Greek: Leave It to Beaver

Greek:

"All About Beav"

I'm so excited, because tonight's episode of Greek took two of my absolute favorite peripheral characters and put them together! Beaver and Katherine! It's on! I'm so excited; this pairing is epic.

Of course, knowing Beaver and knowing Katherine, it seems highly unlikely that a relationship between the two of them would ever work long-term. But who cares?! This is Greek's final season and we don't have to worry about the long-term! Let's just get together all the couples we want together (Beaver/Katherine, Rusty/Ashleigh, me: Evan/Casey) and break up all the ones we want broken up (Rebecca/Evan, Rusty/Dana). The Greek end is near - we don't have to worry about the post-show consequences!

After the list of tonight's highlights - which are extensive, because this episode was pure bliss from start to finish - I'll pose the important question ignited by tonight's episode:

• It's Beaver!!! Beaver sleeps with a stuffed penguin! Beaver gets a wake-up call from his mom! This is going to be epic.
• Beaver: "Yes, Pengy's up too."
• Beaver: "Know how I'm philanthropy chair?"
  Cappie: "And 'philanthropy' means..."
  Beaver: "No, I remember this time."
• I LOVE that Beaver just walked out on Cappie mid-pointless rant.
• Beaver loves Katherine!!! Oh, dear Lord, please make it happen!
• Beaver: "Oh, pardon me, Bing. I was just moving your girlfriend's breast. I mean chest. I mean drawers..."
• Beaver's real name is...Walter Boudreaux!!!
• I've never heard Beaver say so many words in my life.
• OMFG - tonight, the Greek theme jingle had Beaver singing "Greek, Greek, Greek, Greek, Greeeeek!" over it. Holy crap, this is awesome.
• The janitor asking Beav if he watched Glee last night.
• Beav: "Can you believe they almost shut down the glee club? Again?! Close call! Again!"
• "Don't Mock the Killer Birds" was Beaver's first guess at the name of "To Kill A Mockingbird." Although he was incorrect about the title, that does sound like pretty solid life advice to me.
• Beaver (looking at Katherine): "I want some of that."
  Casey: "Me too."
• Beaver: "I have a paper due tomorrow, and I'm going to fail."

  Cappie: "What about the children?"

  Beaver: "I know! They're the future!"
• "Crabtree and Evan-ly"
• Cappie: "Now, go on. Get out of my sight!"

  Beaver: "I think that's where he is, Cap."
• Beav: "You build towers with your books too!"
• Casey: "Why am I seeing you more today than ever before?"
• Beaver's second attempt at the name of "To Kill A Mockingbird": "Tequila Drinking Bird"
• Every fifth page of Casey's law book has been ripped out and substituted with a piece of paper that says "Suck it."
• How cute is it that they're showing Fisher's T-Mobile commercial during Greek? Except all the Greek fans think he's a dirty, lying cheater, so I don't know if this is such a great idea.
• Beav: "Not that I condone cheating - or even know what condone means - but sometimes you just get desperate."
• Just dump her, Evan. It's time to move on.
• Ash: "Is there a hot science guy?"
  Rusty: "Carl Sagan? Those turtlenecks?"
• Lol at Casey hiding behind Beaver when they were talking to the creepy guy at the post office.
• Oh no! Rusty got pulled off his own project! That's a major bummer.
• Beaver really could have just read the book and written the paper by now. It would have been less work than all of this. Casey probably could have written a bunch of case briefs by now too.
• Beaver saved the barista's life once when she was choking!
• Casey: "I know what you mean, I've been trying to keep up with Rusty my whole life."
  Beaver: "I don't think Rusty's very good at football."
• Katherine: "Rio Nightclub. You know, I haven't heard of it but the name kind of conjures up these images in my mind of relaxing with a Caipirinha and some salsa music after a long but rewarding day of volunteering in the Brazilian slums."
• Now that Katherine brought it up, I think I'd enjoy a Caipirinha too...
• So Rebecca just wants Evan's attention, even if they're fighting. Brilliant plan, Rebecca. That's absolutely going to work out well for you.
• Katherine: "I think they're focusing on the Brazilian slum theme."
• Ha ha ha! Beaver didn't realize that the "Katherine" Casey was talking about is Katherine.
• Casey: "Have you been paying attention to anything I said all day?!"

  Beaver: "How should I know, I haven't been paying attention to anything you've said all day!"
• HEATH!!!! Heath is a stripper. Ahahahahahahahaha!
• I wonder if Calvin knows Heath is a stripper at Rio Nightclub.
• Beaver: "Are you Dave? Are you a policeman? I'm so confused right now!"
• I can't even listen to Heath and Beaver's conversation, because I'm laughing too hard.
• Beaver trying to take off his pants but not being able to, and Katherine screaming "You gotta take off your shoes first!!"
• Beaver grabbing some "hush money" from Heath's underwear!
• Oh my gosh. Tears are streaming down my face. It was nice of them to put this Rusty/Dana breakup scene after the strip club scene to give me a minute to gather myself and stop laughing (and crying).
• Geez, Cappie. Don't shove Evan just for telling the truth.
• Oh, yeah, Rebecca, Evan's the idiot in this situation...
• Evan and Beccs are on the rocks and now Rusty and Dana broke up! Everything's coming up awesome tonight!
• Beaver: "Your my favorite lady I've never had sex with, Casey."
• Beaver's almost finished with his 5-year teaching certificate program! He's going to be a kindergarten teacher!! All together now: "Awwwwww!!!!"
• Beaver: "Are you sure you're in law school? Because this is some pretty basic stuff."
• Casey really didn't realize that allllllllll of the Evan/Cappie war is because of her?
• Yea, Beaver! He's going to watch the movie and write the paper himself! I'm so proud.
• OMFG, KATHERINE IS IN BEAVER'S BED!!!!! Holy freaking crap, I'm about it lose it.
• Beaver doesn't waste time! He sees Katherine in the morning, decides he likes her, and the next day she wakes up in his bed. Beav is such a fox.

And now for the great debate: Was this one of the best episodes of Greek ever, or was this THE best episode of Greek ever? The only thing that's held it back was a lack of Dale and Calvin, but I honestly didn't really miss them tonight.

While the "best ever?" debate may continue on indefinitely, one thing that we know for sure after this episode is that if Greek must end, there should absolutely be a Beaver-centric spinoff. Beaver, the kindergarten teacher. Can you imagine anything more delightful?

