Greek: It's the End of the World as We Know It

Greek:

"At World's End"

I've really been delayed in getting around to watching the second season finale (I think that's what this episode technically was) of Greek, but I was really in the mood to watch something fun, and Greek definitely delivered with this episode.

Granted, I could frankly take or leave this Cappie/Casey stuff at this point, and I was sad to see Max in such despair when he finally saw the writing on the wall about that situation, but for the most part, this episode was fun, fun, fun. The best part was that it managed to work in almost all of the show's mostly awesome characters. (Evan and Beaver did get a little bit shafted, but they were there. I don't think Betsy was in it though, but she was mentioned.) And the episode had so much fantastic Dale/Calvin interaction, that it was impossible not to love it.

Highlights and observations:

• Dale's distaste at Rusty and Jordan's debate on "Jordy" vs. "Rustdan"
• Dale: "Can anybody tell me why this class is worth three units? Every first-grader in Wetumpka knows that the pig is whipping that guy because of lustfulness."
• Ash: "I feel kind of Betsy-ish having a drink at lunch anyway."
• Is it a bad sign that when Max came home early, he knew he'd find Casey in the bar during lunchtime?
• Aww, Max got Casey the lipstick she wanted from his advisor lady.
• Ash: "You know how P. Diddy has an all-white ball in the Hamptons? I was thinking that we could do a similar thing here and have an all-blue ball."
  Cappie: "I can't top that."
• Frannie: "Everyone knows you hate my house."

  Cappie: "I like the English Tudor style."
• Ashleigh might get expelled from the university over this homecoming float prank?! Sheesh.
• Max: "Good, because I just picked out the costumes for our Star Wars wedding.
• The Kappa Taus brainstorming is usually hilarious. (The highlight here being Ben Bennett's "No, girls!" and Cappie's "No girls!?"
• Jordan: "We talked about the end of the world in art history today."
  Cappie: "That's it!"

  Heath: "Art history, baby!"
• Dale and Calvin together are just too funny.
• Dale: "See, she's making me a sundae! She's putting the chocolate on two scoops of...breasts, breasts, breasts...."

  Calvin: "I think she's looking for the banana split, Dale."
• Calvin: "Why can't your purity pledge brothers help you out with this?

  Dale: "They took a trip to Fire Island together. Smart guys too; in this economy, they booked a single queen to save money. Speaking of single queens, what are you going to do about Grant?"
• Calvin: "We're in the same fraternity. Having sex with your brother is like--"

  Dale: "Having sex with your brother?"
• Aww, a Dale and Calvin purity pledge!
• At least Casey didn't get dirty when she fell down the manhole.
• Aww, I'd forgotten that I like Max/Rusty way more than I like Max/Casey.
• Max is looking kind of buff. He must be beefing up for Melrose Place version 2.0.
• WHAT?!?! Now there are marijuana plants in a sorority house?! Put another tally in the "Greek rips off Veronica Mars" column.
• Dale: "But, baby, won't we be late for Showgirls?"
• Rusty's advisor: "Why would you take a liberal arts class as an elective? Those classes seem easy because they're stupid! I tried to have that whole side of the campus razed, but apparently hippies need classrooms too."

  Rusty: "Stupid hippies. That tie-dyed guy in the quad is the one who recommended art history!"
• Why is Casey tripping and falling so much? Her equilibrium seems very off. Does she have an inner-ear imbalance or something?
• If Sheila's so interested in having sex, maybe she shouldn't date 19-year-old Christian boys who have taken purity pledges.
• Calvin: "Sheila, stop! Dale is my boyfriend!"
• Aww, Frannie threw herself under the bus a little bit to save Ash. That was a flash of niceness. Kind of. Maybe.
• Soooo, about Jordan, does anyone else miss Jen K.? Just kidding, that was mean. Jordan's not that bad.
• Ash: "You used to be this focused, driven person. When did you become this girl? Someone who sits around making lists and second-guessing your choices. Paging Dr. Grey! No, wait, you are more like Joey Potter. No, you're worse. You're the F word."

  Casey: "Don't say it!"

  Ash: "Felicity."

  Casey: "You bitch."
• Actually, Casey's kind of like Kate from Lost. Kate's the ultimate bouncer between love interests.
• Casey's eye makeup is kind of goth for making lists.
• Um, shouldn't Casey break up with Max before shoving Cappie into a closet and having her way with him? This is not very classy behavior.
• Cappie: "You'll remember that I'm a childish, lazy, unreliable, unpredictable, unambitious frat guy who let you down before, and that's why we didn't work."
• Well, good luck at Cal Tech, Max. Hopefully the girls there have some more class.
• Cappie: "To a new world, gentlemen! Good riddance to the things we hated and may we not miss the things we loved!"
• I take that back, Jordan is that annoying. I hereby reinstate the Jen K. comment.
• Dale: "But it's not the end of the world! Don't you read the scriptures I leave on your pillow? There's going to be signs!"
• Casey having too much alone time is kind of what got us into this mess in the first place.
• Grant: "I wanted to let you know that your boyfriend's cheating on you. With a woman."
• Wade (after catching Calvin's purity pledge ring): "My precious!"
• Aww, poor Max. Casey is not worth this.
• Casey opening the door and saying "Oh, what are you doing here?" while we can't see who she's talking to is another send up to Veronica Mars (the season one finale). It was pretty funny that it ended up being Frannie.
• This is not the end of the semester, right? Rusty said he still has time to fix his grade, but Frannie's saying goodbye to Casey now? Even if Frannie shuts down the sorority, if she still has to finish her classes, she's probably going to see Casey on campus sometime.
• Fisher! They're cramming everyone into this episode.

So, I'm thinking that Casey and Cappie are going to get together and be relatively happy for, oh, about 10 minutes, and then she will start to remember that he's childish, lazy, unreliable, unpredictable and unambitious. And then, hey, hasn't Evan been looking kind of good lately and acting kind of sweet? And, boom, we're off and running on Cappie/Casey/Evan triangle version 3.0. (Or is it 4.0 by now?) We only saw the original Casey-is-with-Cappie-but-starts-to-like-Evan saga play out in that one flashback episode though, so we could probably sit through it again, but it would be kind of nice if Greek surprises me and comes up with something new. And, by the way, Evan dating Rebecca does NOT count as "something new."

We won't have to wait long to see what Cappie's going to do next--new episodes of Greek return in August! What I'm most excited to see, however, is Kadeem Hardison a.k.a. Dwayne Wayne from A Different World guest starring as Ashleigh's dad. I seriously loved A Different World when I was little, so I'm all kinds of excited about this casting.

(photo: ABC Family via Jbabzy)

Make It Or Break It: Falling Off the Beam

Make It Or Break It:
"Pilot"

I love gymnastics. I also tend to love ABC Family original shows (The Secret Life of the American Teenager being the glaring exception to that). So, therefore, I should love Make It Or Break It, an ABC Family original show about gymnastics, right? Mmm, not so much. Turns out, I kind of hated it. For both its complete lack of knowledge about gymnastics and its complete lack of the elements (humor, witty dialogue, interesting characters, etc.) that make/made shows like Greek, Kyle XY and (to a lessor extent) Wildfire so enjoyable.

Full disclosure: I've been a fan of Chelsea Hobbs since Beach Girls. I think I mainly like her because she looks like Rachel Melvin from Days Of Our Lives.

There was so much ridiculousness in this episode that I have to do a play-by-play account to document some of it:

