So You Think You Can Dance (Top 14) OAD 11/17/09 & 11/18/09

[Doug Brott]

Getting closer to this year's top-10 .. I'm sensing that there will NOT be a Top-12 going on tour this year ..

[Charise]

I didn't have a chance to watch SYTYCD last night, so I'll be trying to finish watching it tonight before the results show!

[redfiver]

Ashleigh and Jakob continue to impress me. I enjoyed them again last night. Overall, last night was much better than last week.

[Doug Brott]

I haven't watched all of the dances yet, but Ashleigh performed a much better hip-hop than her husband ..

[Henry]

I didn't have a chance to watch SYTYCD last night, so I'll be trying to finish watching it tonight before the results show!

Only got to watch half of the program. I'll finish watching this PM before the results show goes live. If not, I'll save them both for tomorrow.

[Doug Brott]

I think the bottom three will be

Karen & Kevin, Noelle & Russell and Mollee & Nathan

[Charise]

Only got to watch half of the program. I'll finish watching this PM before the results show goes live. If not, I'll save them both for tomorrow.
Thanks, Henry, but I had it watched before showtime tonight. I really enjoyed all the dances. I think it will be tough to send anyone home.

My thoughts:

Ashleigh and Jakob did an excellent job, and I wasn't expecting much from them. Very nice surprise!

Karen and Kevin did a good job with the dancing, but I don't think Kevin smiled at all during the entire dance. It's a fun song, so that demeanor didn't work. Karen, as I suspected, didn't seem as comfortable as when she's dancing/acting the siren part. It was an adequate job, but didn't have the exuberance required by the music. They fared the worst this week in my estimation.

Mollee and Nathan weren't in sync all through the routine, as I was watching for that, though the judges said they were in their critique. They did come together and did a nice routine, but they don't seem to have the drive to be the best that a number of the others do.

I thought Noelle and Russell did a very nice job, and I had to think what style is Russell's. I enjoyed the routine and though they danced it very well.

Channing and Victor had a tough piece of music, and I thought they did a good job with it. Interesting routine! Somehow, watching them is missing something for me. I just don't think they nailed it, but I can't say why not. Anyone?

Well, apparently this is the night all my family members are going to call. :D I've been trying to write this for over an hour!

To finish up, I really enjoyed Ryan and Elenore and Legacy and Kathryn. They all hit the mark and did excellent routines.

I wouldn't know who to send home, but the solos will probably sort them out. I don't even know who to put in the bottom--I like Mollee and Nathan, but I think I have to choose them and Karen and Kevin.

[peak_reception]

I watched last night's show again and jotted down some thoughts before the elim. tonight:

1) Ashleigh and Jakob in the text message dance. hip hop. A fun dance and finally(!) a good use for that irritating (most of the time) lights screen behind the stage as it spelled out the text. Thought they both did great.

2) Karen and Kevin in "If You Could See Me Now" -- Broadway. A fun, flirty routine which fell flat for just about everyone it seems. For me the Karen-kevin partnership is awkward. They're such different dancers and they never seem to mesh just right. Was very surprised to hear Nigel say that Christina Applegate was the singer. I never would've guessed that! She was the star of the routine.

3) Russel and Noelle in the Fox Trot. Russel in black, Noelle in red. The routine didn't do a lot for me but those two were radiating such joy that it won me over. Unlike Kevin and Karen these two obviously do have chemistry that works. Apparently they danced well too; it's hard for me to tell with the fox trot. My only complaint is how old they made Noelle look in that awful red dress and tied-up hair but maybe that was just a 1920s look they came up with.

4) Channing and Victor -- Tyce. I liked "The Two Blackbirds" and wasn't distracted by the Bobby McFerrin vocals at all (what a unique stylist he is!). Thought the whole conception was fun and well-executed by all involved. Enjoyable. Channing spreads her wings for the first time, will it be enough.

5) Kathryn and Legacy in Port Call for the Admiral. Paso Doble. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay over the top but entertaining. Legacy stepped up to the plate and delivered an over-the-top performance to match. Kathryn was good. Honestly I liked her better last week when she was raked over the coals for not being angry enough. But she was good this week, Legacy was very good. The melodramatic music and stage effects were crass.