(photos: abcfamily.com)

SYTYCD: Putting on Boogie Shoes

So You Think You Can Dance: Top 7 Performance Show

• Umm, now where's Ashley?! Come ON!
• Cat is wearing a slamming multi-colored artistic print dress with a purposefully messy side fishtail braid.
• After rehearsals on Monday, Ash was taking to the hospital with severe rib pain. She has been advised not to dance tonight. Oy vey! At this point, the winner is going to be the one who can make it the longest without getting injured.
• Same rules apply to Ashley that applied to Alex. (Is this the first time ever on SYTYCD that the same rules apply to different contestants? Just kidding.)
• Alex had surgery on Monday and it seems to have gone well.
• Anya's doing some double duty this week. Which is odd, because they have lots of boy contestants to go around.
• A gold star means Dominic? Lol. So, Dom's going to remind us what a good b-boy looks like?

Lauren with Mark (Tiana's Tahitian dance):

• The featurette: Hmm, Tahitian dance sounds interesting. Mark certainly is the man for the job.
• The dance: OMG, Mark's wearing a loin cloth. I don't really know what I should be watching for, but Lauren is good at wiggling her butt, which is about 90% of what she's being called on to do. Mark looks like a natural; I wonder if he ever did similar dancing in Hawaii before.
• The judging: Nigel doesn't know what to say. Adam says Lauren's hips don't lie. Nigel is rather flustered. Mia says it was absolutely fascinating and it looked like a duck in heat. Mia can't believe they were able to do this in the amount of time they were giving. Adam: "Mark, who are you?!" (Mark: "Why do all you judges love me so much now, but you weren't nice to me at all when I was actually on the show?" Ok, he didn't really say that.) Cat hands the mic to Lauren, and she gives a speech like she just won an Oscar.

AdeChike with Anya (Liz Lira salsa):

• The featurette: The dance is fast, it's intricate, and there are death-defying stunts. The dance drew blood in practice.
• The dance: Wow, AdeChike's outfit is tragic. Anya's is really, really neon. I think maybe they should have focused more on teaching AdeChike the proper salsa technique and less on the stunts, because something doesn't look right about his general performance. All of the lifts/twist/general-flinging-around-of-Anya, however, was quite good. The opening throw-twist thing was insane.
• The judging: Nigel thinks Liz Lira is a crazy person. Nigel says salsa is a totally alien subject for a contemporary dancer like AdeChike, but he totally pulled it off. (Really?) Mia thought the choreo was great and that the tricks were awesome. She saw some little bumps though. And she thought his hips were a little awkward, but thinks he got through it. Anya says this routine was truly competition style. Adam commends AdeChike fighting through the "hard-ass choreography" and never showing a sign of weakness. So I guess the judges are going for the old "when we are mean to you, you get lots of votes, so we're going to be fairly nice to you in hopes that people don't think they have to vote for you."

Jose with Courtney (Joey Dowling Broadway):

• The featurette: Joey's being a lot nicer to Jose than she usually is to the dancers. They seem to be focusing entirely on working on Jose's sad face, when I'm thinking they should be doing a little more dancing.
• The dance: Well, Jose's doing a fairly good job, but this routine is also ridiculously slow. Oh, it's the "Mr. Cellophane" song that Curt sang on the Glee pilot! As for the routine, I didn't have a giant problem with it, but I wasn't impressed either.
• The judging: Nigel thinks the routine took Jose's happy personality from him, which took away his greatest asset, leaving you to see only his dancing, which isn't very good. Ouch, Nigel! How many weeks in, you finally realize he's not a great dancer? Mia wants to say something harsh, but she's having a hard time saying it to Jose because he looks so sad. Mia says there was no hope in the performance and he didn't have technique to back up the performance. Adam says Jose needs more extension in his moves. Nigel cuts in to say that Jose needs dance lessons. Adam says Jose's bell kick was "neither here nor there." Courtney tries to stick up for Jose a bit. Cat says Courtney's going to put the showgirl outfit back in Adam's dressing room now.

Robert with Allison (Travis Wall contemporary):

• The featurette: Allison's all better! Yea! Travis says this routine is about his mom, who just had major surgery. Robert can relate because his mother has had similar experiences. Ok, the footage of the three of them doing the moves together was exceptional! Travis should do the routine with them!
• The dance: Ok, I love that to play Travis, they put Robert in cargo shorts and a partially undone button-down shirt. Wow, son of a gun, Robert is totally holding his own next to Allison in the side-by-side section! Color me surprised and impressed. Ok, that routine was good. That was like a moderately less emotionally-exploitative version of the cancer dance.
• The judging: The judges give it a standing O. Robert and Allison (and Cat) are fighting tears. So is Travis. Nigel compares it to Mia's "Addiction" and Tyce's cancer dance. Nigel says if the audience doesn't support Robert this week, we're crazy. He calls Allison one of the "greatest dancers we've ever had on SYTYCD." Mia's crying too, because the dance reminded her of the week before her mom passed away. Mia thinks that dance was bigger than the show and that our moms are everything. She thinks it was the best Robert has danced this season. Adam says if Travis doesn't get an Emmy nomination for that, there's no God. Personally, I wouldn't tie God to Emmy nominations, because those things are notoriously ridiculous. Adam thinks it was one of the performances of the season.

Cat plugs the Season 7 tour, but, seriously, at this rate who is going to be healthy enough to perform in it?

Billy with Anya (Louis van Amstel jive):

• The featurette: Poor Anya is the hardest working girl in show business tonight. Anya's presence makes Billy laugh awkwardly.
• The dance: I'm going to call this one of the best jive's we've seen in a while. Billy certainly kept the energy level very high, and I actually believed him in the rock-and-roll, I-want-to-sleep-with-Anya character.
• The judging: Nigel thought Billy worked harder at a connection with his partner this week than other weeks. Nigel thinks he needed to "get down" a little bit on the jive technique but thought it was pretty good overall. Mia thought it was a great performance. Mia thought his technique and training were everything in that piece. Cat tries to ask Billy a question about Anya being a "sex bomb" and Billy can't understand what she's trying to say at all. He thinks she's saying "sex bum" and can't for the life of him understand what she means. It's hilarious. Adam thinks Billy was totally in control during the routine. And Nigel cuts in again to try to make yet another reference to the World Cup.