• Whoa, the dude on still rings has some seriously floppy hair.
• There's going to be a Sports Illustrated cover on gymnasts before Nationals even happens? Yeah right. Did we learn that lesson after the Kristy Phillips situation?
• Why are they talking about "team order" at Nationals? Since when is gymnastics Nationals a team competition? (Answer: it's not.)
• Why is orange leo (Lauren) so worked up after seeing someone do a couple of back handsprings through to a single tuck on floor? She shouldn't be threatened by that.
• Ok, that 2.5 twist/punch front was a little more impressive.
• Emily watched "the Northern Open"? On TV?! Gymnastics can barely get decent coverage of Nationals on TV most years. Let's be honest here: if she saw this "Northern Open" anywhere, it almost certainly was by tapping into a Dutch television station's feed on the Internet in the middle of the night. (Yes, I'm speaking from experience.)
• Payson just did a brilliant Gainer layout off beam. (Please detect my sarcasm.) Lauren's back tuck dismount was also fantastic (eye roll).
• Oh great, Lauren's already barfing up her breakfast. We're less than 10 minutes in, and someone's already got an eating disorder.
• They're seriously concerned about losing to a girl who is afraid of the vault?
• Does everyone's entire family have to show up and watch every practice? Gymnastics lessons are expensive--don't these people have to go to their jobs?!
• Candace Cameron Bure! Playing someone religious. How surprising. Seriously, though, why's Candace with Lauren's sketchy dad?
• Payson is way over the top. She can't talk to her family because she's needs to "focus" during the car ride home?
• Uh, if "getting caught with a boy" gets you immediately kicked off the team, shouldn't Kaylie and Floppy Hair (Carter) park and make out a little further away from the gym?
• Emily: "How was the new school?"
  Brother: "Different dog, same poop."
• Emily's mom needs to be a little more organized.
• Kaylie: "If he finds out, he was kill you. No seriously, like blood-and-cops-and-teddy-bears and-candles-on-the-sidewalk kill you."
• Ooh, the boy in the pizza shop is cute! A little on the creepy side, however.
• Uh oh, the manager of the pizza shop is a meth-head.
• It also seems kind of unlikely that a gymnastics competition would start that early in the morning. (With the exception of NBC messing up the scheduling of some of the Beijing competitions so that they could be aired live in the U.S.)
• Ok, folks, gymnasts qualify for Nationals as individuals. Each gym does not get to send a team of a certain number of people.
• There's a PA announcer at an inter-gym comp?
• Kaylie was 8th in US at Nationals on uneven bars last year with a whole lot of nothing in her routine and a double tuck dismount?
• At least MIOBI got the flame leotards right. (The Inferno leos went into rotation in 2003, but the flame trend is apparently still alive and kicking.)
• Wow, Lauren did a double front dismount. That's actually a legitimate move.
• Emily also pulls out a (back) double tuck dismount (without pointing her feet).
• Just for the record: The UB scores were Payson 16.075; Kaylie 16.070; Lauren 15.325; Emily 15.100. (Lauren got screwed--she's the only one who did a legit dismount.) For reference, in last year's Olympic All-Around competition, Nastia got 16.65 and Shawn was pulling around 15.275. And they were, you know, actually doing skills.
• After floor: Payson: 31.450; Kaylie: 31.125; Lauren 30.125; Emily 30.050
• The floor tumbling was pretty weak too. You can usually see more impressive tumbling on the results show of So You Think You Can Dance.
• Oh, and NO legitimate competition would ever have people compete bars then floor then beam then vault. Olympic order is vault, bars, beam, floor.
• The Rock gym gets to send 18 people to Nationals?!?! 18!! That's like half the entire field of athletes! What kind of nonsense is this?
• Lauren: flip flop-flip flop-layout stepout (fall) on beam. A skill series rarely seen since 1996. And this is the unbelievable beam routine we've heard so much about?
• If Payton is soooooooooo focused, why is she so intently watching her competitors? Seems like that would be distracting.
• Emily nails her flip-flop, flip-flop, layout stepout like it's 1992. And caps the routine off with a full twisting back tuck dismount!? UGH. (Shawn Johnson did a full twisting double tuck dismount last year, BTW.)
• Payson 46.900; Kaylie 46.375; Emily 46.100; Lauren 43.875
• Why is Lauren "out" if Emily beats her?
• Payson's vault is the hardest in the comp and "has never been landed in competition before." Well, we sure couldn't see much of it, but it looked like a Yurchenko layout (no twists). Hate to break it to you, MIOBI, but girls are landing that vault with an extra 2.5 twists in it.
• I have NO IDEA what vault Emily was just trying to do. She was doing a front flip between her roundoff and touching the vault? What the hell is that? I don't care where the spring board is located, that wasn't going to go well.
• Waaaaaaait. Now they're doing their second vaults?! As in, they got warmed up (actually they didn't, but let's pretend), everyone vaulted, and then they are going to start from the beginning and all vault again after standing around cooling down for however long this process has taken? There better be room for more than one girl in that ambulance, because this is freaking dangerous.
• Kaylie does a Yurchenko pike (or tuck).
• Why does the mom from Fresno have a Southern accent?
• Noooooooooo! Don't let the girl who just fell on her neck go vault! These people are asking for it.
• Ohhhh, Emily was apparently trying to do a Tsukahara entry. She "nails" her Tsuk back tuck this time.
• Final results: Payson 62.250; Kaylie 60.925; Emily 60.800; Lauren 58.050
• I thought the two vault scores were supposedly averaged? There's no way that Emily's score for her second vault averaged with her 0.00 on the first one would allow her to have a higher all-around score than Lauren.
• Because I'm taking this way too seriously, I've compiled everyone's scores on all four events. For reference, I've added Nastia and Shawn's scores in the Beijing all-around. Going by MIOBI standards, I think Shawn has a serious beef with the bars judges. And Nastia needs to complain that she got a lower score on vault than Payson, despite doing the same vault with 1.5 extra twists.

• Wow, Lauren's a peach. Selling out Kaylie to get back in the top three was real classy. Of course, she learned her tactics from her father, who hired a PI to dig up dirt on Emily.
• Not surprisingly, the PI found found more juicy dirt on the head gymnastics coach than he did on the teenage girl.
• Scores of media are now camped out on Payson's front lawn. Uh huh.
• There are no other coaches in this gym? And now there's no electricity either? This place is a disaster.
• Seriously, the girl in the Playtex Sport commercial just did more bona fide gymnastics skills in this 30 second ad than all of the girls in MIOBI did in 60 minutes.

Um, I'm not impressed. If they are going to make this show this gymnastics-centric, they need to do a hell of a lot more research about how things work the world of gymnastics today. If they made the show more of a teen soap, just with some gymnastics in the background, they would have a better chance of pulling this off.

A good example of what I'm talking about is Wildfire. Yes, it was a show about horse racing. A lot of the drama and plot points came from events involved with horse racing. And, yes, Wildfire's depiction of the world of horseracing was probably no more accurate than MIOBI's depiction of gymnastics. But, when Wildfire was at its most entertaining, it was a show about Junior, Kris, Matt, Dani, their parents and the supporting characters (and sometimes the wind turbine) and horse racing just served as the background. After all, if I want to watch a horse race, I'll watch a horse race not a television show on ABC Family. And if I want to watch a gymnastics competition, I'll watch a gymnastics competition (even if I have to get up in the middle of the night and queue up the Dutch channel on the Internet). MIOBI needs to bring something else to the table.

(It occurred to me that this show would have worked soooo much better if they made it about a college gymnastics team. Then all this "team" mumbo jumbo would have made sense. As would having a "scholarship kid." And it would be cool to have some girls on the team be famous former Olympians and other girls be unknowns. But in that scenario, you wouldn't get to have the crazy stage parents, but that's no big loss in my opinion.)

Update:
After watching episode 2, "Where's Marty," I'm feeling a little better about MIOBI, because ep 2 focused more on the drama and less on the actual gymnastics. The show is still nothing to write home about, but I did enjoy Lauren's dad getting all excited about her two-foot half turn on beam. I mean, yeah, it would have been impressive if she were age 2 or 3 at the most. And the girls scaring away the creepy guys via roundoffs and back handsprings was just too ridiculous.

(photo: abcfamily.com)

SYTYCD: Eliminations on a Sad Night

So You Think You Can Dance: Top 16 Results Show

My predictions: Asuka and Jonathan are going home tonight.

Play-by-play recap:

• Cat's wearing a full-length halter top jump suit with a black and white palm tree pattern. This get-up certainly isn't boring (like her dress last night). It's also kind of Farrah Fawcett/Charlie's Angels-esque, which is an appropriate tribute in light of Farrah's passing today.
• The group performs a sexy Latin-inspired number. Whoa, I actually liked a Napoleon and Tabitha group number? Bizarre. It must have been Dmitry's influence that won me over. That was quite a hot performance, but I'm not sure it was necessary to hose down a few of the girls and have them dancing in pools of water though.
• Nigel has a tall order here tonight. He has to eulogize Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. MJ especially ties right into SYTYCD. Hopefully they'll be able to do a Michael Jackson tribute group number sometime in the near future. (Obviously they didn't have time to whip one together for tonight.) Actually, what would be awesome would be if they did a performance show theme night where all the couples dance to Michael Jackson songs. Get on that, Nigel.
• BTW, here's a video of the Season 4 contestants doing "Thriller" on tour for Halloween last year (thanks to SYTYCDism for calling my attention to this clip). And just for good measure, here's Jennifer Garner's version in 13 Going on 30 (Doesn't it seem strange that so many people in publishing turned out to be such good dancers? I digress...)
• Wow, they brought five couples on the stage for results all at once! That might be a record.
• As I suspected, Asuka and Vitolio are in the bottom three.
• I wonder if Ade's heard the "What a difference Ade makes"/"It was Ade to remember" puns before. I'm thinking he has.
• Also as I suspected, Jonathan and Karla and Caitlin and Jason are in the bottom three. So I correctly predicted all three. Go me. I might actually get one right on the EW prediction competition this week.
• We're treated to a performance by a large group of young b-boys/hip hoppers. I love how they all look like they are having so much fun! And, holy cow, they just launched the little guy with big hair across the stage! Cat was pretty much beside herself over these kids. They definitely gave the most entertaining "superstars from the world of dance" performance on SYTYCD this season.

The solos:

Asuka: Well, it's gotta be either her of Caitlin going home tonight for the girls... And this solo probably isn't doing much to plead her case. Even taking into account that ballroom solos are usually not too fantastic, this one was not impressive. The best part was Cat's "She's got fringe, and she's not afraid to shake it."

Vitolio: He's wearing no shirt (crap, I got that question wrong on the EW prediction game). Dancing to Coldplay, doing lots of jumps and arm/leg flailing. Not bad/not great. Ended with some strange butt wiggling.

Karla: Ok, she just won me over for good, because she's dacing to Radiohead's "15 Step," which is a flipping fantastic song. I think that automatically makes her my official favorite girl in this competition. Unfortunately, her time runs out right as the song gets really good. (Her dancing seemed good enough, but I was definitely so distracted by the song that I missed some of the finer points.)

Jonathan: Began with what looked like a martial arts display then did some flips and some "Latin steps" that I'm not impressed with. I'd be shocked if he doesn't get the boot this week.

Caitlin: Dancing to a slow version of "Que Sera Sera" and it's actually rather lovely. She ends it with a round-off, layout back flip, I guess to prove to Jon that she can tumble too.

