"So You Think You Can Dance" Season 9 on FOXHD - Page 4

With the audition rounds, we've all been witness to absolutely incredible performances by persons that we may have not otherwise seen. This show features all types of dance and dancers, and that, to me, is a huge reason to watch. There have been disabled persons that have amazed, like Bryan Gaynor and others that would not have made Vegas, but are most definitely worthy of airtime and have been remembered. We've seen acts (like the Cique Ring Guy last night) that were mezmerizing, yet would be unknown to us without the auditions. Throw in the absolute uncertainty of what can (and does) happen, and you've got gold.

Vegas? I can't recall a single thing that's EVER happened there, save for Katee throwing Natalie under the bus. That said, I do realize that plodding through the repetative and overly "dramatic" weeks in Sin City is a necessary evil, if only to show how difficult the profession can be. Plus, as Emaych said, a "bad" episode of SYTYCD is still better than nearly all other programming available.

Like the twins who are over 30. I told my wife one of them is unbearable but the two of them together are entertaining (for at least a segment). Going forward they all get cookie-cuttered much like the singing shows where they are told what to sing. To a large degree if they don't want to dance (or sing) it I have about as much interest as they do.

I think last night also showed the other thing about audition week that is bad which is good/great dancers with bad/pedestrian choreography. Sometimes you come out with a memorable performance, but mostly you get stuff that is completely forgettable.

Yeah, I just hope that all the viewers they're losing with these seemingly endless 2 hour audition shows (that feel like more than half are commercials or flash-forwards of what's to come) come back when the performances start.

They sure are attracting a lot of professional dancers to this show now. It's starting to look like more like auditions for a professional company rather than a semi-amateur dance competition.

With Shankman and Wall getting so many choreography gigs lately, I guess all these pros are hoping that this show is the way to network with the choreographers and get hired.

From the HOTP thread

"Meanwhile, "SYTYCD" averaged a 2.6 for a two-hour episode, up 8 percent from Thursday's premiere.

At least it's up a little bit. But the premier was down 20 something from last season.

I don't think the show has ever discouraged pros from trying out. The show is about showcasing dance not finding the best amateur dancer.

I don't watch this show, but did catch about 3/4s of last night's auditions. I hate audition shows...just grab your finalists and start the elimination. However, I did like ring guy though he had no chance to go on. Shirtless ballet guy was definitely a setup. The guy couldn't have f'd it up more, then they ball him out and give him another chance...turns out he's Nureyev. Who knew? Well everyone in the show did. The brother/sister package at the end was purely designed to tug the heartstrings...I'm not a big fan of audience manipulations.

I didn't say they ever discouraged pros. And I didn't say the show had anything to do with the change in mix or what type of show they are trying to be.

I was just noting the observation that the mix seems to have changed from mostly 16-19 year olds amateurs that were trying to jump-start their career to a lot more seasoned professionals that see the show as a serious career move.

Just a couple of seasons ago Alex Wong got a lot of attention because he considered giving up a spot in a professional ballet company to be on the show. Now there's at least three guys in one season that are are in that position.

I find it interesting that professional ranks mostly seemed to ignore the show as an "amateur talent" show at first, but now see it as a serious career move, which I'm speculating is due to the choreographers on the show being responsible for a lot of hiring for a lot of big shows these day.

I'm not sure if SYTYCD's success in being taken more seriously by pros will be a good thing or not. It might lose some of it's "charm" if it becomes too professional.

I will say that the pole dancer (Illeana I think) really did it for me, much in the same way that Melanie did last year. Cute as hell, hot body (Melanie didn't really have this, although she was obviously fit), great routine, but where the matched Melanie was in how she got lost in her dance. Melanie seemed flighty and too "teeheehee" girly for me when she wasn't dancing, but during the dance she made you forget that person. This girl, so far, has that potential for me. On my mental checklist of who-to-watch in Vegas, she's high up there.