Kent with Neil (Tyce Diorio Broadway):

• The featurette: It's the wholesome (and somewhat cheesy) combo of Kent and Neil. The dance has a baseball theme.
• The dance: This would be better if there were a few more baseball player dancers on stand up there with them. It's just a little bizarre with only two guys. Baseball isn't a partner sport. They both did a good job though. Very high-energy and athletic performances.
• The judging: Nigel says Tyce threw every trick in the book. Nigel says he went to see the All-Star Game last night. He says Kent was the MVP tonight and said that Kent was out-dancing All-Star Neil. Mia says she loves boys so much. She enjoyed the strong male dancing. Adam tells Tyce that the routine was so awesome. He thinks Kent has a huge future in Broadway. He liked how effortlessly they made it look. The judges keep raving about Kent, but Neil looks better in the baseball uniform at least.

Lauren and Billy (Mandy Moore jazz):

• The featurette: Billy tells us that Lauren eats like a squirrel. Lauren says that Billy is obsessed with soda. The concept of the dance is that two shoes meet up and want to boogie. Um, ok.
• The dance: Whoa! The boogie shoes are sparkly! I'm loving Billy in this. Like hardcore loving him. He just looks like so much fun! Lauren's doing well too. Her dress could be better though. To me, this routine for Billy was like the hip hop routine for Alex: it's the moment where you realize that not only is he an awesome dancer, but he's also legitimately fun to watch.
• The judging: Nigel says it was absolutely adorable. Nigel says Billy was again really connecting with his partner and that the jazz style suited him well. Nigel tells Lauren: "Don't go clicking your heels three times, dear, because you're not going home yet." Mia says the choreo and performance was "completely in the pocket." Not sure I know what that means, but it reminds me of when P.J. said "The lotion is in the basket" on My Boys. Mia thinks it was quirky and groovy at the same time. Adam says Billy finally got lost in a dance. Adam thinks Lauren could get way up there in the standings.

Jose with Dominic (Napoleon and Tabitha b-boy routine):

• The featurette: Cat says Jose "randomly picked" the gold star. Yeah, I don't believe that for a second. Dominic says that Jose has to put toilet paper on the seat every time he goes to the bathroom. Dom says they have different b-boy styles (Jose is more on the ground and flowy; Dom is more up in the air on his hands).
• The dance: Choreographing breaking too much just seems weird. In the side-by-side regular hip hop steps, Jose wasn't matching up to Dom. His breaking stuff seemed ok, but I don't think he's at the level of a Legacy or a Hok, although I'm certainly no breaking expert. At the end, Jose pulls a sword out of a rock in the middle of the stage.
• The judging: Nigel doesn't want Jose to hold the sword while he critiques him. Cat and Dom fight over the sword. Nigel says that Jose redeemed himself. And Jose starts crying again. Nigel says no other dancer on the show could have done that routine. Well, yeah, but Jose couldn't have done any of the other routines as well as any of the other dancers. Mia thought the beginning was amazing, but she still wants more training and strength, strength, strength from Jose. Adam says the criticism earlier really hurt Jose, and he still managed to come out and "school" us. Oy vey. If Jose is such a delicate little flower that he can't stand to hear honest statements about how his dancing is not up to the level of other dancers on the show, then he needs to start improving his dancing really fast, because he is just not up to the level of the other dancers on the show.

AdeChike and Kent (Dee Caspery contemporary):

• The featurette: AdeChike really likes food and wants to become a chef. AdeChike says Kent has a crush on Lauren (the non-Gottlieb Lauren).
• The dancing: I kinda missed the explanation about what the chairs mean, so I'm a little lost, but the routine itself is quite good. Lots of "strong male dancing" as Mia would say. This is a good week for Kent. AdeChike was good too, especially when he leaped over Kent.
• The judging: Nigel thought it was very good. Nigel liked AdeChike's leap. He liked that Kent underplayed it instead of being all "Hi! I'm Kent!" Nigel says that Kent stands a remarkable chance of being this year's champion. Well, duh. I could have told you that during Vegas week. Or earlier. Mia thinks Kent was great. She liked having two male dancers bringing strength but also vulnerability. Mia says it was a great week for AdeChike. She liked his lines and power. Adam says that they just taught America that a super athlete can be a super artist. He says they were both brilliant.

Robert with Kathryn (Doriana Sanchez disco):

• The featurette: Kathryn is filling in for Ashley. Robert says Ashley is in love with him. Ashley says Robert laughs really loudly.
• The dance: So how many days did Robert and Kathryn have to practice this routine together? If Ash got hurt on Monday, I guess they had like two days. Kathryn's outfit is a little bit scandalous. I can't believe they're closing such a good show with a disco. Even well-performed discos are kind of eh. They did a good enough job.
• The judging: Nigel says that back in the day, they'd do a hard disco routine and then go throw up. Thanks for that anecdote. Nigel thinks Robert gave lines and strength. He thought it was tremendous for this style. Mia says she loves Robert, but hopes she never has to see him do this again. Mia didn't think he was masculine enough to sell the routine. Adam thinks he sold fun, which is the point of disco. Adam says it's hard to look masculine when you're doing the silly disco moves. Robert's lucky he had Travis' contemporary routine to balance out this disco.

HA! I just realized who Billy reminded me of in that boogie shoes jazz number. It was Sheldon Cooper! I probably should have kept that to myself.

My favorites:
Billy and Lauren's jazz
Robert and Allison's contemporary
Kent and AdeChike's contemporary

SYTYCD: Injuries and Double Standards

So You Think You Can Dance: Top 8 Perform

• I missed the intro. I hope it wasn't as fascinating as last week's... (I say sarcastically.)
• Um, where's Alex Wong?
• There was a strange echo while Cat was trying to explain the format of tonight's show. She dealt with it like a pro.
• Oh NO! Alex was injured in practice! Eesh, after seeing the footage of his injury, I'd be stunned if Alex is back next week. That looked like a torn Achilles, actually. And Nigel finally says they think it is a ruptured Achilles! Oh noooooo! Oh dear, if that's what it is, that's going to take months of recovery (I know that thanks to Courtney Kupets). Poor Alex.
• Alex will be automatically in the bottom three and judged tomorrow. If he can't dance next week, he'll automatically be eliminated.
• I heard that Allison was also injured this week. Honestly, it's kind of amazing that more of these dancers don't sustain major injuries with all the dancing and different routines they have to do.
• Ashley and Robert pulled the quick step! Uh oh for them.
• Oh no! I'm even more bummed about Alex's injury after seeing his interview with AdeChicke, where AdeChicke was explaining that Alex can get too serious and intense in practice, and while he's talking, Alex is giving him a look of death and then ominously reached toward him. It was hilarious.
• Billy tells us that all Jose talks about is Lauren Gottlieb's butt.