Jason: Definitely a follower of the Travis Wall School of Dancing: his choreo here is very Travis and he's even wearing cargo shorts, which Travis was so fond of. But, seriously, I've got no probably with Travis Wall impressions. Jason's solo was the best of the boys tonight. (I bet Jason's having a rough day, since he was such a Michael Jackson devotee as a child.)

More play-by-play:

• I was actually not totally hating the musical performance (by the Veronicas) for one of the few times in SYTYCD history, until the song devolved into a repeat chorus of "I want to kiss a girl...I want to kiss a girl...I want to kiss a boy...I want to kiss a boy..." That was kind of ridiculous.
• And then the blond Veronica let out a horrifying scream at the end (worse even then Danny Gokey at the end of "Dream On," I'd say).

The results:

The girls: Nigel says Caitlin gave the best solo tonight and she's save. And Caitlin's literally just as shocked as the rest of us about that, LOL. Nigel says that Karla looked a little "desperate" tonight. Nigel is still infatuated with Asuka, but she's going home anyway. (I finally got one right on the EW prediction game! Yea!) I wonder if Asuka made that necklace she's wearing. If she did, I'm not convinced that she has a future in jewelry design...


The guys: How could the judges not be unanimous about this decision? It's obvious Jon needs to go. Nigel says that Vitolio needs to not hold back anymore. Nigel now says that Jon hasn't been good enough repeatedly this season (duh). Nigel says that Jason looked "desperate" tonight too--and insults his outfit! Ouch! Nigel apparently doesn't like Travis impersonations as much as I do. Nigel lectures Jon and Vitolio some more about not being strong enough, but says that Vitolio gets to stay. Jon getting the boot is apparently not going to break that many hearts, Nigel, because it sure doesn't seem like a lot of people are voting for him. (And, yea! I got another prediction right! I'm kicking ass and taking names this week!)

SYTYCD: Finding the Groove

So You Think You Can Dance: "Top 16 Performance Show"

Yea! I'm actually home to watch (and blog) a SYTYCD performance show for the first time this season! I'm so happy about that!

Last week's eliminations: Ashley got a little screwed. I wish that Caitlin's pretty good solo wouldn't have been able to make up for her poor performances during the performance shows. I think she's in over her head and the producers just want to keep her around because she's blond and pretty. Max, on the other hand, got REALLY screwed. During both week's performance shows, he was impressive, and he did a good ballroom solo too. I like Kupono (I think his to-do lists are adorable and I like that he's kind of like last season's Mark), but if this show were fair, he would have gone home. His hip hop during the performance show was not good, and his solo was sub-par. I didn't think he was even doing much dancing during the solo. And, of course, I'm royally peeved that they tossed the ballroom boy out already (I'm not counting Jonathan as a ballroom boy because I'm not convinced that he actually is one.)

BTW, this post over at SYTYCD Social does a good job of articulating a theory that might explain why this season feels a little off. Personally, I think it has some merit.

Tonight's show:

Is this the most conventional dress Cat's ever worn on the show? (It's kind of Grecian with gold trim at the neckline and waist.) I feel like I've seen dresses like this a thousand times before. It's almost boring!

Karla and Jonathan (Dave Scott hip hop):

• The featurette: How exactly did Jonathan go from gymnast to Latin dancer? I'm not sure I understand. Why do none of this season's boys have the ability to do a good gangster face? Jon kinda looks like Ashley Parker Angel in the face. (How embarrassed am I that just admitted to remembering O-Town?)
• The dance: Karla's good at this. I'm not so sure about Jason. Maybe it's just that his shiny silver pants aren't doing him any favors. They certainly don't make him look anymore like a gangster. I liked the routine better than most of the Napoleon and Tabitha routines (and the Shane Sparks ones last week), but it wasn't performed all that well.
• The judging: Nigel is flipping out and says that he bets they'll be in the bottom three this week. Hey, speaking of Cat's dress being conventional--Mary's almost wearing the same one! Toni Basil says they had no groove or funk. I kind of feel bad for Karla--she was all right, but Jon's badness distracted the judges.

Asuka and Vitolio (Mandy Moore jazz):

• The featurette: Asuka makes jewelry for ballroom dancers. Mandy choreographed a rocker jazz routine. I'm glad they're doing this style this week, because I was wondering how Asuka would do with a jazz or contemporary routine. Poor Asuka's been reduced to tears, and Vitolio is being very sweet to her. That was one heck of a play for the sympathy vote ;-)
• The dance: I'm kind of distracted by Vitolio's tight light blue pants. This is not my favorite jazz routine ever, but I'm not sure how much of that is the choreography and how much of that is the performance. I'm going to say 40% choreo (just not as cool as Sonya's routines have been) and 60% performance?
• The judging: Is Asuka really a sweetheart, as Vitolio says? It seems like she rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Nigel says Mandy gave them simple steps. That might explain some of my issues with the routine--it just like kind of simple. I do like Asuka's rocker makeup though. LOL, so Toni's saying that the best part of their work this week was how Vitolio acted before and after the actual routine.

Melissa and Ade (Tony Meredith rumba):

• The featurette: Ade looks like he is a disaster at the rumba. As in, he looks like me trying to do the rumba ;-)
• The dance: Well, Melissa is wearing the customary half-dress that all girls wear when they rumba. And this dress really catches the light. Looks like they've gotten a lot better at the technique since the first practice. By far the highlights of this dance were the displays of her leg flexibility. I think they're doing a good job with the technique and performance, but I still find rumbas to be boring.
• The judging: Cat wishes she were wearing Melissa's dress. Nigel: "What a difference 'Ade' makes." Mary's freaking out because Ade was "grooving" and it's a little creepy.

Janette and Brandon (Dave Scott hip hop):

• The featurette: Brandon likes to make the stage look "all sparkly." Janette likes banking and loans. I was also wondering how Brandon and Janette would do with hip hop, so I'm glad we get to find out tonight.
• The dance: Well, that is one hell of an outfit they've got on Janette! Janette's doing pretty well with her chair dance at the beginning of the routine. And, I gotta say, I'm loving Brandon's hip hop dancing! It's light and fluid like you'd expect from a contemporary dancer, but it's freaking good. This was easily the best hip hop routine of the season: best choreography and best performances.
• The judging: Mary and Nigel point out that these two did really well with hip hop which is very different than their personal styles. Mary gives them a scream. Toni says they had the groove.

Kayla and Kupono (Jean-Marc Genereux Viennese waltz): These two almost got kicked off last week, and they're making them do the Viennese waltz this week?! Ouch. I want to see Kupono try to do Latin--I feel like that would be funny.

• The featurette: Is Kayla tall enough to be a runway model? I'm not surprised that Kupono likes costume design--not just anyone would go on national television with half of a green boa attached to his shirt. Kupono says he lacks upper body strength.
• The dance: The set design (a cityscape projected with lights) is really cool. It's probably bad that I'm paying more attention to the set than I am to the dancing though. I'm no Viennese waltz expert, but I thought that this one looked pretty good.
• The judging: Cat: "Sometimes when a dancer reaches into a hat and pulls out the Viennese waltz, they die a million deaths." Nigel says they did a beautiful job but concedes that people think Viennese waltzes are boring. (Then why are we still doing so many of them on this show, Nigel?) Mary tries to bolster the cause of Viennese waltzers everywhere by putting these two on the Hot Tamale Train.

Randi and Evan (Mia Michael's contemporary): Didn't these two just dance a contemporary routine two weeks ago? I guess that was "jazz" but it was very contemporary-esque. It wasn't choreographed by Mia though, and this marks her first couple routine of the season (she choreographed the Top 18 group dance). But I wanted to see Evan try hip hop, darn it!

• The featurette: Is it just me who is unfamiliar with this "gearhead" term? Evan's still trying to get mileage out of his joke about the jive being "fun." Well, Evan, if you're working with Mia, this week might not be so fun ;-) What's this about him being hypnotized by Randi's booty? What?
• The dance: What is Evan wearing? He looks like a hobo. Randi's doing a lot of dancing with one bare foot and one stiletto, which doesn't look easy. Randi's dancing is really reminding me specifically of someone, but I'm not sure who. Maybe Lauren from Season 3 or Allison from Season 2? I don't know, I'm leaning toward Allison. Whatever, I like this routine. I think Randi (and not just her butt) is overshadowing Evan though.
• The juding: Cat: "Cheeky!" Nigel: "...but--and there is a butt..." Nigel definitely planned this critique out ahead of time. He's not just spouting off these butt puns off the top of his head. He says the routine was kind of simple (for Mia), but it was well-danced. If Randi is sooooo uncomfortable with people people looking at her butt, why would she own so many unitards with hot pants? Speaking of butts, Toni is doing some major kissing of Mia's.

Caitlin and Jason (Jean-Marc & France Genereux paso doble):

• The featurette: Caitlin definitely has a broadcast journalist vibe to her. Our first paso of the season.
• The dance: The routine starts out with an impressive opening that showcases Caitlin's exceptional flexibility. Jason just made a "ROAR!" face, and I didn't buy it at all. He looks like a extra in a Robin Hood movie in this costume. The dancing looked a little rough towards the end of the routine. They did really try to make it intense though.
• The judging: Nigel does not seem blown away, but he says they did a good job. Mary's trying to tell us that this was a strong performance; and I might have believed her, if she hadn't just said that Jason looks great in that costume. Her credibility is shot to heck now.