6) Ellenore and Ryan in "Chance Encounter" -- Contemporary. Travis. I thought this was the dance of the night. They got a very good routine from Travis and knocked it out of the park they bumped into each other in. Beautiful Dancing and acting. Touching. They've developed some wonderful chemistry now and will be very tough to keep out of the top ten. Other individual dancers may (or may not) be stronger than these two, but they are now my favorite "couple" and getting stronger every week.

7) Mollee and Nathan. Laurieanne Gibson. Pop - Jazz. Much ado about nothing, an utterly forgettable routine! i still don't know what it was about and I watched it twice. Ok so it was just about dance, but take away the flashing lights and the pounding music and there isn't much left except for maybe a hyperactive aerobics session. I'm not sure that Mollee and Nathan could've done much with this one either way. It put them in the bottom two.

Elimination Show. The "Dance For Your Life" gimmick is wearing thin. Nigel has set it up so he can have it any way he wants. If they want to keep a dancer they can (and do) say that it's not "just" about tonight's dance. if they want to get rid of a dancer they can say, "sure you did great tonight, but it's about everything up to now." Win-Win for the judges, Lose-Lose for the dancers.

For example, am I the only one who thought Kevin was fantastic in his solo tonight. I'm no hip-hop expert but he seemed to throw everything he had into that routine and did everything humanly possible to warrant remaining in the competition. Didn't matter though because it was his time to go. I wasn't sorry to see him go except that it's kind of cruel to set the thing up like he has a chance so long as he dances an incredible solo. He did and gets kicked to the curb. Oh well.

Channing too, really. Her solo was much better than Karen's. However, this one wasn't as glaringly unfair because it is true as Nigel noted that ballroom dancers are not used to doing solos, so they can be somewhat adrift without a partner. Still, as much as I like Karen there was very little of interest for me in her solo, whereas Channing's solo had so much more in it. I know the rap on Channing is that she isn't expressive enough and that's probably true, but once again the 'dance for your life' was an empty promise. Having said that I'm glad that Karen is staying in but sorry to see Channing go out after both a strong routine last night and a strong solo tonight.

Two dances by each couple next week should really separate out the wheat from the chaff. And a new couple will debut; Karen and Victor. They could be a formidable pair if they can mesh in time!

[peak_reception]

There was one exception to the Karen/Kevin mismatch. They did well in the disco dance a week ago which shouldn't go completely without note.

[Charise]

Very nice write-up, peak--and good to read and remember each dance again. In general, I agree with your comments, but I wasn't really enjoying Kevin's solo this week. I actually thought that Karen might be sent home based on dancing only. The praise she's received previously was enough to keep her. But I had mentioned last week that I was waiting for her to have to perform where "sizzle" wouldn't be a top requirement, and she didn't do particularly well.

I, too, think that Karen and Victor could be a great team. It's tough that first week especially, though if they make it next week, their chances of staying increase I think.

It seems a shame that Channing had to leave after a very nice performance. And I didn't find the song distracting as Adam did, I just felt it would be more difficult to dance to an a cappella number.

[Charise]

Hey, peak, I just saw your comment about America's Ballroom Challenge in the DWTS thread. I think they showed it in January/February here last year, so I will be watching for it!

Very interesting that Karen was in that challenge! If you watched ABC a few years ago, you would have seen Tony Dovolani (DWTS pro) win the rhythm crown. :D

Okay, back to SYTYCD!

[Henry]

[...] Elimination Show. The "Dance For Your Life" gimmick is wearing thin. Nigel has set it up so he can have it any way he wants. If they want to keep a dancer they can (and do) say that it's not "just" about tonight's dance. if they want to get rid of a dancer they can say, "sure you did great tonight, but it's about everything up to now." Win-Win for the judges, Lose-Lose for the dancers. [...]

True, Peak ... But the alternative to that is to allow viewers to vote them off outright. Granted, it's not perfect, but at least you have three expert judges (who know their craft) doing the cutting - and that makes it fairer than it would be otherwise.

Alas, in time it'll become just another popularity contest - as usual ... and I don't think I want to see them rush to that eventuality.

