The Best of SYTYCD So Far

This is already an excellent year on the So You Think You Can Dance stage. I adore Sasha, Alexander, Chris, Ryan and Tadd. Ashley and Jess are growing on me every week. And there have already been a couple tough eliminations (I was so sad to see Nick go!). But there is also already one couple who's completely running away with the competition. The best 2 dancers also have the best partnering chemistry and a knack for pulling the best choreographers and routines of the hat. If Melanie or Marko doesn't win this thing I'll be floored. My vote's with Melanie. To prove my point, here's my favourite routine of the year so far. It's a gorgeous story set to a great Leona Lewis song, danced perfectly by my beloved M&M and choreographed by the infinitely adorable (and buck) couple Tabitha and Napoleon D'Umo. It's just damn good. Enjoy.

2010 in Reality TV: SYTYCDance x 2

So You Think You Can Dance took a big format risk for their 7th season, limiting the show to a top 10 instead of top 20 and introducing a roster of All-Star former contestants to dance their signature styles with the competitors. In many ways, the new format really paid off. There were a lot more memorable routines this year because the talent pool was more selective and the possibility of a strong dancer being pulled down by a sub-par partner was eliminated. It was also great to see the All-Stars back, for the most part they were really great choices (helpful, supportive, engaging and incredibly strong in their fields as well as some of the most memorable contestants that I was just happy to see dance again- Twitch! Neil! Mark! Comfort! Allison!)
The contestants this season though were a mixed bag. With only 10 spots to fill it became instantly annoying that the show had to have at least one dancer from each major genre. The uber-charming Jose was far from one of the best breakers the show's seen, salsa dancer Cristina seemed a little token and tap dancer Melinda just wasn't up to par. The format also allowed for the strangely awkward reality that most of the women were eliminated first, leaving a top 6 of 5 guys and 1 girl. But the strength and charisma of top 3 Lauren, Kent and Robert and the absolute amazingness that was Alex Wong made up for the lesser contestants. It was a season with some great dancing and some great personalities but it was also the season with hands down the most injuries. One of the only serious female contenders, Ashley, left on account of injury, as did my favourite competitor- Alex. One of my other favourites, Billy, was down for a week on a leg injury and amazing All-Star Allison had to take a week off for her ribs. It was a tough season but having Mia Michaels on the panel made it great no matter what.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada, on the other hand, left the format generally alone and populated it with 22 truly remarkable dancers. Winner Denys was the first ballroom dancer to take the title in any season I've watched of the Canadian or American shows, as well as a true testament to technique and perseverance (an excellent technician and hard worker, Ukrainian immigrant Denys was tougher to connect to than many of the other contestants but won when his sweetness and sense of fun managed to shine through and combine with his brilliant technique in multiple genres). The rest of the Top 20 was jam packed full of brilliant dancers and great personalities with very few that I didn't actively like and none I really wanted gone. 19-year-old contemporary dancer Amanda Cleghorn caught my eye early in Toronto week with brilliant versatility, unparalleled lines and admirable commitment and stayed my favourite female right up to her second place finish. Ukrainian and contemporary dancer Jeff Mortensen was my favourite male (it was a big season for the Ukraine) as the beautiful technician morphed from his boyishly wonderful self into any of the dozens of demanding characters the choreographers layered onto him.

Lovely quirky dancers Danielle and Sebastian were also highlights, as were the charming and consistently excellent Mackenzie, Nathalie and Janick. Hip Hop dancer Edgar proved the season's most versatile while the early-departed Jera brought some polarized fun with his crazy combination of ballet and breaking. Head judge Jean-Marc Genereaux continued to annoy (except when accompanied by his wife France, who keeps him wonderfully in line) but awesome other panelists Tre Armstrong, Blake McGrath (extra love) and Luther Brown kept the judging generally sane (though still a little too Canadian in the softball kindness of some comments). Guests from the American show ranged from the grating (Mary Murphy) to welcome (Dan Karaty) to wonderful (Mia Michaels- who also supplied the choreography for the season's best piece: a group number to Rent's "Will I") and guesting Canadian judges lent the show a brilliant legitimacy (it's truly exceptional to see ballet icons Rex Harrington and Karen Kain up there). Excellent new choreographer Sabrina Matthews added some remarkable works to the season and returning choreographers Sean Cheesman, Gustavo Vargas, Sho-Tyme and Stacey Tookey were great as usual (Sean's royalty routine for the finale was particularly wonderful). The contemporary numbers became repetitive and forced with the issues-driven elements but sometimes hit the nail right on the head (Alzheimers and spousal abuse taking centre stage with the most memorable routines). Watching weeks after the show actually aired, I was happy to have the ability to fast-forward through Jean-Marc and sad to have missed the opportunity to vote for my favourites, but with an overwhelmingly talented top 20 dancers and a generally great pool of judges and choreographers, So You Think You Can Dance Canada easily topped its American counterpart in 2010.