Jeanine and Phillip (Tyce Diorio Broadway):

• The featurette: Phillip wants to be an inventor. Jeanine wants to be an actress (yet she's on a dancing show). Lol, Tyce just yelled "Get over it!" at Phillip. Ugh, I hope Phillip makes it the whole way over the couch tonight.
• The dance: He cleared the couch! In other news, I think they're both dancing this routine well. And they're good pillow smashers. This style suits them because they're both good at personality-driven performances.
• The judging: Oh no, Phillip ripped his pants! And Nigel pointed it out. Poor Phillip. Jeanine's bangs are driving me nuts. Phillip: "I gave you more than you wanted this time." Mary: "I'm allergic to down feathers...but I wasn't allergic to that routine!!" Lol, that was ridiculous. Toni: "I thought it was adorable, but I don't think adorable is a great, great word..."

Is it just me or is the quality of the dancing during the ending theme song (while the credits are rolling) really poor this season as compared to others? Half these people aren't even dancing, and some people are just acting weird.

My favorite routines: Brandon and Jeanette's hip hop, Randi and Evan's contemporary, and I guess Melissa and Ade's rumba (by process of elimination)

In trouble: Karla and Jonathan (I forgot all about that routine by the time they showed the recap); Asuka and Vitolio, and probably Caitlin and Jason (but maybe Kupono and Kayla).

SYTYCD: It's Raining Dancers

So You Think You Can Dance: "Top 18 Performance Show"

Blogging SYTYCD recaps has become such an ordeal for me this season. Last week, I was on vacation and literally in the middle of picking hard shell crabs when SYTYCD came on, so typing up my comments was not an option. (For the record, I liked Janette and Brandon's fox trot, Ashley and Kupono's crash test dummies jazz, Melissa and Ade's contemp, Evan and Randi's jazz and Kayla and Max's samba. I was underwhelmed by Caitlin and Jason's Bollywood, Phillip and Jeanine's hip hop and Karla and Jonathan's cha cha. I didn't like Asuka and Vitolio's Broadway (and that's all on Tyce, IMO) or Paris and Tony's hip hop. I was overjoyed that they kicked off Tony and abandoned the hope that he'd be "this season's Ivan"--because, seriously, I wasn't the world's biggest Ivan fan, but he was way better at his style and others than Tony is. Tony wasn't even this season's Cedric, because at least Cedric could do a decent solo. Paris was a victim of being one of a few too many brunette contemporary dancers.)

My viewing of this week's show turned out to be even more of a disaster (involving a long driving trip, a rain storm of epic proportions, some nearly flooded out roads, and a FOX channel that was cutting in and out). Due to sheer perseverance however I have managed to now watch and recap all of the dances through a combo of tape recordings and online videos. It's taken me most of the day, but come hell or high water I was going to do this recap, so here it is:

Randi and Evan (Louis van Amstel jive):

• The featurette: Evan built his own car. I don't think I need to hear the word "fun" again for awhile.
• The dance: Wow, both of these kids can really dance. They showed great presentation quality in this zany jive style. My favorite part was when she did a back bend and he did a straddle jump over top of her.
• The judging: Hmm, Mary says that Evan didn't quite get the "triple step motion." Nigel makes sure to mention Louis right off the bat (after the judges ignored him last week). Nigel thinks Evan lost the "double bounce feel." I'm kind of lost.

Melissa and Ade (Sonya Tayeh jazz):

• The featurette: Wow, Ade's full name sounds even longer than Kupono's full name. Uh oh, Ade says that Melissa's "rib is falling out."
• The dance: How exactly is Melissa playing "hard to get" if she's starting the dance on Ade's back? I think I like Melissa's hot pink pants. I liked the dance too, but I didn't loooooove it. It looked like it was made up of a bunch of stock movements from Sonya's other routines (the side-by-side pointed-toe hops from the comic book contemp, a lift similar to the one from "The Garden"). I think the dancers performed it well, but I don't think they brought anything particularly special to it. Ade's full-twisting wolf jump (Nigel called it something else) was phenomenal, however.
• The judging: Lil C rubbed his palms together and said the routine was buck.

Jason and Caitlin (Shane Sparks hip hop):

• The featurette: Jason was super cute when he was a little kid doing his Michael Jackson impression. Caitlin is annoying me.
• The dance: My enthusiasm over Shane Sparks doing the hip hop choreo this week instead of Napoleon and Tabitha was quickly tempered by some sub-par dancing, particular from Caitlin. When she was actually trying to dance, she looked--at best--like a low-rent Britney Spears impersonation, so I guess Shane tried to get around that by just having her sassily walk around and pose for most of the routine. Jason was all right though.
• The judging: Lol, Lil C just called this performance "a nightmare" and then says that it was "missing some nectar." Mary points out that they looked like they were impersonating Michael Jackson and Britney Spears. Frankly, Mary, I think that if you watch their Bollywood routine from last week, you'll see that it wasn't that good either.

Janette and Brandon (Doriana Sanchez disco): I can't believe they're still making people do disco on this show. Has anyone ever actually really liked one of these disco routines?

• The featurette: Brandon has "never worked out" a day in his life, apparently. I think they should phrase it that he "never lifts weights at the gym" because clearly the dude "works out"--he's a professional dancer for crying out loud.
• The dance: The lifts were really good, as you would expect from these two, but I also thought that the actual on-the-floor disco dancing was quite strong too. So, yeah, it turned out like most of the disco routines on this show: well danced, but ultimately not particularly inspiring.
• The judging: Lil C: "I believe that the primary focus of all obstacles is to induce labor so that progression can be born." Uh, yeah, right. Me too. Lol. The upshot is that Lil C finally likes Brandon (now that he's not under the influence of Mia).

Asuka and Vitolio (Louis van Amstel fox trot):

• The featurette: That bubble thing Asuka can do with her mouth is strange.
• The dance: Asuka's got a lot of fake hair. I liked the swinging spiral lift thing. Overall, it was lovely and well-danced. Asuka especially looked good. I don't think, however, that this is something I'm going to be remembering for very long.
• The judging: Tell me, Mary: how was Vitolio supposed to be "honest" in his performance of that crappy Broadway number last week? (Mary and Nigel both give Louis more shout-outs.) No, Nigel, you're not seeing a "completely different couple" than last week--you're seeing the same couple with a better routine.

Max and Kayla (Brian Friedman pop jazz):

• The featurette: Max cooks for everyone; that's so sweet. It's nice to see Brian back to choreograph. So far this season, we've already seen Brian, Shane and Wade Robson all come back, which is great in my opinion because it means there will be fewer routines by Tyce DiOrio and Napoleon and Tabitha.
• The dance: This opulent couch and ottoman set up puts Mia's bench dance to shame. I'm not sure that I'm getting "princess and usurper" from these costumes. They look more like insane circus performers to me. As for the routine, I feel like it had the potential to be awesome, but it ended up being just cool. They danced it well though.
• The judging: Lil C: "I know how hard it is to pick up Brian Friedman's vernacular." Kayla's grandpa!!! I agree with Mary about the iffy nature of Max's outfit.

Jonathan and Karla (Stacey Tookey contemporary): I picked these two as the most likely to get kicked off this week in the EW.com prediction contest, but I was worried that they'd get some romantic contemporary routine that would score them the sappy vote, and sure enough...

• The featurette: If I've seen one contemporary routine about strangers meeting and falling in love, I've seen a thousand... At least Stacey seems like a nice person (yeah, that comment was directed at Mia...).
• The dance: And the music is "Falling Slowly" no less! With that song, they could just go up there and sit on their butts and still get enough votes to not be in the bottom three. Due to my technical issues, I've watched this one about three times now, and the first time through I was not particularly impressed. Now upon the third viewing, however, I rather liked it. Jonathan didn't do a whole lot, but Karla was really good.
• The judging: Mary says Jonathan did that style better than his own--which would be saying more if he were better at his own style...

Phillip and Jeanine (Tony Meredith tango):

• The featurette: Jeanine's obsession with her bear is a little creepy. Jeanine's use of the word "tragic" in regards to this practice seems very apt, with the groping and kicking and everything.
• The dance: Chbeeb cannot tango. He can't even make the appropriate tango face. And Janine's not that great at it either. This one was rough. Frankly, as we learned on last week's results show, a good tango isn't all that interesting to watch, so a bad one is really a problem.
• The judging: Lil C: "A lack of confidence is the heaviest anchor you can put on your creativity and your art." Lil C is freaking brilliant. The tangential discussion about bent knees was also informative. Nigel: "I loved the way your knees were bent throughout the entire routine." A nice thing about SYTYCD versus American Idol is that on SYTYCD when a favorite sucks it up, the judges actually admit it. There's no equivolent of pretending that Danny Gokey's performance of "Dream On" was actually good going on here.

Ashley and Kupono (Shane Sparks hip hop):

• The featurette: Kupono has some major OCD tendencies. This kid cracks me up. Kupono showed us his to-do list again!!!
• The dance: Why does Kupono's "shadow" have such tighter pants than him? At first I thought that Kupono was doing the side-by-side moves better than Ashley, but then when she did the solo dance, that looked pretty good. Overall, though, it wasn't fantastic from either of them.
• The judging: Lil C: "There was no synchronization to be had or to be found." Lol. Lil C says Kupono was the problem. But, seriously, how could Kupono be taken seriously as a hip hopper when he's wearing a rainbow-colored scarf and a bunny t-shirt?!