Lauren with Pasha (Jean-Marc and Franz cha cha):

• The featurette: Part of Pasha's job this week is to be a hair dresser. I'll sign up for an appointment with him!
• The dance: Ok, I don't want to hear Mia saying that Lauren's not sexy anymore. This dance is entirely sex, and she's killing it. I don't know that she always had totally the proper cha cha technique (Mary Murphy would know), but she had the wiggling down. And Pasha got to look the best he's looked so far this season.
• The judging: Nigel feels the need to tell us that Lauren is a "full-bodied woman." Mia says it was "pure murderation." Not to be outdone, Adam says "Holy shampoosis." They're trying to sell us on Lauren being on an evolution. Which I guess is why they tried to convince us that she was having performance issues a few weeks ago when she really wasn't.

Jose with Lauren (Mandy Moore contemporary):

• The featurette: Oh dear, no wonder Jose's all worked up--it looks like the most of the routine is him grabbing Lauren's butt and boobs.
• The dance: Oh, hey, '80s music. I would have never seen that coming. Um, Jose isn't really doing much dancing here. Lauren's doing a lot of twisting and flipping around him, and he's helping, but as for him actually dancing, there's not much there. And when he does dance a bit, you can see why they tried to avoid it.
• The judging: Ok, Nigel clearly wasn't watching what I was watching, because he thinks Jose looked "amazing." I am clearly holding Jose to different standards than Nigel is. We're down to 8--or 7--dancers; it's time to get serious, people! Nigel just made Jose cry. Mia thinks more people--including her--should try to be more like Jose. That may well be, but this is a DANCING show. Mia thinks Jose "melted into" Lauren at the right places and "loved her." Adam says that Mandy Moore played to Jose's strengths. Adam says Jose is one of the most beloved people on this show.

Kent with Comfort (Dave Scott hip hop):

• The featurette: Kent with Comfort--this should be good times!
• The dance: In this outfit, Kent looks like he's in a boy band. Comfort looks hot in her skinny jeans and high-healed boots. Ok, other than giving me a bit of an unfortunate Will Schuester vibe, I think Kent's doing pretty darn well here. The moves looked good, and about 90% of the time his facial expressions were good and not ridiculous. This is a well choreographed routine too.
• The judging: Nigel says it was like a "soft hop" instead of a hip hop and it was a nice Justin Timberlake-style for Kent that worked well. Nigel liked Dave's routine. Mia says she wasn't mad at Kent at all and thought he kind of had a cool factor there. Cat says that Kent hit his nose twice on the bottom of her pool during the 4th of July picnic. The judges all liked Kent's waves, whatever that means. Adam says, "I love that we're sitting here talking about 'growth' and 'small,' and it sounds so disgusting!" and then gets annoyed that everyone is completely thrown off by that comment. Adam is kind of pushing the limits here tonight.

AdeChicke with Courtney (Mandy Moore jazz):

• The featurette: According to everyone involved, the dance is going to be hot.
• The dance: AdeChicke is a bartender. This is a first: we've had tables and benches and sofas and doors on SYTYCD, but never a bar. Courtney's not doing a lot of dancing; she's just crawling around on top of the bar. AdeChicke looks good through. Ok, they finally got Courtney off the bar and the dance really got started. But then they both go back to the bar, and it fizzles out a bit again. Overall, pretty good from AdeChicke. He remembered to use his personality again, which is a plus.
• The judging: Nigel thinks AdeChicke rose to the challenge of creating the character. He praises AdeChicke for dancing out of his style--but like, really, how out of his style was it? Oh dear, one of AdeChicke's contacts has fallen out. Mia disagrees with Nigel! She thinks the dancing and the style were "so not there" and at this point of the competition, we need better than that. Except from Jose. From Jose we just need joy and happiness and mediocre (at best) performances. I'm not the world's biggest AdeChicke supporter, but I think Mia was too harsh there. Adam says he thinks AdeChicke did the same character this week that he did last week, which is just stupid. As Nigel starts yelling, AdeChicke was a GEEK last week and a BARTENDER this week! Come on!

Billy with Allison/Katee (Spencer Liff jazz):

• The featurette: ACK!!! Why did Allison have to get hurt?! Billy and Allison are a dream team! KATEE!!! IT'S KATEE!!!!!!!!!!! KATEE!!!! Ok, I hope Allison feels better soon, but it's KATEE so I can't help but be excited. I love Katee. Dude, dude, dude! Does this mean that Twitch and Katee can do Mia's door routine tomorrow?!?! Pleeeeeeease!
• The dance: OMG, Katee is fantastic. Is this routine utilizing the awesomeness of either Katee or Billy though? I'm not sure. It's awfully slow in the beginning. Ok, the routine picks up some pace for the middle/end, which was better, but it still wasn't as amazing as I feel like it should have been, considering the combined merits of these two dancers.
• The judging: Nigel thinks that, outside of his solos, this was the best he's seen Billy dance. Uh, ok, whatevs. Mia also thinks that was the best she's seen Billy and calls him "fabulicious." Adam agrees and says Billy connected better with his partner than ever before. Ok, so all the judges have fallen in line to sell the story arc they invented: Billy didn't connect with his partners in other weeks and this week he did! I don't really get it. But I was also mostly watching Katee, so maybe I just missed Billy's resurgent awesomeness.

Ashley with Dominic (Tabitha and Napoleon hip hop):

• The featurette: The theme is ninja assassins and they're both trying to take each other out, which seems a bit familiar.
• The dance: Well, the ninja thing is rather literal in the costumes. There are moments where Ash looks pretty good, but there are other moments where she looks like she's in way over her head with the hip hop moves. Although I'm not sure the parachute pants are helping her any. Nor is the Ludacris/Alvin and the Chipmunks music. What the heck to chipmunks have to do with ninjas? The routine ends by the judging table, which just gives the judges an excuse to ham it up to epic proportions.
• The judging: Nigel seems not totally sold on Ashley's technique, but says that the routine was great. Mia thinks she danced that "so hard core" but there was "no kill" in her eyes. Adam thinks Ashley is a quiet contender. And, again, I'm not on the same page as the judges. I think Ash could be a contender too, but I didn't think that her hip hop was that great. Oh well.