I agree--she was very talented and very hot, great personality and attitude; I want to see her in the competition. I had plenty of positive impressions from last night's show, but she and Cyr-wheel-guy were the only ones who immediately came to mind and of course he didn't have any traditional dance capability.

I wasn't particularly amused by the twins and when they announced, long before performing, that they were over-aged for the competition all I could do was groan. Why put the audience through that? The elaborate package they put together for them, with shots of them at their jobs and at home and prancing down the street, had to have been over 10 minutes long. Why??? I suppose that there are people (like the Cyr-wheel guy) who were never likely to earn a spot in the competition whose work I'm glad that they showed me; no doubt there were others who enjoyed the twins.

Nigel thinks people enjoy human interest stories. He's probably right. They probably have some statistic that shows it helps more than it hurts. I personally don't give a **** about them on this show or any other. Get to the good stuff, Nigel. It's no coincidence that every show he produces resembles one another, both good and bad.

LA auditions were fab. they really aren't touching any poor performances this year. unless its over the top. like reducing more than usual. Vegas week is my fave. wish they'd expand that.

Crap! I just saw on IMDb's page of season 9 episodes that there are at least 4 more audition programs scheduled with no mention of Vegas. If this is right, I cannot believe the stupidity. If the show had picked up any new audience whatsoever they will have all dropped away by the time the competition arrives. You'd think that they would have learned something from Season 6 .

I enjoy a little of this audition stuff, but 12 hours of it before Vegas is way the hell too much; it should have been limited to 10 hours through Vegas. The show is about the most talented people they can find performing professionally choreographed and produced routines in competition, not random hopefuls performing little numbers they cobbled together on their own, patched together with heartwarming tales of their personal trials. I wonder if this season will do well enough to get them a 10th.

The alumni are showing up all over the place. As an example Dancing with the Stars. I wonder if Lady Gaga hired the gal she promised? Heck wasn't one of her featured dancers on the show?

There are at least 3 ballet dancers this year that are killer good. I haven't seen anything in hip-hop (even exorcist) to make me go, "Oooh. He/She's top 5." It was nice to actually see a jazz routine yesterday.

Ballroom? Ballroom? Where for art thou, Ballroom Dancers? It seems we can have tappers or ballroom dancers but not both depending upon the season.

Seriously the plan is 6 weeks of auditions? That's just stupid. I'm with you on what the show is about, and it seems like they're spending far too much time before getting to the professional stuff. Just get to that and instead of pre-taping some more really lame getting-to-know-you crap that runs before the first couple of dances, show the highlights of their audition. The main reason I dislike this phase is because it's so disjointed. Interview-show some of the dance-constantly switch to camera on judges reactions - back to dancer - show crowd reacting - more dance - more judges. Bleh.


Didn't we just have only two in the final 20 last year? I hope there's more as it's fun to see Mary critique that style.

What bugs me is that they spend large chunks of time with people they know won't even get to Vegas. Sometimes I appreciate that they showed us the person's audition when they knew they weren't getting any further and sometimes I don't, but I really think its kind of a waste to put together big clip packages for those who are going to immediately wash out (like surfer-tapper-w/handlebar-mustache--nice guy, nice audition routine, but they bother to show us bits of his life when they knew that he washed out in the choreography round. I mean, long after he'd been eliminated, they went back and found him and shot those clips of him surfing and tending bar to include in this episode. What's the point? It's interesting to know the back stories of contestants, but they spend so much time on people who aren't going to get past the audition (in case of the twins, people who weren't even eligible to audition ).

And it looks like we've got at least another 8 hours of that before Vegas.

I don't know, Mike... My primary source for TV ratings (TV by the Numbers is sort of "flaky" and hard to follow for me) is my weekly issue of "Entertainment Weekly" (except I get all OUT OF SORTS when they do double issues when I'm REALLY trying to follow something and/or decide to go several weeks in a row by doing iTunes ratings one week, followed by TV downloads the next -- usually AFTER a two-week issue)...