It felt like they were trying to stretch not-so-much content out this whole episode. The routines seemed long, the judges had lengthy chats, the commercial breaks were substantially long, and the featurettes were lengthy too.

This is kind of random, but I wonder if the choreographers purposely save their best routines for later in the season. I haven't seen any routines so far that match the quality of some of the iconic SYTYCD routines, so I'm thinking everyone is just holding their best work for later. Why should they trot it out now, when there's still the chance that the dancers who perform it won't make the Top 10 and the routine won't get to be used on the tour?

My favorites: Max and Kayla; Melissa and Ade; Evan and Randi; Karla and Jonathan

In trouble: Jason and Caitlin; Kupono and Ashley; and it should be Phillip and Jeanine but I'm guessing it will be Asuka and Vitolio instead.

Greek: Love Floats

Greek: "Tailgate Expectations"

• It's nice to see Evan wearing a tie and sweater vest.
• "Evan Rachel Wooden"
• Poor Evan got saddled with Frannie and the IKIs again.
• The Kappa Taus are holding a funeral for Vesuvius? Oh no.
• Is that Heath? He looks strange in this scene. Or have I just never seen him in profile? I'm confused.
• Ashleigh says that the only float Betsy's ever built involved ice cream and vodka. Ick.
• Evan: "I figured you'd love to be in charge of the Omega Chi float. Don't gay guys love floats?"
  Calvin: "That's showtunes, jackass."
• Evan's parents think he's doing so well? Way to be on top of things, Chamberses.
• I think it's Heath's hair that's throwing me. It's flatter than usual or something.
• Heath's obsession with Jennifer Love Hewitt is funny.
• Cappie suggests a float about Bert and Ernie for the "love through the ages" theme.
• Ha ha, Rebecca used the tissue paper flower as a tissue.
• Rebecca: "Cute, apathetic, a good shopper: my kind of guy."
• How is Heath the only guy in the KT house without a nickname? I thought nicknames were mandatory.
• Heath: "Ever notice that I'm the only guy in the house without a nickname?"
  Rusty: "What about Wade?"
  Heath: "Freshman year, he couldn't swim."
• Rusty: "So what's Wade's real name?"

  Heath: "Wade."
• Frannie: "Give Casey my condolences."
  Rusty: "Yeah, that's what he said."

  Heath: "Good one, Rusty!"
• Oh no, Evan Chamber is back to acting like a comic book villain, what with stealing trucks and such.
• Seeing these kids wearing fall/winter-ish clothing is seriously bumming me out.
• Gasp! Fisher is one of the creepy blue-painted guys! This is scary; I liked him better when he was apathetic.
• Ha! None of the KTs want to see Rebecca's boobs.
• Evan is not wearing a tie to get a beer with his dad.
• Is it bad that I don't even care one way or the other about this Cappie/Casey stuff anymore?
• Wow, Evan's wearing a freaking t-shirt now! That's frighteningly casual.
• I can't believe Mr. and Mrs. Chambers either. First they send Evan into a tailspin by making him sign his life away for his trust fund money and now that he's finally getting it back together, they're going to take the money away? Argh.
• How far is it from the KT house to the stadium?! More than a couple of miles? Eesh! This is ridiculous.
• Rusty's expression when he realized that Wade lost his fig leaf was funny.
• Jordan: "I so want to hit her."
  Rusty: "Me too!"
  Calvin: "Me three."Jordan: "
• It's nice that they're using the same song (an "I Want You to Want Me" cover) to promo the new 10 Things I Hate About You show.
• Aww, Heath took a lot of AP classes in high school! He's going to med school in the fall? How can that be? No studying gets done in the KT house. And I guess this means that there's not going to be a renewed Calvin/Heath long-term thing, huh? I was shipping for that.
• Ugh, I'm just about as annoyed at Casey as Cappie is about the calling-him-instead-of-the-auto-club thing.
• Ashleigh (to Heath): "It's a good thing you're pretty."
• Evan: "Hey, doc, I'm having a hard time being a greedy bastard."
• At least Rebecca can commiserate with Evan on the crappy-parents thing.
• This Cappie/Casey shouting match feels a little forced.
• One of the "love through the ages" floats was about Heidi and Spencer.
• I don't think that painting yourself all blue is that much more embarrassing than wearing that horrendous rainbow sweater that Ashleigh had on a couple of weeks ago.
• Heath: "Poor Calvin. Caught in the crossfire."

  Rusty: "Hey, whatever happened between you two anyway?"

  Heath: "You know how in baseball, there's a pitcher and there's a catcher?"

  Rusty: "...Yeah."

  Heath: "Well, I didn't. I'm not too big of a sports fan. Calvin is, so it didn't work out."
• Holy moly, Greek! Between that joke and the subsequent blow-job sabotage of the IKIs float, this episode has gotten awfully racy!
• Evan: "[My trust fund] is no good to me if it can't buy what I want, which is actual parents."
• Go Evan! Good for you, buddy. Let the healing continue!
• Yea, the "Heidi and Spencer's Fake Wedding" float won!
• Rebecca: "Do you think they're blue all over?"
• Cappie: "Well, whatever [your legacy] is, try not to waste so much beer!"

And now we're set up for the big Casey-has-to-pick-between-Cappie-and-Max season finale that I (and probably everyone else) saw coming forever ago.

Pushing Daisies: Endings Are Where We Begin

Pushing Daisies:

"Kerplunk"

ABC finally got around to airing the last episode of Pushing Daisies, which was filmed months and months ago and then re-edited to make into more of a series finale-esque creature. Undeniably, "Kerplunk" was fantastic. It was super fun to get to spend some time in the high-stakes world of synchronized swimming and underwater circus acts. The Aquacade looked like one heck of a fun show--if it hadn't been for the mid-National Anthem shark attack anyway. Personally, I'm a little peeved that my half birthday came and went a few days ago without anyone presenting me with Aquacade tickets. (Not to mention that Ned gave Chuck two or three additional half birthday gifts throughout the course of the episode...I mean, geez, I got nothing.)

Anyway, the dialog was witty, the guest characters were vivid and entertaining, the emotions were genuine, and Ned (Lee Pace) looked damn cool in his sunglasses/green tie talent agent costume. What's there left to say? The episode was brilliant, the show was fantastic, and ABC sucks for taking it away from us.

While "Kerplunk" was a stellar episode, it just wasn't a satisfying series finale (why do I feel like I was just making this argument about something else?) After all, "Kerplunk" wasn't supposed to be a series finale and after-the-fact editing can only do so much. The show's trusty narrator tried to wrap up loose ends left and right in the final minutes, but I was left wanted to know more about what happens Ned and Chuck, Pushing Daisies' main protagonists (and also what the heck was up with Ned's dad, but that's another matter). I was left wondering: Are Ned and Chuck just going to spend the rest of their lives together without touching? What would that look like? And then I came up with how I would have ended the show:

In the closing montage, the narrator explains that Chuck and Ned decide to get married even though they haven't found a way around the no-touching thing. Some time later, they seek fertility treatments, and utilize in vitro insemination. (Here's where it gets complicated: would Chuck's egg die when touched by Ned's sperm? Let's say that through some television magic, it does not and we all agree not to think about it too hard.) Because no one really wants to find out if putting the fertilized eggs into Chuck would equate to Ned touching her and her re-death, they decide to use a surrogate (Olive, of course) to carry the babies. Yep, babies. In 30 weeks, 4 days, 17 hours, and 34 minutes, Olive gives birth to Chuck and Ned's healthy octuplets and the show becomes Chuck, Ned (and Olive) Plus 8. I'm pretty sure that higher order multiples would fit right into Pushing Daisies' fantastical world of pie shops and Darling Mermaid Darlings and frescorts and sunflower cars. I think it would be a perfect new beginning.

Good bye, Pushing Daisies. You were too good for the world of network TV.

(photo: ABC.com)

SYTYCD: Picking the Top 20, or Who Are These People?

So You Think You Can Dance: "Vegas Callbacks #2"

I'm still cheesed off about Natalie, but let's see who the Top 20 are...