Robert with Kathryn (Sean Cheesman jazz):

• The featurette: I missed what style this routine is supposed to be. Is it another jazz? Haven't we watched an awful lot of jazz tonight? In this dance, Robert and Kathryn are dolls who escape from their box.
• The dance: Ok, Robert as Ken doll is BRILLIANT. Props to Sean for coming up with that one. That is just an ideal utilization of his dancer. Kathryn and Robert start out the routine literally in two big boxes. The routine was really cool when they were in the boxes. The out-of-box stuff looks a little rough in places because they're twisting together and keep getting just a little tangled up. But overall the routine was pretty good. The choreo was great.
• The judging: Cat says it was "plastic fantastic." Nigel loved the concept and wished it had even more time to develop. Nigel says he went on an Internet mission to find out why Robert keeps getting put in the bottom three, and says people think he's arrogant, which Nigel says is not the case at all. Mia concurs that Robert is a very hard worker, etc., etc. I think Nigel missed the point; it's not that we think Robert is arrogant, it's that he mugs to the camera too, too, too much! Need I remind the judges of the old barf-into-the-hand-and-then-hold-up-the-number-of-fingers move? I mean, really. Anyway, Mia thinks this was a perfect piece for Robert's personality and movement. (That sounds like a backhanded compliment to me.) She does acknowledge that it "could have been tightened up a bit." Adam says Rob is so great and that he thought the routine was stellar.

Two routines a night: this is how people get injured, folks.

AdeChicke and Alex (Nakul Dev Mahajan Bollywood):

• The featurette: AdeChicke and Alex have a lovely rapport. AdeChicke relates better to Alex than most of the girls he has danced with.
• The dance: AdeChicke is dancing with Nakul's assistant Marla. Is she the same one who had to dance with Russell last year? AdeChicke looks pretty good here. I'm sure the judges won't love it nearly as much as they loved Jose's though. Because, you know, AdeChicke just isn't nearly as joyful. Ok, WOW! The last third of that routine was WICKED fast and AdeChicke killed it. And he charged through the series of straddle jumps that brought Alex down in the practice and just slaughtered them.
• The judging: Oh for goodness sake, now Nigel's complaining that AdeChicke put too much of his own personality in this one and needed to stick to the specific style. His plies weren't deep enough! Oh for crying out loud! How deep were Jose's plies?! Shut up. Brilliant Cat points out that there's a double standard here because the judges loved it when Jose put his own spin on Bollywood, and the crowd applauds her robustly. Mia agrees with Nigel and thinks AdeChicke's Bollywood looked more African than Bollywood. Adam starts pounding his hand and saying that AdeChicke (pound) will (pound) see it (pound) in the (pound) playback! Why do the judges seem so angry right now? Nigel cuts in to imply that AdeChicke is mad at them and he shouldn't be. Um, sorry, Nigel, he has every right to look at the three of you like you're a bunch of biased idiots, because that's what you are acting like. Seriously, I haven't liked AdeChicke much at all up until now, but after the way he's been treated tonight, I'm thinking about actually voting for him! Unbelievable. Are the judges purposely trying to be artificially mean (to inspire sympathy votes or something), or do they really think this is how to get him into the bottom three? [BTW, Courtney Galliano just tweeted: "Is anyone else in love with @catdeeley for that comment like I am?"]

Lauren and Kent (Travis Wall contemporary):

• The featurette: Lauren burps in Kent's face. Kent says she burps "like the man I'm supposed to be." The routine is about two kids saying goodbye after the prom. Travis is definitely playing to his dancers here.
• The dance: Wow, first 10 seconds were textbook Travis Wall choreo--I'd have instantly known who choreographed this even if they didn't tell me. Oh, this routine is beautiful. It includes some great lifts--Lauren can do some stunning mid-air lift splits. The end was a little frenzied, but the majority of the routine was stunning. Well danced too. In the style of the Jason/Jeanine routine, it ends with a big kiss.
• The judging: Nigel says it confirmed what a really good contemporary dancer Lauren is, what a really good contemporary dancer Kent is, and what a really good contemporary choreographer Travis is. Nigel says the pair is "really the ultimate in male and female dancers this year." Uh, Alex Wong?! Mia thought it was stunning and that Lauren was the ultimate in female dancing in that routine. Adam felt a little bit embarrassed because the connection was so honest and real and intimate. It made Adam feel weird (presumably like a creepy middle-aged man watching two teenagers make out).

Ashley and Robert (Jean-Marc and Franz quick step):

• The featurette: The piece is about a powerful man and a woman who wants to take that power. Ash and Rob are having a hard time picking up the steps in practice.
• The dance: They're using paso doble lighting for the quick step. I'm confused. Oh dear, first round of "quick stepping" wasn't too great. I think they're supposed to be bouncier. Ash looks ok; Robert looks heavy with his steps. Oh, making to contestants do the quick step with no all-stars is just mean. I've seen better quick steps on this show. And the dancers who did those better quick steps got sent home.
• The judging: Nigel thinks Robert's elbow dropped too low in the close-hold. Nigel says Robert was stiff-legged and his shape wasn't quite right, but his performance was right. Nigel thought Ashley looked absolutely lovely. Mia says they got through it and it wasn't a train wreck. Mia thought Robert's legs were too far apart (at least I think she was addressing Robert). Mia says,"It wasn't the kiss of death, it was just a really bad kiss." Lol. Adam says they got through it and were totally committed.

Billy and Jose (Sean Cheesman African jazz):

• The featurette: Billy to Jose: "What about you? What do you love about me?" Billy is worried that they might clash during rehearsal due to their very different backgrounds. For this dance, Billy is the prey (a jaguar), Jose is the hunter.
• The dance: Uh, playing to strengths here: Jose doesn't need pretty technique because he's a caveman-style hunter. Tell me, What about Billy's outfit says "jaguar"? Goth zebra maybe, but not jaguar. Hmm, there's a lot of tackling and rolling on the ground. Overall, I think it was ok. The end pose was cool. Billy's outfit is terrible. I liked the concept. I'd like to see the routine performed by like a Billy and an Alex Freaking Wong and see what we get.
• The judging: Nigel loved the concept. Nigel thought Billy's cat felt a little Broadway and not like an realistic animal. Nigel didn't think it was powerful enough from either of them. Mia doesn't really think Billy was a jaguar, but whatever animal he was, she loved it. Mia thought he was amazing. Mia thinks is was Jose's weakest performance. Adam gave some actual dancing critiques to both of them, which must have come as a shock to Jose, who has been led until now to believe that this is So You Think You Have A Joyful Personality.

They dedicate the during-the-credits final dance to Alex and he seems to love it. Oh, poor Alex. I'm also bummed that we never got to see Anya and Alex dance together.

Well, I'm exhausted. It's hard to pick favorites just due to the sheer number of routines we saw tonight.

