Thursday, August 30, 2012

Season Nine, Week Six: Top Eight Performances

There has been a lot of talk online this season about how the show has become almost unwatchable, and I can't help but agree to a certain extent. Between lackluster choreography, could-be-better dancers, a mish-mash new format,  and boring guest judges, the show is a shadow of its former self. This week took some good steps toward rectifying that by introducing some new blood to the show in new choreographers and bringing back one of the most personable judges from the past, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Still an uneven episode, but with some great moments.... so let's get cutting.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Season Nine, Week Five: Top Ten Performances

I just have to start with a question: where do the producers find the guest judges? Last year they had Debbie Reynolds, Kristin Chenoweth, Neil Patrick Harris, Megan Mullally, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and other easily recognizable faces... this year we're getting obscure choreographers. I get last week's judges, because they are the focus of a spin-off show airing on Ovation network (A Chance to Dance, Fridays at 10:00... it's decent, you should check it out). And they had never seen the show before, so they were better equipped to give honest critiques of the redone Mia Michaels routines, since they had no frame of reference. But Benjamin Millepied (Natalie Portman's husband and baby daddy, as well as the choreographer/co-star of Black Swan) is strictly a ballet dancer... he's not going to draw in the audiences or give fun critiques the way someone like Cheno or NPH would. Just a slight gripe

Anyway, we're back to all stars! And this time they're actually people we like! Yay!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Season Nine, Week Four: Top Fourteen

Welcome back! And what better way to get us back into the swing of things than with the first ever episode dedicated to the work of one choreographer: the fantastic Mia Michaels? Dancers will be reinventing classic Mia routines and dancing an all-new group number. In theory, this is amazing. Who doesn't want to see these amazing pieces brought to life again? But in practice, it's tremendously unfair to these dancers because some of these dances are iconic and completely inextricable from their original performances. With that in mind, let's get started.