I don't think it'll ever return to what it once was.

Maybe it's just age, but I genuinely can't picture kids today doing what I used to do on a Saturday night. With so many streaming options, why would they?

I consider myself lucky that Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Apple TV didn't take off until I was older. I had time to enjoy those Saturday nights when shows were something you shared with friends and family.

But now that streaming is the norm, I honestly think it's spelled the end for Saturday night TV as we knew it. And unfortunately, the main prime time show Strictly Come Dancing cannot hold the fort on its own.

It's no one's fault, and you have to give credit to the BBC for its shake-ups to make it feel current. There's a reason it's still running more than twenty years later. But it no longer dominates the conversation.

People just aren't as invested anymore. There's less fuss about who gets voted off and there aren't vicious social media spats about which judge has been unreasonable in their scoring.

But that's not Strictly's fault. It's the world around it that's changed. Saturday nights no longer feel like an event, they're just background noise, something that plays while we watch with one eye on our phones.

The idea of planning your evening around a TV schedule now feels laughable. But there was a time when I did it religiously, every week, without question.

Saturday night TV isn't fully dead yet, but it's certainly fading. And Strictly won't be the one to save it. Unless someone finds a way to make Saturday night's the main event again, they are sadly just a thing of the past.