My Week in TV

The Bachelorette: She picked the right guy. They rode off into the sunset. I got simultaneously jealous and then ashamed of myself. It was pretty standard. Except that she let the other guy go before the last day, causing the producers to have to scramble for a new dramatic ending. I kinda liked that, it was both humane and inconvenient- right on. I fear that The Bachelorette may have made me like Ali. Well, something new every day I guess.

Big Brother: I don't know who to cheer for. Rachel is a lunatic but Kristen is a bitch. The brigade is a bumbling alliance but Brendan has terrible taste in women. Kathy is a nothing player. Britney and Ragan aren't bad but I usually don't approve of low key players. I suppose my loyalties still lie with the smartest brigade member, Matt (who's supposed mishandled HOH last week actually took the target 100% off his back) and the so-called "floaters" Britney and Ragan whom I think are playing pretty well, just subtly (and are also each good for some solid quotables each episode). See the comments section on Tim's post from earlier this week for more of my thoughts.

Drop Dead Diva: a good episode this week proclaimed that Jane and Grayson need to grow into their soulmate-ness. It was a great scene, brilliantly acted by Brooke Elliott and well written. It's a sweet concept but exists entirely in TV land, somewhere I always credited Diva for not living.

Project Runway: It's back! That is good. That is all.

My Boys: Another solid episode this week gave us some brilliant quotes as Mike planned his own birthday celebration.

Top Chef: A decent lot of chefs completely pales in comparison to last season's. Kenny keeps proclaiming that he's the man but has yet to truly prove it. Angelo is a decently strong chef but the producers are trying too hard to frame him as a villain when he's not dynamic enough to warrrant it. Alex is kind of an interestingly sketchy character and Amanda is maddening but overall these people are blandly talented and boring. Once you go Volt you never go back. Though even without the brilliant brothers, last season still had lots of great going ons like the great characters and food of Kevin and Eli, the controversy of Robin and the tough gal persona of Jennifer. This season's got none of it. It's also the kitschiest yet, and that's saying something considering last season was set in Vegas.

Life Unexpected: I'm catching up through summer re-runs. Me like.

The Good Wife: ditto.

The Last Comic Standing: Still loving my first experience with the show. Go Tommy Go!

So You Think You Can Dance: Kent's got this. That's been obvious since the second Alex went down. However, Lauren did have a spectacular week this week and Robert's grown on me. But Travis (LOVE) choreographed one of the most upsettingly moving pieces of the series thus far and gave it to Kent to dance with all-star Neil (also, LOVE) so he's got this, there's no doubt about it. And deservingly so. I mean, it should have been Alex but he's hurt. It could have been Anthony but the producers didn't like him enough to put him in the finals. It could have been Billy, but America didn't get him (though he REALLY should have made it past Adechike). So it's Kent. He's sweet, he's charming and boy can DANCE! He can take the prize, I'm cool with that.

Bones and True Blood: My current DVD projects. I'm still in season 1 of both but hoping to catch up to the newest seasons come fall. Loving both, especially Bones (that Christmas episode is superb!)

Good and Bad This Week

The Good

- SYTYCD's earnest (annoying?) farmboy Kent is engagingly mature, almost (dare I say it) sexy, this week in a smooth Dave Scott hip hop with Comfort and a beautiful Travis Wall contemporary with Lauren. 

- Deserving Emmy nominees abound, especially Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler.

- Big Brother returns with a cool new twist that's nowhere near as stupid as last year's high school theme. The rock star/mensa member takes off as a My TV early favourite.

- Brian Voltaggio (among others) reminds Top Chef viewers of the high standards contestants can meet.