• So, are we seriously not going to see more of everybody's final solos? Nope. They are being generous enough to show us brief recaps of some people.
• Janette: Without much ado, Nigel says she's in. That's good, because I want to see that flip/split thing again.
• Diana: Curly hair. I think she's the one who was dancing with Nobuya the other day. But she's not in the Top 20. That's a bummer. But it means there are only 5 more girls left to cut.
• Victolio: I believe they interviewed him a couple of times last night, because I remember his beautiful accent. Dude, this guy's got a better story than a lot of the ones they told us about during auditions (grew up in Haiti, mother died, raised by his grandmother, something about dancing on the street?). And he's got a fantastic straddle leap. After a lengthy monologue from Lil C, Victolio's in the Top 20! Nigel tells him that the producers think Victolio's got a great personality, and I'm thinking there's a correlation between that and his making it into the Top 20.
• Some Asian dude (whom I don't remember) got cut. Now some guy named Henry (whom I don't remember) got cut. Now a girl in a yellow tank top (whom I think I vaguely remember) got cut.
• Kayla: The one with the grandfather who worked the night shift and took her to dance classes and slept in the waiting room. She's in the Top 20. That's cool because I like her grandfather.
• Mia: "I love male dancers. ...It's very rare for me to connect to a female dancer." Uh, thanks for sharing, Mia. First everyone thought Nigel was being homophobic and now Mia's being sexist?
• Kopono: He is in the top 36 (and has cut his hair), as was pointed out to me by an astute commenter on my post about last night's ep. Lol, Kopono's to-do list is hilarious. Kopono is in the Top 20! I hope he shows us all his to-do lists from now on.
• Paris: I do remember her from auditions (former Miss Washington who danced to Yael Naim's cover of "Toxic"). She's in.
• Jeanine: I do not remember her. She's in.
• Ade: Didn't quite catch his name. I guess it was Ade, but I heard "Hideo." Not sure if I remember him. He's in.
• A girl whose name I missed (it seems to be Karla): I don't remeber her. She's in.
• Jonathan: Not sure If I remember him either. He's in.
• And then came the saga of Brandon, which started with Mia telling him, "As an artist, what you bring to the floor annoys the shit out of me." Boy, am I confused. She just said that she likes the power of a male dancer, and now she says she doesn't like Brandon, who seems to be a powerful male dancer. What the hell ever, Mia. And what exactly qualifies Mia to judge other people's personalities anyway? The saga continued with Debbie saying that she thinks Brandon's great (after Nigel finally prevailed on Mia to shut up). Lil C says he's not that impressed by Brandon. Then Mary puts a stop to all the negative comments on Brandon's alleged personality problems and almost bursts into tears at the sight (well, sound) of her beloved dancer being maligned. Nigel finally ends the madness by telling Brandon that he got four votes (Nigel, Mary, Debbie, Adam) out of six and is in the Top 20.
• I'm glad Brandon made the Top 20, even though I didn't start out as the hugest fan of him. I thought his audition was really good, but it didn't bring me to tears like Mary or anything. But after watching the poor kid get dragged through the dirt throughout the entire Vegas callbacks process, I now sympathize with him and hope he kicks some ass. Are the personality issues that Mia has with him similar to what they used to bitch at Danny Tidwell for? As in, he's shy and it comes off as cocky? I honestly wasn't getting "cocky" from Brandon at all. If anything, he usually just seemed confused at all the ruckus coming from the judging panel. I'm befuddled.
• Tony: He suddenly decides to tell us about his brother who is serving in the military in Afghanistan. Nigel basically tells Tony that he's not a good dancer and then puts him in the Top 20. This pisses me off.
• Maksim: He's in. Yea, we've got a ballroom boy!
• Caitlin Kinney: She's in. I'm kind of surprised about this one. I like her, but I don't think she's that great. She is blond though, so she's got that going for her.
• Melissa: She's wearing a tutu-esque thing, and she's in.
• Jason Glover: He's in. I guess we'll get to see if he really is "so So You Think You Can Dance."
• Ashley: It's her third time auditioning for SYTYCD. She's in.
• Randi: Seems to really like this strange, blue unitard-with-shorts thing. Even Mia points out Randi's love of unitards. Her unitards have gotten her into the Top 20. (Maybe Natalie should have worn more unitards? There must be a lesson here...)
• Recap: So far, we already have 9 girls and 8 boys? There are going to be a lot of cuts coming up.
• My predictions: Asuka for the girls, Evan and Philip for the boys. (Poor Alex Wong. And Ryan.)
• Alex Wong: Nigel says they think Alex is one of the strongest dancers, but he's under contract with the Miami Ballet, and the dude in charge of that won't let him out of the contract. So, um, why is he even here? Shouldn't they screen people who have previous commitments out before they get this far? It's just like when they let that Nathan kid tryout, knowing that he was too young to compete in this cycle. (I realize that the reason they do this is to cultivate interest for futures seasons by brining back familiar faces, but I still find it annoying.)
• Four unnamed dancers got cut: ballroomer Ricky (boo, I wanted him in), the girl with short hair who was involved in the debacle with Silky and the group dance, and two other dancers whom I didn't recognize at all.
• Philip: He's obviously in the Top 20, because there are only two spots left and they obviously have to pit the two brothers against each other for the last one.
• I'm sure Evan and Ryan knew this was going to happen. I know I sure did.
• Have we seen the blond girl before? Her name is Deana, and she's apparently really been making an impression in Vegas, although I don't think we've seen any of it up until now. She's cute; that's all I can really say about her, having seen so little.
• Deana: She's out. It's been nice not knowing you... I think they thought they already had too many blondes.
• Asuka: She's in.
• Ryan and Evan are already bawling backstage. This is awful. I'd actually fall off the bed if they pick Ryan. The things Ryan just listed (he's short, bald, a tapper) are EXACTLY what's going to keep him off this show. The only thing that's gotten him this far is that he has a good brother and the producers can milk the "two brothers" storyline. If Ryan was a bald tapper with no brother in the competition, I sincerely doubt that he'd have made it to the final cuts. Yes, he's a fantastic dancer, but SYTYCD is superficial, and there's no denying it.
• So, we've got two ballroom girls and one ballroom boy. I guess SYTYCD did not learn its lesson about having too many contemporary dancers in the Top 20 last season.
• I thought there could be three tappers in the Top 20 (and there really could have been four, if that's what we're classifying Ryan as), and there are none.

Top 20:

Girls: Janette, Kayla, Paris, Jeanine, Karla, Caitlin, Melissa, Ashley, Randi, Asuka

Boys: Victolio, Kopono, Ade, Jonathan, Brandon, Tony, Maksim (who was announced as "Max" in the final listing), Jason, Philip, Evan

I, for one, am underwhelmed, esp. by the girls. I said that unless the top 10 girls were bloody fantastic, I'd be even angrier about Natalie's early ouster, and I'm well on my way. It's hard, though, to judge how fantastic they are, since we didn't get to see much (if any) dancing from half of them. I know we saw auditions from Janette, Kayla, Paris, Asuka, and Caitlin. I don't remember seeing anything (except the tiny final recaps) from Jeanine, Karla, Melissa, Ashley and Randi. The only one of them of whom we saw any extended Vegas coverage was Caitlin, and what we saw of her (the contemporary routine and then her "old-fashioned" dance for her life) was not all that good! Yes, now that I think about it, I am even more pissed off.

As for the boys: For the most part, I guess I'm happy with them. I like Kopono, Philip and Evan. I will support Brandon because they gave him such a hard time for unknown reasons. I don't know much about Ade, Jason, and Jonathan. I'm glad Maksim made it and there is at least one male ballroom dancer (although I would have preferred more). I'm not currently thrilled with them including Tony while admitting that he's not that great of a dancer. I understand that personality always factors into this, but--and this is a point I've made before--the name of the show is So You Think You Can Dance and not So You Think You Have a Personality. And, even if we're picking people because they have great personalities, why not take Ryan, who has a nice personality and is a exceptional dancer? Someone commented on the EW recap that this show should be called So We Think You're Cute and You Think You Can Dance, but adding the personality aspect into that, I suppose it should be So We Think You're Cute and You Think You Have a Personality and Can Dance or So We Think You're Cute and You Think You Have a Personality (With Dancing!).

Oh well, we'll see. Yes, I'll be (begrudgingly) watching...

Greek: Friday Nights with Joan

Greek:
"Isn't It Bro-mantic?"

I freaking loved this episode. I enjoyed the Evan/Cappie interaction and the revelation that Rusty used to watch Joan of Arcadia so much that I didn't even mind that Dale was MIA because he was at a barn raising trying to convert Amish people (to what?).

Highlights (and there were a bunch):

• Calvin: "For dinner with Jordan or Desert Storm?"
• Calvin: "You've been together for like a week. I'm sure she already knows that you can't dress yourself."
• I found the conversation about Rusty's inability to dress himself to be funny since I was seriously distracted by how ugly one of his shirts in the last episode was.
• Rusty: "Is this still stylish?"
  Calvin: "Was it ever?"
• Rusty: "She just broke up with Andy, who dresses like a pop star, so I've got to step it up."
• Calvin needs to just move in with Dale and Rusty once of for all.
• Rusty: "Dale's at a barn raising this weekend, trying to convert some Amish people."
• Rusty is wearing Dale's shirt!
• Casey: "Since Max has been gone, I've gotten so much done: cleaning, organizing... I'm thinking of taking up an instrument."
• Betsy: "Really? Do they still have television on Friday nights?" (Yes, Betsy, they do. In fact, next season four shows that I watch will be on Friday nights.)
• Um, I'm not sure I'm loving Rusty's hair tonight. The part/slicked back thing looks strange.
• Calvin: "It's like watching an episode of Entourage, except cheaper...and actually watchable."
• Betsy: "I never said anything about you being drunk. She asked where you were and I said 'Asleep in the bushes.'"
• Casey and Betsy's table is ridiculously close to Rusty and Jordan's.
• Dean Bowman: "You are the most accomplished and promising students at CRU."
  Cappie: "Believe me, if I could shoot myself a quizzical look right now, I would."
• Now the secret society is making them all dish their most personal secrets? That's straight out of Veronica Mars too.
• Aww, poor Casey. She's not trying to be annoying; she's just lonely.
• I bet Calvin is glad he can go back to talking to Ashleigh instead of Rebecca.
• Calvin: "Everytime you out an Omega Chi to his house, a fairy looses its wings."
• Casey: "I could help you pick out some new shirts that are a little more...of the same! Because your shirts are so handsome."
• Evan: "Why do you feel the need to call me by my full name every time we talk?"
  Cappie: "I like it. Makes you sound like a comic book villain. ...So why don't you trust me, Evan Chambers?"
• Evan: "It's like a compulsion."
  Cappie: "Your face is like a compulsion."
  Evan: "That doesn't even make sense."
  Cappie: "Your face doesn't make any sense."
• Cappie: "First I'm not trustworthy and now I'm the runt of the society? Evan Chambers, you dastardly menace, now you've got me questioning everything!"
• Ashleigh joined the curling team? Lol.
• Ashleigh: "You are not Rusty. You have much, much daintier features...except his hands."
• Casey should just tell Rusty that she's lonely and bored. But where would the drama be in that?
• Alice played "swing the gerbil"? Oh geez...
• Cappie and Evan's reactions to Alice's array of animal horror stories were funny.
• Rusty: "You're so not the remote. You're more like the whole entertainment center."
• Evan: "I would much rather see you with her than me."
• Cappie: "We just started talking and we end up fighting over the first pet-killing lunatic we meet."
• OH NO! We didn't get to hear Cappie's deep, dark secrets!
• Calvin: "First of all, 'man hump'? No."
• Rusty: "Now you're not alone, and I am. I guess everything's right in the world again."
• We didn't get to hear Evan's deep, dark secrets either! And that boy's got some skeletons in his closet.
• Alice: "You both are just so tortured! I just want to hug you!"
  Evan: "No!"
  Cappie: "No!"
• Dean Bowman: "Nothing teaches us more about who we are than seeing ourselves in the people we least expect."
  Cappie: "Ahhhhhhhh! No, I don't get it."
• Cappie: "Conflict in the Cartwright clan? Paging Danny Tanner!"
• Rusty: "Do you realize how many nights in high school I sat alone watching Joan of Arcadia with my mother while Casey went out will all of her friends."
• Cappie: "Joan of Arcadia was the one with all the Navy lawyers, right?"