At any rate, I don't recall what the ratings trends were for the auditions phase of SYTYCD LAST year (or previous years), but I'm guessing at the moment that they may have been HIGHER than regular episodes, perhaps -- especially with them doing the sort of crazy "human-interest" stuff like they did on this week's episode with those twins, and Mr. Handlebar, just to name two.

What I DO remember, very well, from last season is that MUCH contrary to my expectations, as the REGULAR season progressed and the competition for who would WIN the show got tighter, the ratings for the show dropped lower and lower -- eventually to the point it didn't even register on EW's Top 25 (it was up near the Top 10 early in the season, after all regular network season shows had ended).

So I'm guessing the more -- and more varied -- people they have on the show -- doing more "wild and crazy" stuff, perhaps, the better the ratings?

As for this week's show, I didn't get to watch it last night, just finished watching a few minutes ago. I thought the martial-arts dancer was superb, and the pole-dancing ballerina showed promise. Jasmine (the sister of the guy who was pronounced DOA at the hospital), the moment her music started her eyes lit up like 500-watt bulbs and she started to move so fluidly I instantly thought TOP 20! Not so sure about him -- I mean, he's tried out 4 other times already, and he WASN'T 6 weeks out from a broken neck, then. The girl who had to move in with her best friend... perhaps. It's hard to tell. As Nigel said, she appears to have so much bottled up... if she can put that into dance, she could be great -- or maybe not. But I think we saw at least 2 or 3 Top 20s this week.

I'm looking forward to Atlanta... couldn't care less about Salt Lake City. Isn't there also San Francisco, and where else... Denver? Chicago? Who knows, if they're going 4 weeks. I guess it depends on much show time they spend in each city. I mean, NYC is the nation's biggest city -- CENTER of dance, with Broadway, yet IT split 2 hours with Dallas, while L.A. got a full 2 hours... Go figure.
Jeff

I must say she is really hot as a host..lol

Haha, that bothers me too. They seem to be doing more and more of them too. It List double edition. The Photos double edition. Summer movie Double. Fall Move Double. Winter Movie double. BOOOOOO. They've also pretty much turned into Teen Beat in the past couple of years, doing an inordinate amount of Twilight, Hunger Games, and Harry Potter covers. I think I'm done subscribing.

It's "under consideration" for me, as well, Skye.

I'm not quite sure HOW, but somehow they got me on some sort of "autorenew-via-credit-card" deal, and every August for the past few years I just automatically see a charge on my Discover card for a renewal to Entertainment Weekly. Since the renewal rate hasn't been TOO high (and since I enjoy "enough" of the articles, and like keeping up on the new movies, and such, and reading the movie reviews), I've been letting it slide... But IF the magazine continues to "slide," as well, I may notify my Discover card before August NOT to accept any more auto-renews from them.

Besides, I have "this thing" about not wanting to throw away old magazines... Currently, I have five or six YEARS worth of Entertainment Weeklies scattered here and there around the house... in this room, piled up near the toilet, in my bedroom, den, living room... That doesn't include all the monthly issues of Discover Magazine (WON'T cancel that one), Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, National Geographics I never got out of the cover (finally stopped that subscription), PC Worlds (several years of THAT, as well, but I finally got fed up with ITS diminishing quality, as well, and JUST let it go)... Just joined the Sierra Club and the WWF, though, and also a member of the National Wildlife Federation, so I get all their stuff... Lifetime member of the National Home Gardening Club, so I get their magazine...

At ONE TIME, I was a collector of "men's magazines." I finally took almost ALL of those (enough to make several stacks to the ceiling) to the paper recycler, lol. Guess I'll have to buckle down and do likewise with most of this other stuff some day.

Doyathink I might be just a TAD OCD??? "So Ya Think You Can Hoard, Hoard, Hoard!" (Trust me, I'm nowhere NEAR the league of the folks you see on those "Hoarder" shows on A&E -- If they're a 10, I MIGHT be a 2 I just don't like throwing out stuff I can READ again -- oh, and boxes that aren't crushed -- can use them again -- to store "stuff" in -- If I ever get it organized!)