- My favourite female dancer in SYTYCD history, Katee,  returned this week to dance a wonderful Broadway routine with Billy. 

- Hot in Cleveland is funny, nostalgic and a hit on TV Land's first attempt at scripted series. 

- All the right people keep getting eliminated one by one on True Beauty until only the tolerable remain (go Taylor!)

- Faith Prince reprises her role as Jane's mom on Drop Dead Diva in a lovely and moving episode that had Jane singing again.

The Bad

- The reason Katee came back to dance was because the amazing All-Star Allison hurt her ribs.

- Grayson's Drop Dead Diva story was a little strained this week.

- The Last Comic Standing audition rounds are over: one of the few reality shows where the audition rounds are actually entertaining.


- The Bachelorette wasted half its episode on a pointlessly juvenile breakup interview with Jake and Vienna (artfully mediated by the excellent Chris Harrison) instead of giving us more time with Ali's wonderful remaining men like Roberto, Kirk and Frank (for whom previews show the days are numbered before he becomes the season's third major villain).

- There aren't very many episodes left of the superb fourth season of Friday Night Lights.

and (the most traumatic by far)

- Alex Wong, by far the most interesting, most sympathetic, most engaging, hardest working dancer on So You Think You Can Dance this year (oh, and the single greatest dancer the show's ever seen), was injured this week and taken out of the competition. If he does not return next year my heart will surely break.

My Week in TV

• I was bored, so I made my own version of TV University (a format I blatantly stole from something I saw on www.thetvaddict.com- please, no one sue me).

• This week I got the opportunity to participate in a conference call with Secret Life of the American Teenager actress India Eisley. Not being very familiar with the show, I thought the most interesting thing about this would be that her mother was Zeffirelli's iconic Juliet. But when I caught up with some episodes online to prepare for the call I quickly discovered that I would be speaking to the most interesting aspect of the show. Eisley's character Ashley is the beating heart and smart mouth of an otherwise lobotomized teen condescension fest. And when I heard what Eisley had to say on the call I quickly realized that it's her that gives Ashley the awesome factor. Smart, articulate, humble, sweet and honest, Eisley was thoroughly charming. And when asked what shows she watches and movies she likes I couldn't help but think about the Teen Choice Awards (currently accepting voting online). The nominees are all fluff, the sort of belittling stuff that tells teenagers that because of their age they are expected to actually consider Tristan Wilds (90210) the best actor in a drama on TV (not that I don't really enjoymany a CW show and think that the Emmys should get off their high horse and consider Ed Westwick next season, but still- Tristan Wilds?!). But when 16-year-old Eisley watches TV she chooses Weeds, True Blood and Nurse Jackie (much to the audible surprise of the reporters on the call); and her favourite movie? It's not Twilight, it's Bridge on the River Kwai. I was so impressed with the mature teen star that I may even begin to watch her show. (I'll post more from the interview in the coming days).

• After an uphill battle that's been raging since Christmas, I'm closing in on finishing The Sopranos as I finally embark on season 6. It's been somewhat unpleasant (least sexy show EVER, though I suppose that's the point) and I don't care much for any of the characters but I can see why it is considered so artistically meritorious. For every cartoon of a mobster that fills out the background there's a fascinatingly drawn character to counteract them. The whole affair reeks of filmmakers gone rogue on television: the blatant narcissistic rule-breaking works against the series more than one might expect but does lead to the occasionally inspired moment (like heads in bowling bags- for example!) That doesn't make it pleasant to watch, but it does make it interesting.

• This week I watched all of CBC's newest hit 18 to Life in one sitting. It was cute, it was sweet and I'll be back next season for more.

• When I finally watched CTV's weeks old TV movie Turn the Beat Around (starring forgettable So You Think You Can Dance Canada contestant Romina Something-or-other and awesome SYTYCDCcontestants Miles and Natalie in sadly smaller roles), it proved so unlikeable that I ended up fast forwarding to the dancing parts. Whose idea was it to make a Flashdance remake using disco?!

• Monday night trash TV continues to make me incredibly happy. I love to hate the horrible people on True Beauty (though I kinda actually like Taylor, go Taylor!) and am loving The Bachelorette (as shameful usual). Kirk is progressively becoming my new favourite, I still love Frank even if he is going crazy with jealousy, am counting the days until Craig and Chris N finally leave, still think it might be Roberto who breaks her heart and could not care less if people think Justin is evil, she's clearly not going to pick him anyway.