My favorites:

• Kent and Lauren's contemporary
• Kent and Comfort's hip hop
• Billy and Katee's jazz / AdeChicke and Courtney's jazz

Overall, it seems like we saw a lot of decent routines tonight, but not very many exceptional ones.

And, again, memo to SYTYCD producers: Tomorrow. Katee. Twitch. Door. Make it happen.

SYTYCD: The Top 20 (Kind Of) Compete

So You Think You Can Dance: Top 20 Performance/Elimination Show

I don't really appreciate that America doesn't get any kind of say in who goes home this week. I know the World Series messes up the schedule, but they could have done the regular competition last night and the results tonight. The judges just picked the Top 20--if America wasn't going to get a say until next week, the judges might as well have just picked the Top 18 right off the bat.

The play-by-play:

• Cat is wearing an Asian-inspired red mini dress with 1940s hair and red lips.
• Billy Bell became very ill so he's out of the competition. (I heard he broke his hand, but Nigel's really hitting the word "ill" hard here.)
• Additionally, Noelle had an accident and her leg is in a massive brace thing. And apparently she gets a free pass this week. Interesting. In Season 3, when Jessie didn't dance during the performance show, she still had to dance for her life the next night (even though Pasha, her partner, received enough votes to be safe) and ultimately went home. They are employing entirely different rules now.
• So choreographer Melanie has to sub in again! She's the only person who has ever had to do that on SYTYCD, and she's had to do it twice now!

Channing and Phillip (Jason Gilkison jive):

• The featurette: This is not the most dynamic pairing ever. Oh dear, Phillip does spoken word.
• The dance: Well, SYTYCD couldn't do its Michael Jackson tribute, but they do get to use "Rockin' Robbin" by The Jackson 5. Channing looks hot in her feathery outfit. This performance was not bad. It didn't look entirely effortless though; they looked like they were thinking pretty hard about everything.
• The judging: Adam liked it, Mary says it was "not bad" (I think that's the exact phrase I just used) but SHE. WANTS. MORE. Nigel wants Channing to get her weight over her toes more so she can bounce.

Ashleigh and Jakob (Tyce Diorio Broadway):

• The featurette: Oh no, Jakob got saddled with Ashleigh! BTW, Ash couldn't dance for 6 years due to illness and injury. Oh no, Jakob got saddled with Tyce! Tyce says Ash and Jakob need "to find that man/woman thing."
• The dance: Why is Ashleigh's dress looking navy when Jakob's wearing a lot of black? Wow, Jakob can leap like nobody's business. Well, I liked Jakob, but I could take or leave Ashleigh on that one.
• The judging: Jakob is sweating up a storm. Adam says that Jakob is amazing and it will be hard for Ashleigh to keep up with him. Mary thinks Ashleigh was phenomenal and that she didn't think Ashleigh was capable of dancing as well as she just did. Mary to Jakob: "Everything you do is just kind of perfect!" Nigel calls Jakob one of the most gifted dancers ever on the show (and he adds that Billy Bell was too). Nigel goes so far as to say that Jakob will go very far in the competition and will take Ashleigh "to the finals as well" is she continues to dance well. Um, I hope not?

Ariana and Peter (Tabitha and Napoleon hip hop):

• The featurette: Napoleon and Tabitha are sooooooo annoying. The dance is about androids.
• The dance: Peter can to some b-boy style tricks. There is an awful lot of head banging in this routine. Too much, I'd say. Apparently, androids act as though they're at a grunge rock concert in the early '90s? The dancing also wasn't really the best display of hip hop ever.
• The judging: Adam says they weren't dancing similarly. Then he does a Lil C impression. Mary loved the beginning but thought it was sloppy in the middle. Nigel was disappointed by these two for the first time. Could it be because this was the first time he's had to watch them do a NappyTabs routine (not counting the group routine in Vegas)?

Noelle and Russell (Tony and Melanie fox trot):

• The featurette: Hahahahaha! Melanie has to dance with Russell! This is going to be classic! It's not every day you see a krumper try the fox trot...
• The dance: Melanie looks hot, and Russell is so debonair! I loved it! I think they should make Melanie dance with someone every week.
• The judging: Adam can't believe how fantastic Russell is. Mary takes her hair off to Russell. She says he did a respectable job. Nigel says Russell's rise and fall wasn't good, but his lines were.

Bianca and Victor (Travis Wall contemporary):

• The featurette: Bianca's living in L.A., and the only family she has with her is her little dog. Victor says he is very colorful. It's Travis!!!!!! YEEEEEEAAAaaa!
• The dance: Victor's got really nice lines. Very cool lifts and, uh, tanglings. Travis has done it again! Awesome, awesome routine. What was interesting is that the male/female dynamic in this was very reminiscent of the relationship in the Bench Dance that Travis performed with Heidi.
• The judging: Adam says Bianca's head and knees are good, but her shoulders and toes need work. He loved Victor. Mary loved them both. Nigel says that they were the most connected partners so far. And, of course, everyone loves Travis. (Let's do a SYTYCD: All-Stars, folks!)

Karen and Kevin (Tony and Melanie cha cha):

• The featurette: Karen is from Venezuela. Kevin is a model.
• The dance: Ha ha ha! they're dancing to the Glee version of "Push It." Karen's outfit is very skimpy. I don't think Kevin quite has this down. He looks uncomfortable. Karen did ok, but I was distracted by her dress. The dance seemed slow.
• The judging: Adam says Karen looks "aaaRUUUgaaa!" and those who know him know that's not really his thing. Mary said Kevin was rhythmical and sexy but not sharp enough. Shocker, Nigel's "gaga" over Karen. He thinks Kevin danced it quite well.

Ellenore and Ryan (Sonya Tayeh contemporary jazz):

• The featurette: Ryan likes to work out. Ellenore's parents were dancers. The dance is about two angelic creatures: a bad one (Ryan) and a good one (Ellenore).
• The dance: The style of movement in this is very prototypical Sonya. Ellenore is good. I wouldn't say that was one of the best routines in SYTYCD history, though. I think Ellenore oversold it in the featurette a bit. It wasn't as good as "The Garden."
• The judging: Adam says they just became two of the most exciting dancers on the show. Mary thought the chemistry was crazy. Nigel says Ryan totally took him by surprise.

Well, that was ominous. Cat just said the judges are going to have to send two dancers home tonight and they cut straight to Pauline and Brandon, who appear to be dressed for a waltz.

