'So You Think You Can Dance' Season Eight - FOX HD - Page 8

I didn't hear the comment some of you have attributed to Jean-Marc, but I'll take your word(s) for it. That said, I, too, was simply blown away by Jordan & Tadd's "Vietnamize Waltz," lol -- even though while I had no bias one way or the other about Tadd prior to the dance I was leaning towards a slightly negative bias on Jordan (especially after Tadd's "crayon" comment about her). But even someone who thinks there's a "special plane" to take all the contestants to Vegas, or who has to be told "space" over and over during dance rehearsals who comes out and dances like THAT deserves MAJOR CRED (as does Tadd).

Similarly, you all know I've been pulling for Iveta every season I've seen her audition (and I didn't get to watch either show live, or vote this week -- just finished up a while ago). But when I saw that she and Nick had Bollywood this early, I figured "the jig was up," and that if they HAD, per chance, given Iveta and Nick "a break" last week, that break was UP. Being "a fan" still didn't mean I was going to judge their dance better than it was, and it WAS, as Nigel said, "entertaining," respectable, but not up to "Joshua and Katie" standards. He DIDN'T need to say that. The fact that he DID led me to believe he WAS trying to influence votes, with the competition this tight. The simple fact is, like bPeacock said, Iveta left too early, but there's no way she was going to win the show, likely not going to make the top 10, even.

Wadi? Well, when I saw that Cha Cha with Missy it was CLEAR he didn't learn what he was REPEATEDLY told during rehearsals -- to SWIVEL HIS HIPS. He was stiff. He reminded me of a DWTS celebrity dancer during much of the dance, and that's NOT a compliment. As most of us will agree, B-Boys on this show are USUALLY more like Tadd -- chameleons who can pick up new styles much more easily.

What TRULY blew me away on last night's show, however, was when Ryan and Ricky ended up as the third couple in the bottom 3. I mean, I FULLY AGREED with all of the judges that their dance number was SMOKIN' HOT! (That was particularly surprising considering Ricky is a bit obvious as "a man's man," so to speak -- I wouldn't say that except that he sort of said it, himself, when they showed the replay of them setting out to start the dance and Ryan said they were going to be Sexy -- or something to that effect -- and Ricky said something like "NOT!"). At any rate, they WERE, and the dancing was excellent -- particularly Ryan's. I'm also a bit of a Ryan fan, since she got SO CLOSE last year -- even to having that aired home visit by Li'l C to tell her "not yet." And when I saw she was THE THIRD girl in the bottom three, I KNEW Iveta was TOAST (didn't really care about Missy one way or the other).

When they did their "dance for your life" routines, it was clear to me that Iveta KILLED her dance, as always, and Ryan did "a respectable" job, whereas Missy was sort of "just there." Wadi just "did the Wadi thing," like he figured he was gone, regardless -- he was probably right. Nick did a decent job of tapping, but he was just really getting warmed up at the 20-second mark. Ricky KILLED in his dance, and I saw it before Nigel said so.

So I KNEW Ricky was going to get picked to stay if there was ANY fairness. But on the girls' side, I also figured they'd keep Ryan even though Iveta probably did a better dance, for the very reasons Nigel stated to her... They feel she still has a lot of growing to do, and they want to see "where she can go." Iveta's just a bit "long-in-the-tooth" for the show, I fear, even though Melissa made it to Top 5 at the age of 29 (just a year younger than her -- and they're listing "woo-man" Robert's age as 31! on the show's website -- go figure!!! -- I gather someone TOLD Robert to HOLD THE WOOS this week -- apparently told the audience, as well). The difference is that Iveta looks older than Melissa did, for whatever reason(s) -- Personally, I think its' that she's a bit too thin. I still think she's a lovely woman and a FANTASTIC dancer, and she got some GREAT exposure on this show she'd never gotten before that could greatly help an already successful career. I saw her blow a kiss to her husband/boyfriend (I don't know which he is, but he shares a website with her) in the audience tonight, so I figure she's got a lot going for her these young dancers -- many just out of school -- won't have for years, maybe never, so I won't bemoan her early departure as much as I may have other, highly-talented dancers. Had I been Nigel, I think I would have made the SAME decisions he did.

However, I agree with whoever it was above (who WERE you???) who said they should wait until several weeks in to vote anyone off and THEN eliminate something like HALF the dancers at once. I even have an idea of how it could be done in such a way that would STILL make voting relevant, and perhaps MORE interesting than ever...

We could have judges' scores for each dancing pair each week, for one thing. I think we need it, regardless of whether it looks like a copy of DWTS, or not -- even if it's just a PLUS or a MINUS. THEN, each pair could be scored each week, with their actual number of votes, ranging from 10 -- 1, We'd get the results of ALL 10 TEAMS on the results show. (They could either keep a running tally of the ACTUAL number of votes for each team, or just each team's PLACE).

Then, each week, Each team is voted for again, and its place can stay the same, go up, or go down... After five weeks, the bottom five teams go... or maybe there's some sort of elimination for the bottom six or seven? I don't know... I'm sort of thinking this up on the fly, here.

At any rate, when you get to the Top 10, you could go back to a system similar to what we've had for the Top 10 all along (except I'm not sure what THAT will be this season, with the All-Stars back in).

All other thoughts are welcome... Maybe if we come up with a good enough plan, Nigel will consider it?
Jeff

I have to agree with you about the Dave Scott number, DS. When they said it was choreographed by Dave Scott (who's supposed to be a hip-hop choreographer, I THINK), I was like... WHAT??? Sure didn't look like hip-hop to me -- didn't look like much of ANY dance style to me -- looked more like some vapid attempt at androgeny -- at which it was pretty successful, since I not only couldn't pick out which dancer was which until the extreme close-ups at the end, I couldn't even tell which were girls and which were guys in most cases -- even with the shorts on! Maybe I missed something, but I certainly didn't "get it."

As for the sound issue, I haven't noticed any problems except there was one brief moment when Cat went to Nigel and Mary that their volume was off (WAY TOO LOW) for just a few seconds, but then it was right again. I WILL have to note, however, that I watched the first 6 (of 9 that I saw -- my video ended 13 seconds after they cut to commercial after the 9th dancers) upstairs on an SD TV, using its built-in stereo speakers, but fed only by coax cable from a box at the other end of the upstairs. I still get GREAT picture and sound on that old (Mid-90s?) 27" Apex TV in my bedroom. With our central air on the fritz, and the ONLY AC in the house in my mom's bedroom across the hall, sometimes it's just easier to lie in my bed, with both doors open and a fan blowing on me, and watch TV there. Not TOO bad down here, in basement, with ceiling fan going, but my bedroom is cooler, lol -- at least in THAT respect -- mom's on Fentanyl pain patches, now, which ad kookiness to her crankiness (seem to intensify the crankiness, as well), so it's "safe" around her ONLY when she's asleep, lol.
Jeff