  Rusty: "No, that's JAG. Yeah, I watched that afterwards with my dad."
  Cappie: "You know I missed a lot of great television by having friends. It's a shame."
• Since when does Cappie miss any television? I thought he watches everything. He's the one, after all, who makes constant references to Full House, Jon & Kate Plus 8, Days of Our Lives, My So-Called Life, Reba, etc., etc., etc.
• I used to watch Joan of Arcadia too, and I was ticked off about it as well. Not because it was on a Friday night and I had nothing else to do, but more because I really didn't like that show.
• Rusty: "I wish I'd gone to MIT."

  Cappie (sees mostly naked Calvin): "What the hell is that?"

  Rusty: "It's a school...in Massachusetts..."
• Ha! Rusty gave Casey the Joan of Arcadia DVD.
• Um, I want to know what Rusty did to Casey's blanket that make it smell weird! Lol.
• Next week's preview: What in the heck is going on with Ashleigh's eye makeup?

(photo: abcfamily.com)

SYTYCD: NAAAATALIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

So You Think You Can Dance: "Vegas Callbacks #1"

Wow. I don't think I've ever been this royally cheesed off by an episode of SYTYCD. (I'm sure I've been pretty upset with the show before, but nothing springs to mind to match how I'm feeling now.) I'm peeved at the judges' decisions and how they all were acting like butts just to increase the drama. I'm peeved at how they seemed to be making up the rules as they went along. I'm peeved at how the show was edited in such a way that when the final 32 contestants were revealed, I found myself wondering who at least half of the people were. I peeved that they only tended to show people right before they got cut, which made the whole thing fairly predictable. But, above all, I'm peeved (and "peeved" is not a strong enough word) at how they treated Natalie Reid, who was my favorite dancer last year during the auditions and callbacks and was my favorite this year. (Plenty more ranting about that situation can be found in my play-by-play...in fact, I'm going to put it in bold so that it is more noticeable and more obviously angry.)

This episode has to be the show's most discouraging night. We had to watch person after person get cut, but we didn't get to end the night on the happy note of seeing the Top 20 get picked. So, it was a whole lot of sadness and no light at the end of the tunnel.

My (cheesed off) play-by-play of the night's events:

• So we must narrow 172 dancers down to 20... That sounds like it's going to be tough.
• Lil C! Oh, thank goodness.
• Alex Wong = way cooler in this opening solo that he was during auditions.
• I'm already annoyed with Mia and her "woooooooooooooooows."
• Tony's got a pretty high concept hip hop solo going here. There wasn't a whole lot of dancing, but there sure was a lot of Nigel's face.
• There was some pretty fantastic stuff in that montage of solos. (And a lot of contemporary.) But Nigel must have been watching different solos that then ones they showed us because he's all bent out of shape and cutting people (whose solos we didn't get so see). The judges wittle out 45 people for reasons unbeknownst to us.
• The people who were cut included Travis (son of football coach), Talia (the widow) and Chimezie! Noooooooooooooo! (The silver lining here is that I guess I won't have to memorize the spelling of Chimezie after all.)
• How much does Fergie pay SYTYCD to plug every single song she makes?
• Geez, Mia, just shut up; "I love cutting people, because I like to see people who aren't good at what they do go home." What? So, if Mia was an elementary school teacher and a 6-year-old couldn't read well, she'd like to see him just leave school and go home?
• Gabi Rojas got to stay based on the merit of her initial audition solo, and I just had to remind myself who Gabi was: she's the girl with rheumatoid arthritis and who grew up in the circus.
• Whoever that Russian-looking guy was who was dancing with Gabi was killing it though ;-)
• 97 dancers left after day 1.
• Ohh, Philip is not a waltzer.
• Wow, all six of those dancers got sent through, but we only watched Philip? Thanks, SYTYCD editors/producers...
• I was kind of surprised that Ariel made it though the first day, but I was really surprised that she got cut after waltz, which I thought she did pretty well. It was not until later in the evening that I realized that the quality of your dancing does not necessarily correlate with whether you get cut or not.
• Receiving accolades during the waltz were non-ballroomers Kayla and Priscilla and ballroomers Maksim, Asuka and Ricky.
• Nobuya was rocking that waltz ;-) Good for him. I've realized that one of his main strengths on this show is that something about him makes you think that he's going to be ridiculously bad and then he dances and turns out to be so much better than you were expecting.
• Oh no, that one kid kicked himself in the face? That's actually kind of impressive.
• Ohhhhhh nooooooooooooo. Natalie's performance before the judges wasn't as good as the one she just did in practice for Sonya.
• OH MY FREAKING GOD! I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY JUST CUT NATALIE!
• Her performance wasn't fantastic, but it certainly wasn't bad either. It should not have been enough to get her cut, especially since she's earned the benefit of the doubt by now.
• The judges totally just did that to prove the point that they're willing to cut anyone. But, why do they need to prove that point? Of course people are going to get cut--everyone except 20 people are going to get cut! I'm sure everyone understands that.
• I am seriously pissed off. I bet Sonya's pissed off too. Sonya should boycott the show unless they bring Natalie back. I would threaten to boycott the rest of this season, but I know I can't not watch this show.
• So, do we think Natalie will try out again next cycle? Or will she tell them to go screw themselves (like Katee threatened to do if they cut her last year)? Personally, I love her, so I would love for her to come back, but after this horrendous treatment, I would not blame her one iota for never coming near SYTYCD again.
• So, basically, Natalie and Brandon are getting screwed over because the other judges over-hyped them? It's not their fault that the judges over-hyped them! This is all so upsetting.
• Nigel: "Damn. My favorite unique dancer is not good."
  Well, damn, Nigel, my favorite unique dancer IS good and YOU CUT HER ANYWAY!
  
• Why does Gabi get to dance for her life, but Natalie didn't? Didn't Natalie earn that right after being one spot away from the Top 20 last season? Let's just make the rules up as we go to fit our own personal agendas, shall we, judges?
  
• Come on, judges, if Gabi can't do ballroom and she can't do jazz, how is she going to do this competition?
  
• Look, folks, I like Gabi's solos too, but this is not fair. How many second chances are we going to give this poor girl?
  
• Oh, but meanwhile Sammy gets cut without a second thought. This whole process sucks massively. I do not remember the Vegas selection process pissing me off this much in the past. (Maybe I didn't watch them? The Vegas episodes usually coincide with my vacation.)
  
• I don't know how I'm going to make it through another hour of this!
  
• Hey, it's Silky! I bet we're checking in with him to see him get cut too. Poor Silky had some serious group issues. In their defense, they didn't have the easiest song to choreograph to--if you're not a swing dancer, it's probably not easy to whip out a swing routine.
  
• Lil C: "The buck stops here." (So Lil C does use the word "buck" in the conventional expressions and not just as a hip expression of awesomeness.)
  
• Brandon's group was good. Their opening "huddle" choreography was cool.
  
• If Jason is "just so So You Think You Can Dance" according to Adam, could we maybe see him dance for more than 2 seconds?
  
• Why does nerd hip hop always seem to go over so well?
  
• We still have 68 dancers.
  
• Silky's dancing for his life dance was not nearly as cool as his original audition dance. That's a shame. Bye, Silky.
  
• What? Now the judges are making Tony repeat the choreography? They ARE making this up as they go along!!!
  
• Why can Mia judge people doing her own choreo? Maybe if Sonya was on the judging panel, she would have saved Natalie.
  
• Oh nooooo, poor Nobuya just got cut. Keep at it, buddy.
  
• Megan Kinney made it through with that contemporary performance? I didn't think she was very good.
  
• Now Caitlin Kinney has to dance for her life immediately. (Another example of the judges totally winging this whole competition.) She did a great leap and a nice spin, but the stuff in between wasn't all that exciting.
  