Pauline and Brandon (Jason Gilkison smooth waltz):

• The featurette: Pauline likes photography. Brandon is a hip hop dancer who just showed up. Ugh, poor Brandon: he's a hip hopper who just got called in and now he's got to do a waltz.
• The dance: I'm not a waltz expert, but Pauline looks gorgeous when she turns in that flowy dress. The part where they were actually in a hold and waltzing looked a little rough, but everything else looked lovely.
• The dance: Brandon's only been here for a day and a half!!! Adam thinks they did a great job in a difficult situation. Mary liked their chemistry, considering how little time they had to work on it. Mary begins a sentence to Brandon with "if you continue on..." so that sure doesn't bode well for him. Nigel says it wasn't strong enough in his opinion.

We are just tearing through these performances tonight!

Kathryn and Legacy (Dave Scott hip hop):

• The featurette: Goofy caveman hip hop.
• The dance: This is good. And a very strong argument for sending NappyTabs packing. Kathryn was rather good for a non-hip hopper.
• The judging: Adam loved it. Mary screams "Yabba dabba do!" and the continues to shriek for quite a while. All three judges heartily commend Dave Scott. Yes, that's what good hip hop choreography looks like, folks.

Mollee and Nathan (Doriana Sanchez disco):

• The featurette: Did they seriously pair up Nathan and Mollee?! Whyyyyyy? There's no reason to isolate the two young ones--Chelsie Hightower was young when she was on the show and she did fine dancing with Mark. But my real reluctance about this pairing stems the fact that I like Nathan but am annoyed by Mollee. And to make it worse, they're making them do disco! Nathan looks ridiculous in that white outfit. Nathan plays the piano and the trumpet.
• The dance: Something looks off to me about Mollee's arm movements. Nathan's still great. They pulled off some very cool lifts quite well. I liked her doing splits while Nathan pulled her across the floor.
• The judging: The judges commend them both for their energy and spirit.

My favorite dances of the night:

• Bianca and Victor's contemporary
• Russell and Melanie's fox trot
• Kathryn and Legacy's hip hop

Now the judges are going to pick two guys and two guys to dance solos. They will be judged on everything the judges know about them from all season.

Dancing will be: Ariana, Brandon, Pauline and Russell.

RUSSELL?!?! WHAT NONSENSE IS THIS?!? So, theoretically, he could be sent home tonight for his fox trot, while his partner (Noelle) got injured and gets to go straight through to next week without even having to dance! Perhaps if Russell had known about this loophole, he would have faked an injury! Hell, if I were a dancer on this show, I'd plan to develop some sort of "injury" as soon as I drew the quick step.

Also, Ashleigh doesn't have to dance for her life tonight? I think Pauline is getting a little screwed over.

Ariana's solo: Wearing kind of a frilly purple dress. She did a nice, powerful solo.

Russell's solo: Russell has one heck of a buck krump face. He dances with such aggression and passion. If the judges kick him off tonight, they won't be able to make it out of the building.

Pauline's solo: Opens with some nice pirouettes. It had nice energy, but there wasn't too much else going on. It kind of looked like a ballroomer's solo.

Brandon's solo: I think he's hip hopping to a John Mayer track Interesting choice. It was pretty but rather low-key. After the sheer force of nature that was Russell's solo, poor Brandon doesn't have a chance.

This group seems really big on making little heart shapes with their hands.

The girls: Ariana is cut. Nigel says she's a remarkable dancer but that they'd like to see more love in her eyes. If I were her, I wouldn't be looking at the judges with love in my eyes right now.

The guys: Holy crap! Nigel just scared the crap out of me when he told Russell they hope he will keep learning new styles of dance. What a dumbass thing to say--of course Russell will continue to learn new styles since he's staying in the competition. What else is he supposed to do? Pull "contemporary" out of the hat and flat out refuse to do it? Krump while his partner is doing a mambo?

But, anyway, Brandon is going home. Nigel says he'll talk to FOX and the powers that be and try to get a rule exception so that Brandon can try out for the show again next year. (Typically, once you make the Top 20, you can't try again in another season.) That's really only fair, because Brandon really didn't make the Top 20 and only stepped in a the last minute to help out. His experience wasn't a typical Top 20 experience; he didn't have the opportunities to prepare and practice that everyone else did, so it would really suck if this 2-day experience precluded him from having the chance to participate more fully in the future.

Seriously, why did they put Russell in the bottom two? Based on tonight's performances, in addition to Brandon, I would have ranked Peter, Kevin and probably Phillip all below Russell. Aside from the stupid comment about hoping he'll continue to learn new styles, Nigel didn't even give Russell any actual constructive criticism or advice. He certainly didn't get the "show more passion" line. I'm guessing the judges just wanted to see him krump? Or rally his supporters for the future? I don't know.

Let's hope that SYTYCD will get a handle on what they're doing after the World Series is over. These fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants rule/format alterations aren't working very well.

The Big Bang Theory: Some Like It Goth

The Big Bang Theory:

"The Gothowitz Deviation"

Since I enjoyed reading The Big Bang Theory's fancy article on NYTimes.com today, I decided to blog about tonight's episode, which was hilarious as usual.

Highlights and my observations:

• Sheldon: "While I subscribe to the many worlds theory that posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldons in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them am I dancing."
• Sheldon: "Dear Lord, are you still going to be here on french toast day?"
• Sheldon: "I can't be impossible; I exist! I believe what you meant to say was 'I give up! You're improbable!'"
• Sheldon: "Ohh, Penny, it's as if the Cheesecake Factory is run by witches!"
• Ha ha ha at Howard in the goth outfit! He's kind of cute as a goth :-)
• Leonard: "They're going to get beaten up at that club."
  Penny: "They're going to get beaten up at Walgreens."
• Holy crap! That's totally Mickey (Molly Morgan), Stephanie's friend from middle school on Full House! And, yes, I recognized her instantly.
• It's been quite the fall for guest appearances by Stephanie's friends--first Duckface was on Glee, now Mickey is on TBBT. Now we just need Marla Sokoloff, Andrew Keegan and the guy who played Harry Takayama (Nathan Nishiguchi) to show up somewhere, and we're set!
• Leonard: "You can't train my girlfriend like a lab rat."

  Sheldon: "Actually, it turns out I can."
• Lol at Sheldon using the spray bottle on Leonard.
• Mickey pressuring Howard to get a tattoo is reminding me of when Gia and Mickey tried to get Stephanie to smoke in the bathroom. Mickey never seems to be a good influence on anyone, does she? (To be fair, she did end eventually side with Stephanie over Gia on Full House. However, then Steph and Gia became BFFs and Mickey disappeared, so I don't know what the lesson is there.)