• So You Think You Can Dance kicked off the voting this week with a strong episode. The All-Stars create a mixed bag or results. Some, like Allison, Mark, Pasha and Anya, raised their competitor partner's game. Others, like Kathryn and Twitch, accidentally detracted by being so awesome themselves. One (namely Courtney) is a mediocre all-star who kinda got outdanced by her partner. Some showed off their partner nicely by supporting them and doing their intended job of just being a partner that won't leave the contestant undeservingly in the bottom 3 (Lauren, Neil, Ade and Comfort did exactly that). I'm not sure how this whole thing will play out but I do know that every new thing I learn about Alex Wong makes me love him even more.

• Drop Dead Diva continues to be amazing this season with an excellent second episode. Chad Lowe made a spectacular guest appearance, Tony and Jane each tore my heart out, Fred proved awesomeness once more, Kim is starting to bounce back as a non-villain and Jeff Rose started his arc as a lawyer in opposition to Jane's firm.

• My daily summer staples Jeopardy and The Daily Show continue to go strong (though I am tired of oil spill coverage- is that terrible?).

and

• I almost missed the Top Chef premiere until I noticed something on the ever-helpful (and sometimes sorrowfully spoiler-full) Facebook newsfeed. It's awesome to have that show back for the summer!

The Final Dancer

Today Nigel announced the last dancer in the So You Think You Can Dance season 7 All-Star pool. Though my all-time SYTYCD favourites Danny Tidwell and Katee Shean are predictably not among the lot, the most recent addition is the most exciting yet: season 3's goofball prodigy Neil Haskell, one of the show's most popular dancers ever. And Nigel did make a point of saying that there would be room for more All-Stars next season, so clearly there are plans for this new format to stick around long enough for my favourites to maybe return someday.

More All-Stars Announced

The So You Think You Can Dance All-Star announcements continue with season 3 popper Dominic and season 4 jazz dancer Courtney.

Good Reality Happenings

Added 
(to the SYTYCD season 7 All-Star pool)

Eliminated
(from The Amazing Race, by Caite nonetheless, about time)

Dancing All-Stars...again

Season 4's adorable quirkball Mark Kanemura (of "Bleeding Love"/ "The Garden" fame) joins the upcoming So You Think You Can Dance season 7 All-Star pool.
Easily one of the most exciting additions yet. Still no Katee or Danny though so my dream is not complete.

Another Dancer

The So You Think You Can Dance season 7 All-Star pool welcomes obvious choice but welcome participant Lauren Gottlieb from the superb (and severely under-represented so far) season 3 cast.

The Reality Reality: Dancing, Dumbassery and some other stuff

1) Nigel announced who the female hip hop master is going to be for the SYTYCD All-Star pool and it's the least surprising news since he announced the male hip hopper (Twitch). It's season 4's Comfort Fedoke, the best female popper the show's ever seen from easily its best hip hop season.

2) I'm pretty sure I hate Survivor. After last week's travesty of a vote I was semi-sure I hate Survivor but now with my other favourite gone, Jerri completely coasting and the heroes (the 5 who stepped up to cushion the blow last week a little) threatening to be fooled by misinterpreting the villain tribe dynamics, I'm sure that I hate Survivor, or at least this season. Even if the promo for next week is a red herring (which, let's face it CBS, it probably is), the heroes still aren't proving their smarts along with their skills the way they should. And the villains, oh boy. The only one who seems to see through Russell is Sandra, whom I also can't stand so where does that leave me? Hey Jerri, step up! Your perfect man just got the boot because you made a mistake last week and couldn't recover and make a big move to save him. This week's episode was actually painful to watch. Not only was useless/snarky skeletor saved elimination (again, DON'T TALK BACK TO JEFF!) with my beloved crazyman Coach going in her place but ho bag queen Bee still thinks she's ruling the roost even though it's actually her hillbilly man-toy calling the shots, it took quite a lot of restraint to not hurl things at the TV every time her gloating little snicker showed up. I really just want this to be over so we can get to the reunion episode and see Rob again- is that weird?