• I like watching Ryan better when he's not dancing with a whoopee cushion.
  
• Evan's really good. I'm definitely buying him as a contender now.
  
• Again this "Jason" advances to the next round without us getting to see him actually dance.
  
• I think Cat's got a crush on Tony now. She seemed really into hugging him ;-)
  
• Oh no, it's Tyce.
  
• Bianca is better at other (non-tap) styles of dance than I was expecting.
  
• Oh no! Priscilla just did a face-plant at the end of the routine!
  
• And now they cut Bianca! WHAT?! They only show people right before they cut them. I don't blame Bianca for feeling indignant about getting cut. I'm pissed on her behalf.
  
• So much for my prediction that there might be three tappers in this season's Top 20. Looks like there's going to be zero again.
  
• Wow, now Priscilla, Gabi and Megan Kinney are all out too. I thought Priscilla might make it further.
  
• Some of these girls in the top 16 look completely unfamiliar to me. That seems like a problem.
  
• Hey, what a shock, the group of guys full of people we've ever heard of or seen before got cut.
  
• The top 16 boys also include people we've never seen before.
  
• Um, geez, they could have shown us more of those solos.
  

As I suspected, the promos for tomorrow's episode suggest that they arrange it so that either Ryan or Evan get the last spot, so as to pit the two brothers against each other (like the pitted best friends and roommates Katee and Natalie against each other last season). How very classy, SYTYCD. And extremely predictable.

So, are we going to get to see any dancing tomorrow night? Or will we just watch a bunch of people sitting in a room and the judges trying to fake everybody out? I would at least like to see some footage of the dancing of the 15 or so of the top 32 who I don't remember ever seeing before...

BTW, what happened to Peter, the buff tapper guy from Philly? What about the dude with the really long Hawaiian name that started with a K? Did Adam Wong make it to the top 16 boys? Seems like the least they could have done was end the show by running down the names of all 32 dancers who are left.

Greek: Mid-Term Mania

Greek:
"Social Studies"

Another good episode. Of course, I'm going to like any episode that features this much Dale/Rusty/Calvin interaction. And hooray for Evan getting to be in a storyline that was NOT riddled with despair and self-loathing! Now I remember why I used to like this guy. And the mid-term stress humor was fun all around. As for the whole Cappie/Casey thing, sometimes its funny and sometimes it gets really old, and there was a bit of both of that in this ep.

Highlights and observations:

• Yea, it's art history with Dale, Rusty and Calvin! This is my favorite class!
• Is it midterms already? It seems like this semester is flying by compared to last spring's epically lengthy semester.
• Dale: "Essays? Oh no, that leaves too much room for teacher interpretation, and frankly this guy's kind of a nutbag."
• Ashleigh's desolate mid-terms face is hysterical. (For a second there when I first saw her expression, I thought Fisher knocked her up while they were "out of town" last episode. I'm glad it's just mid-term stress.)
• Rusty: "I'm looking for my art history course packet. Have you seen it?"
  Cappie: "Paperback? Bunch of naked ladies? Might want to check Wade's room."
  
• Dale is wearing a tie and a sweater vest to study for mid-terms! (Now that I think about it, Dale might actually get along with Evan.)
• Evan saves the day!
• Nooooooo, don't try this Rebecca/Evan thing again, Greek! We don't want to see it! In fact, I would be more than okay with it if Rebecca never has another love interest ever again. Or she can have all the off-screen love interests she wants, just so long as I don't have to watch it.
• Jordan: "Andy just broke up with me."
  Dale: "Oh, that's terrible! But back to the Mona Lisa..."
• Off topic: Did The New York Post really say that The Secret Life of the American Teenager is "brilliantly written"? That quotation absolutely has to be wildly taken out of context. I'm not exactly sure what the NY Post's literary standards are, but I don't see how the writing of Secret Life could conform to anyone's standards of brilliance.
• Cappie hooked up with both of these girls on the same Friday night. Lol. Ohhhhh, Cappie...
• Dale: "That's great--get both of them to waste time. That's fantastic."
• Ahh, okay, Jordan finally gives us an explanation of why she liked Andy (instead of Rusty) in the first place: he reminded her of the boys she knew from home and that made her feel comfortable. That's not a very good excuse, but at least she has one.
• If they'd kick Jordan out of this study group, I'd seriously pay money to sit around listening to Calvin, Rusty and Dale's banter.
• Rusty: "It's time for us to take a little field trip."

  Dale: "No, actually. No, it's not."
• Dale: "We've already lost our pizza break. Do you want to cut the massage circle too?"

  Calvin: "Yeah."
• Cappie and Casey smushed on the couch was entertaining, especially Cappie's horrified "I touched your boob."
• How has Ashleigh not failed out of college by now?
• Casey: "Cappie just screwed us out of it. Literally."
• Casey didn't know that Cappie still isn't over her? I thought everyone was well aware of that. It seems so obvious.
• Rebecca: "Are you looking up my skirt?"
  Evan: "Where else am I supposed to look?"
• Calvin: "Yeah, I remember this now, just not as vividly as the pigeon incident."
• I think Cappie would have better luck getting Casey back if he trimmed his hair a bit. (Although Max's hair is usually pretty iffy, so maybe not.)
• What kind of a flake is Andy that he breaks up with Jordan over the phone and then calls her back an hour later wanting to get back together?
• Rebecca: "Evan, you're really weird to do this for me."
• This is just the kind of jocular, light-hearted plot Evan's character needed.
• Jordan: "You probably think I'm an idiot to even consider taking him back."

  Dale: "You know, it's not so much what happened, it's just how long it took."
• Rusty: "I fell for you. Literally, down the stairs and into the slide projector."
• Rebecca: "What happened to the plan?"
  Evan: "That dog is so fast!"
• Whoa, Jeremy watching people while they sleep is totally creepy! Holy crap, he almost made me choke on my drink.
• Wow, Rusty, how does your problem so perfectly mirror Cappie and Casey's? It's almost like it was specially crafted to do so...
• If "no other girl in the world compares" to Casey according to Cappie, why did he treat her so badly when he had her?
• Casey: "Are you crying?"

  Ashleigh: "I am so tired!"
• Dale: "So, do you guys think we should throw a couple questions so we don't destroy the curve?"
  Rusty: "Don't listen to him, Calvin. It's a trick. He's trying to beat us."
• I can't believe the professor is allowing this much of a romantic interlude in the middle of a mid-term. Jordan seriously couldn't have waited to tell Rusty that until after the test? It was just going to distract him anyway.

(photo: abcfamily.com)

Breaking Bad: Horrific Prefection

Breaking Bad:
"ABQ"

OMFG, Breaking Bad's season 2 finale was phenomenal. The second-to-last episode ended with Walt's horrifying decision to not help Jane as she choked to death in her sleep, and the season finale kept the WTF moments coming. The shockers were relentless: from Gus touring the police station to Skyler catching Walt in his lies and kicking him out to the terrifying revelation that the now infamous pink teddy bear fell from the sky after an airplane collision that was caused (albeit inadvertently) by Walt's actions.

Breaking Bad has always lived in the world of moral grayness and ambiguity. With this finale, however, the show moved further into the dark end of the morality spectrum than it ever has before. The show has extensively explored the dangerous nature of drug dealing for the novice dealers, but in our eagerness to see Walt and Jesse succeed and make boatloads of money, we sometimes lose sight of how destructive the drugs they are selling can be. Example A: Jane, who all in all seemed like a sweet girl and was dearly loved by her father and Jesse (and had a tremendously awesome mural on her bedroom wall), dies from choking on her own vomit after a drug binge. Her death leaves Jesse, one of our heroes (or anti-heroes), completely devastated and also leads to Example B: Jane's grief-stricken father, an air traffic controller, is driven to such distraction that he fails to prevent a collision between two airplanes above Albuquerque.

Wow, that plane crash. The source of the teddy bear, the glasses, the wallet and the other debris littering Walt's back and front yards. And the cause of probably upwards of a hundred deaths of innocent people (including the child owner of the pink bear). How can we justify what Walt has done in the face of all this destruction? What started out as a dying man willing to do anything to provide for his family has resulted in a series of progressively horrible events. Walt is already racked with guilt--imagine how he will feel when he finds out about what caused the plane crash. Even aside from all of the collateral damage, has any of this worked out for Walt at all? He beat cancer (for now anyway), but he lost his family anyway.

It's all so bleak. The one heartening moment in the finale came when Walt hunted Jesse down and went into the crack den (is that what that freaky place was?) to save him. Jesse's raw grief was devastating, and it was nice to see Walt vow to help him. If nothing else good has come from any of this, at least these two men have formed an indelible bond.

The up-shot of it all: Breaking Bad should win the Emmy for Best Drama Series. I've watched Mad Men, Lost, Damages, and a myriad of other shows, and nothing has been as consistently stellar this season as Breaking Bad. Additionally, Bryan Cranston has made an extremely strong case for repeating his Best Actor win, and if Aaron Paul's brilliant work is not recognized with at least a Best Supporting Actor nomination, I may cry.

I, for one, am fascinated to see what season 3 will bring. Will a post-rehab Jesse still want to be involved in the drug trade after drugs led to the death of his girlfriend? Will Skyler find out the truth and how will she react? How will Walt come to terms with the fact that his quest for financial security has led to the deaths of so many people? Is there any redemption at all to be had here, or must we now just embrace the dark side?

(photo: amctv.com)