[peak_reception]

True, Peak ... But the alternative to that is to allow viewers to vote them off outright. Granted, it's not perfect, but at least you have three expert judges (who know their craft) doing the cutting - and that makes it fairer than it would be otherwise.

Alas, in time it'll become just another popularity contest - as usual ... and I don't think I want to see them rush to that eventuality. That's a good point HDG. I think the best solution is what I mentioned at the end of the last season which is to spread the money around more equitably so that it's not so blatantly unfair to have people kept or eliminated based on public popularity contests nor judges' favoritism. Is it better to have the judges decide because they know what they're talking about, yes, but they have their biases and shortcomings too. ALL the dancers in (especially) the Top Ten are making big money for the show. I think they all should be rewarded, not just the one lucky survivor at the end. Something like this:
#10 gets 10K
#9 gets 20K
#8 gets 30K
etc etc, up to the 100K winner.
what do you think.

[peak_reception]

Hey, peak, I just saw your comment about America's Ballroom Challenge in the DWTS thread. I think they showed it in January/February here last year, so I will be watching for it!

Very interesting that Karen was in that challenge! If you watched ABC a few years ago, you would have seen Tony Dovolani (DWTS pro) win the rhythm crown. :D

Okay, back to SYTYCD! I didn't post on DWTS so you must've seen it in the other SYTYCD thread unless someone else posted about it. Hopefully you can catch the show with Karen on PBS in your area. I didn't know about the PBS ballroom dancing show until recently so I missed Tony D. on it. He's fun to watch on DWTS though. I haven't been watching this season though because I didn't care for the "stars" this time round.

[peak_reception]

Very nice write-up, peak--and good to read and remember each dance again. In general, I agree with your comments, but I wasn't really enjoying Kevin's solo this week. I didn't either but that's because I don't enjoy that style. It did seem very athletic and intense to me however, so that's what I thought was impressive about it.
I actually thought that Karen might be sent home based on dancing only. The praise she's received previously was enough to keep her. But I had mentioned last week that I was waiting for her to have to perform where "sizzle" wouldn't be a top requirement, and she didn't do particularly well. Me too. I thought she was gone, even with her "A-WOOOOOOOOOOGA" factor :D but apparently her sex appeal is still too strong for many to resist (including me on occasion). It will very interesting to see how she does tomorrow night. Should be a good show! :)

[Henry]

That's a good point HDG. I think the best solution is what I mentioned at the end of the last season which is to spread the money around more equitably so that it's not so blatantly unfair to have people kept or eliminated based on public popularity contests nor judges' favoritism. Is it better to have the judges decide because they know what they're talking about, yes, but they have their biases and shortcomings too. ALL the dancers in (especially) the Top Ten are making big money for the show. I think they all should be rewarded, not just the one lucky survivor at the end. Something like this:
#10 gets 10K
#9 gets 20K
#8 gets 30K
etc etc, up to the 100K winner.
what do you think.

I wonder if this show has a compensation structure similar to Big Brother or Survivor where contestants get paid a "stipend" that increases with each week they stay in the competition including sequesters? This is where Jury Duty takes on added significance ($$$) for the contestants.

I read that the celebrities on DWTS actually negotiate their salaries while the Pros get paid for airtime. When they do an extra dance (the Pros that is) without their celeb partner, they are paid a bonus.

I don't have a clue what the compensation structure is like on American Idol and SYTYCD, although seeing that it's Fox, I would imagine it'll be small indeed.

[Charise]

I don't have a clue what the compensation structure is like on American Idol and SYTYCD, although seeing that it's Fox, I would imagine it'll be small indeed.
Is that why Paula isn't showing up to judge?? :D

I don't know about anyone's compensation on this show either, but the pros definitely put in some time with all the choreography and extra dances.

[Henry]

Is that why Paula isn't showing up to judge?? :D

I don't know about anyone's compensation on this show either, but the pros definitely put in some time with all the choreography and extra dances.

I have to think that the producers treat the choreographers a whole lot differently than the contestants. My guess is that the choreographers are under some sort of contract whereas the contestants are on some kind of stipend. But that's just a guess on my part.

TV Guide had a piece on the DWTS pay a few weeks back, but no word on SYTYCD or AI. If they did, I missed it.

[peak_reception]

Hopefully a good show tonight! :)