3) In happier reality news, The Amazing Race is still progressing as the best season since Nick and Starr took the top prize; Project Runway sent exactly the right 2 people to Bryant Park (go Seth Aaron!) and is forcing a showdown between 2 others (go Mila, I don't like you but I REALLY don't like Jay) which is superfun; I don't watch American Idol regularly but know that the best competitors (Crystal Bowesox!) are holding their own, the worst are being eliminated steadily and the judges heroically stepped in when America tried to vote off the wrong guy this week.

Now back to ACTUAL reality.

More All-Star Dancers Announced

Season 2's Allison Holker (of Allison & Ivan umbrella dance fame) and Season 5's Ade Obayomi (of Melissa & Ade breast cancer dance fame) will be joining in the season 7 fun as partners for Contemporary, Classical, Broadway, Cultural and more. Excellent choices both.

The Newest Dance All-Stars

Nigel's been unveiling the first ever So You Think You Can Dance all-star pool over twitter. We revealed his announcement of Twitch as the first all-star when we reviewed the show's proposed new format HERE. The two most recent additions are...

Representing Standard and Latin Ballroom: PASHA (season 3)













and

Representing Jazz, Contemporary and Broadway: KATHRYN (season 6)

Big Dance News

The powers-that-be are seriously toying with So You Think You Can Dance this year, and we think it may actually be a good thing this time. The beloved summer (yes FOX, you heard me, SUMMER) show is changing people, get on board... because we certainly are.

Executive producer, creator, head judge, general pooh bah Nigel Lithgow just announced the new format the show will be taking on, the biggest change since season 2 saw the dancers in consistent pairings and eliminated by judges' choice.

This year there won't be a top 20, it will be a top 10, and only 1 dancer will go home each week. What? You ask, how is that possible, the numbers won't match up?!

Well, according to Nigel, they have a plan, a pretty good one. The top 10 will come out of Vegas week in usual fashion, just fewer of them. Then when they make it to the big stage they'll be paired up with an All-Star. Yup, an All-Star. Past contestants will be back to dance alongside this year's competitors in their specialty style. The first dancer in the All-Star pool, and the most obvious choice, was announced today and it's season 4's fan favourite Twitch who'll be representing hip hop, popping, krump and all things Twitch-y.

Otherwise, the format will stay pretty much the same: only the competing dancers will face the judges, viewers will still vote and the judges will still have the final say in who goes home after incredibly boring and pointless results-show solos. 

This sounds like a great idea to me. I love the old contestants (fingers crossed for my favourites Danny Tidwell and Katee Shean to return). But will their presence take away from the competing dancers? If I have old favourites to invest in am I going to care about the new kids? The new format might crash and burn but I like the idea behind it and am psyched to see where it takes the constantly re-invented series.

In related and happy SYTYCD news, Mia Michaels is back on board both choreographing and in the rotating judge's chair (apparently with the guest judges they may sometimes have a fourth member of the panel this season- hello Canada rip-off!). Thank God Mia's back though, the show needs her woo woo artistry and razor sharp critiques to keep them out of saccharine territory. And Mary Murphy will apparently be taking some time out of her permanent judge's chair to choreograph for the show as well.

Big changes, all of them good? Get psyched for the summer when time will tell.

Tyce Diorio Responds to His My TV Award Nomination

"Thank you so much. What an honor! I love Canada"

-Tyce Diorio
My TV Award Nominee: Best Choreography- "The Woman's Work" (So You Think You Can Dance)

...and one more

We realize we made one huge notable omission in our nominations this year.

From the choreography category somehow we overlooked one of the most inspired routines of the year. So, here to rectify the situation with an honorary nomination are So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 contestants Kayla and Kupono dancing a Mia Michaels contemporary number to "Gravity"; also known as 'the addiction dance'.

Choreography Nominees: Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden

So You Think You Can Dance Season 6 contestants Kathryn and Jakob dance the My TV Award-nominated contemporary routine to "At This Moment" choreographed by Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden.

Choreography Nominees: Sho Tyme

So You Think You Can Dance Canada Season 2 contestants Tara-Jean and Everett dance the My TV Award-nominated house routine to "When Love Takes Over" choreographed by Sho Tyme.

Choreography Nominees: Tabitha & Napoleon D'Umo

So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 contestants Jeanine and Phillip dance the My TV Award-nominated hip hop routine to "Mad" choreographed by Tabitha & Napoleon D'Umo.

Choreography Nominees: Tyce Diorio