So You Think You Can Dance redeems itself. A little. Mostly.
Okay, so it wasn’t a revelation of a week, but damn if it didn’t feel like one. Finally, this season, something good to watch!
There were still a few things that were meh, don’t get me wrong. I’m really not feeling Mollee and think she’s way over her head in this competition (and I’m really not feeling that weird braid thing she does to the side of her head. What is that?). I think Karen should have gone home over Channing, who’s been in the bottom far less, and I still miss Mia Michaels. Tyce really tried to step up to the crazy-weird plate with the Blackbird routine, but you can’t manufacture mad genius. There was no commitment to the concept, just a few bird-like movements every so often as if he suddenly remembered, “Hey, I’m doing a conceptual routine that mimics the title of the song I chose!”
But enough about my few complaints — this week was much, much better. If Season 6 keeps this up, it could actually shape up to be, well, worthwhile.
SYTYCD – Team high school musical is, like, so whatever
Call the pairing of Nathan and Mollee whatever you want, but I will call them out for what they’ve been — lucky. They’re very lucky America is stupid.
While Nigel was maybe too harsh on Nathan for the wrong reasons (using the words “hot” and “cool” are not signs of immaturity), both he and Mollee were by far the worst of this week. So far they’ve been lucky enough to get good dances in popular categories like Bollywood. In fact, I’d argue that they also lucked out as far as this week went — Latin ballroom is usually a universal crowd-pleaser. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s sexy, unlike, say, slow waltz or contemporary. If Mollee and Nathan don’t have the maturity to handle this, how are they supposed to handle the rest of the competition?
Five reasons why this season of SYTYCD still isn’t doing it for me
1. No voting, plus weird scheduling
Nothing kills a good show faster than having it be inconsistently timed. I understand Fox was trying to work around the World Series, but what that resulted in was irregular timing to the extreme. And on top of that, it resulted in the judges choosing who stays and who goes. Isn’t this supposed to be the search for America’s favorite dancer? If I cared about who the judges thought was the best dancer, I’d have tuned in for the Vegas weeks. There’s reason I didn’t.
2. No rotating fourth judge
Don’t get me wrong – I’m still as much of a fan of Adam as I ever was, which is to say, a huge one. But I think So You Think You Can Dance needs to get over itself and realize that Paula Abdul just isn’t that into them. Give it up and bring in a new voice, please. At this point, I even miss Lil’ C.
Step it up, So You Think You Can Dance
What’s going on with you, So You Think You Can Dance? I’m willing to put up with you, and your eight billion weeks of auditions, and your strange scheduling (a showcase followed by two shows in one? What is this tomfoolery?), and your flat (if well-done) dances, but this is only because I love you. If I didn’t love you, I would not be dealing with your shenanigans.
It seems to me So You Think You Can Dance can only handle one big spectacular per week, and when they stretch themselves too thin, the quality severely suffers. I understand the difficulty involved in scheduling around the World Series, but this is just ridiculously confusing. If I had my way, I think that they should have done the introductory show (having that was a good idea, and a way to catch up everyone like me who couldn’t bear to sit through two months of auditions) and waited until after the World Series to resume regular scheduling instead of having this nonsense where the judges decide for us. What was even the point of that? Aren’t we supposed to have a say? Color me confused and unimpressed by these stunts.
Shankman named third So You Think You Can Dance judge, ticker tape parades commence
Well thank you, sweet baby Jesus!
Apparently the conversation that’s been happening at my house (”I LOVE YOU, ADAM!!”) has been happening Chez Everyone, and So You Think You Can Dance has been listening, because Adam Shankman has been named a permenant third judge.
Don’t worry, there’s a fourth seat that producer/judge/fine, upstanding douhchebag Nigel Lythgoe was quick to assure the public remained open for guest judges. Which means that sure to fill those seats are standbys like Debbie Allen (who manages to make everything she says sound ridiculously profound) and Lil’ C (who manages to make everything he says sound profoundly ridiculous). But this development leaves the choreographers to do what they do best — choreograph, and not judge. Can I get an amen hallelujah?
Between this and naming Ellen DeGeneres as the third Idol judge, I think we’ve just proved that Token Gay Judge is the new Token Black Judge. Now if only we could find a judge that brings the two together, well, with that we could just take over the world. (Are you listening, Ms. J? I believe that’s your cue.)
Fame – Seasons one & two DVD review
The obvious reason that MGM and 20th Century Fox have put out the Fame: Seasons 1 & 2 DVD set (available starting today, September 15, 2009) is to help promote the forthcoming feature film based on the property. But it has an additional side benefit they may not have considered.
Fame was a precursor to the type of show Glee is aiming to be. Mixing a strong dose of music and dance with high school drama, Fame was able to go strong for two years on NBC, and four more in syndication! With Glee now hoping to hit the right mark with modern audiences, there couldn’t be a better time to look at this trailblazing early ’80s phenomenon. Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t blame me, blame America (and Ade)
Don’t think I don’t see all of you, standing around and muttering, pointing at me. “This is all your fault!” you hiss. “You Kasprzaktivists put Evan in the finale, where he didn’t belong!”
To which I say — hold on a hot second, there. First of all, I don’t vote, because I’m way too lazy to do so. Second of all, even if I voted until my fingers fell off, it wouldn’t be enough to matter, because I am very lazy and have very lazy fingers.
But what I really want to say to this is: why on earth would you think he doesn’t belong? If this was a search for America’s best dancer, I would agree that yes, Evan does not belong. But, as the ever-magnificent Cat Deeley reminds us every week, this is a search for America’s favorite dancer. And that is why Evan is still in the running.
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