I think It's time I go to BED!

With one exception, every previous season of this show has begun the competition proper on either episode 5 or 6; the single exception was season 6, on the Fall schedule, which didn't begin the competition until episode 11, by which time it'd had eroded its audience down to nothing. Six audition shows plus 3 episodes in Vegas, 1 per week, followed by a "Meet the Top 20" episode. Nine weeks with one show per week, then "Meet the Top 20" and the first performance show in the 10th week. It was excrutiating.

When is FOX starting their fall season? IN the past it has started earlier than others due to the world series and other stuff. This year we have the olympics in the mix and nobody wants to compete with that. Meaning how long does this show run? Perhaps they need more filler because it has to run longer.

Fox Reveals Season 10 Layout: www.SYTYCD4AVSers.com

Season Premiere, May 30, 2013:

7:00.00 - 7:00.14: 14 second Musical Intro

7:00.15 - 7:00.22: 8 second warning that epilectic sezure may occur on following part

7:00.23 - 7:00.28: 5 second blurred mash-up of all 4,000 auditions

7:00.29 - 7:59.48: 59 minutes of Vegas "drama"*

*10 minutes of contestants mugging for the camera
*11 minutes of contestants saying, "Gee, this is hard"
*23 minutes of contestants bitching, whining, and crying about "being tired"
*15 minutes of build-up to a "dramatic moment" that ends with a contestant losing a contact

7:59.49 - 7:59.52: 3 seconds of a NappyTab routine

7:59.53 - 7:59.56: America votes for Favorite Dancer

7:59.57 - 7:59.59: Season 10 Winner announced! Nigel smiles, Mary screams, Adam cries

8:00.00 P.M.: Season 10 Over, AVS members rejoice at seeing only "the good parts" of the show.

Cute.

I agree with a previous post that after Ivetta got shafted last year (or maybe the year before?) you will likely not see the likes of her or the great Anya and Pasha again. If so, this would be a real let down. Ballroom dancers have proven to be very versatile over the years on this show but the deck seems to be staked in favor of modern/lyrical/jazz/lyrical hip-hop, etc.

I stumbled across the new show Breaking Pointe last night on the CW.

Here's the IMDB synopsis:

Series goes behind the stage curtain for an intense, unfiltered look at one of the most competitive ballet companies in the country, Ballet West, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Beneath the beauty and glamour of the dance and costumes is a gritty dog-eat-dog world of extreme athleticism, focus, dedication, passion, pressure and, of course, the hunt for the unattainable perfection

It seems like they are mostly focusing on the "soap opera" relationships angle. Very little dancing, just a few rehearsal and class shots. But, there were interesting little tibdits about the business aspects of the company. The director and dancers fretting over who would get contracts and promotions and who would get cut. And the jealosy over the talented new young girl that basically skips over spending any time in the corps and goes straight into a soloist job.

If they stay to focused on the "soap opera" they lose me, but I'll keep watching for a while to see how it goes.

Problem is their filler is poorly produced crap at the moment. But that's Nigel for ya. Rather than have more of these 2 hour audition disaster episodes, why not put together an in-depth episode where they actually show what went into the decision-making regarding everyone who made it, and those who were close but didn't. Content that actually is compelling and offers insight into how specific dancers were chosen. Essentially the opposite of how Nigel does things (here and on the god-awful Idol).

There've been 5 contemporary/jazz dance specialists among the 8 champions (Nick, Sabra, Jeanine, Lauren and Melody), 2 declared urban-style specialists (Joshua and Russell) and one ballroom specialist, Benji. There've been ballroom specialists among the grand finalists in only 3 seasons (2, 3 and 6). There's been at least one ballroom specialist in every set of finalists (two or three times there's been only one, like Iveta in last season).