Oh, and speaking of TBBT, look at this! How adorable! That Sheldon doll looks exactly like Jim Parsons (to the extent that a crocheted doll can look like an actual person). Unfortunately, I don't think my crocheting skills are quite up to that level yet :-(

(Photo: CBS)

Glee: Chenoweth Schools the Kids

Glee:

"The Rhodes Not Taken"

This episode was fantastic. I didn't realize how much I like Kristin Chenoweth until she showed up on Glee playing April Rhodes, the most talented singer in the school's history who quit school a few credits before she graduated. Of course I adored Pushing Daisies, and she was fantastic in it (and very much deserved her Emmy award), but there were so many things I adored about Pushing Daisies that I'm not sure I was fully aware of how much I liked Chenoweth.

Chenoweth was great on Glee. She was hilarious, and she pulled off three absolutely show-stopping numbers. I'm thinking she's going to follow up her Emmy for Best Supporting Actress with one for Best Guest Star.

Highlights and observations:

• We're back to "Don't Stop Believing." Ooh, but with Quinn instead of Rachel. This version wasn't working as well, even before Quinn had to take a vomit break.
• Puck: "That Rachel chick makes me what to light myself on fire, but she can sing."
• This waiter is a six-year senior so he can stay in Vocal Adrenaline because he's the only one who can do the triple flip! Ha! I knew there was some funny business going on with that group.
• Sometimes my bangs do that weird flippy thing that Emma's bangs are doing right now, but I don't try it. And I try to stop it from happening.
• Eew, this newspaper kid is gross. Trying to blackmail Rachel into showing him her bra.
• Oh, Finn is crafty! Very good manipulative strategy.
• Emma: "...and two months later, Versace was dead."
• Wow, April's got a nice house! And she's an alcoholic. And she's a squatter.
• Chenoweth's looking good. Her hair looks very nice.
• Will: "We'll get you sobered up and find you some underwear. It's not too late for you."
• Sorry, kids, I'm pretty sure Chenoweth can kick Rachel's butt ;-) (And I love Rachel.)
• The juxtaposition of April and Rachel singing the same song is really cool.
• Lol at the glee kids' stunned reaction to April's performance.
• Will: "You draw a lot of attention to yourself and they're embarrassed enough as it is."
• Lol at April's efforts to win the kids over. Especially showing Mercedes and Tina how to steal groceries by holding them between their thighs.
• Finn: "You know what we should do?"
  Rachel: "Elope?"
• Ha! Kurt's looking rough.
• Kurt (to Emma): "Oh, Bambi, I cried so hard when those hunters shot your mommy."
• Emma says Kurt "looks like an 11-year-old milkmaid."
• Emma's a buzzkill, let April stay in glee!
• April: "These high school boys are a lot hotter than they used to be."
• Wow, April and Wow are show-stoppers. Their rendition of "Alone" is fantastic. Those lucky bingo players!
• Kurt: "Maybe Quinn is lactose intolerant!"
• Puck: "I bet you thought Burt and Ernie were just roommates."
• Wow, what a look of devastation on Rachel's face.
• Sue! She's been MIA in this episode.
• What is with these costumes?
• Ha at the country line dancing. They're good. But I'm thinking that Chenoweth could probably make pretty much anybody look good.
• Invitationals are very well attended.
• Will: "And, hey, there's always Branson."
• Kurt: "You were right, Mr. Schue. April would massacre Mariah in a diva-off."
• Kind of a lengthy intermission, huh?
• This April-less version of "Somebody To Love" ain't bad either. And Rachel sure picked up the choreography fast.
• Yea for Mercedes! I don't understand why she doesn't get more of the solos.
• Good episode! Lots of singing.

Song list: "Maybe This Time" (April and Rachel), "Alone" (April and Will), "Last Name" (April and New Directions), "Somebody to Love" (New Directions)

(photo: fox.com)

SYTYCD: Hot Tamale Train to Georgia

So You Think You Can Dance: "Auditions #4"

I didn't realize that SYTYCD was on Tuesday too this week. Luckily I just happened to flip over right when it started.

Auditions in Atlanta with Nigel, Mary and Lil C. (Has someone already used the "Hot Tamale Train to Georgia" pun? It seems obvious.)

Day 1:

• Billy Bell initially reminded me of Kurt from Glee; there was kind of a passing resemblance. He's a good dancer. Why do the palms of his hands look so pink? The judges pull the "no to choreography...but yes to Vegas!!!" thing on him.
• Amber Jackson looks really strong. Like maybe she could out bench press last season's Brandon. Nigel says her movement is gorgeous, but her performance is (bleep). Mary says that they just want to strangle people like her. They really lay into this poor girl and then send her to choreo.
• Travis Denison was the microphone dude for University of Georgia. He claims that this routine he's doing now was taught to him by Wade Robson, but I don't think Wade would want to claim it. It's definitely very cheerleader-ish. The judges found it thoroughly entertaining but not competitive enough for this competition.
• Nigel kind of hits the nail on the head when he asks if Travis is related to Adam Shankman, because there is certainly a resemblance.
• Jamal Jackson is kind of Brandon-esqe, but taller. Very powerful and with good technique. Through to Vegas.
• I just missed the name of this dude with the black mohawk. He's got superb flexibility and some good pirouettes and leaps. Through to Vegas.
• Anthony and Antwain Hart are twin brothers who tried out in Season 4 and I totally remember these guys. Ack! They're dancing to Black Eyed Peas too! Enough already. They're good hip hop dancers and their performance includes a cute move where they're both sitting and kind of tip over. Nigel says they should go straight through to Vegas, but he's going to make them do choreo because he thinks it's good for them to do choreo when ever possible.
• Amber and Anthony look really good at the Pasha/Anya routine. Antwain didn't do very well though.
• Amber is through, so is Anthony. But Antwain is not. That sucks for him.
• I think they said 13 other nameless dancers are going to Vegas too.

Day 2:

• Matthew "Boogie Links" Pollard is a popper who seems to be here to hit on all the girls. Especially Cat. He is very tall and skinny and has very broad shoulders. I realize that's not particularly relevant, but I'm not so into popping anymore so I'm spacing a little. He's through to choreo, which buys him some more time to hit on girls.
• Jessica Jensen had a rare form of cancer in her hand and had to have it amputated to save her life a year and a half ago. She has a fantastic attitude about the whole situation. As if her performance isn't going to be moving enough, she goes with Imogen Heap's "Chasing Cars." She's good, especially considering that her balance has to be thrown off. Sooner or later, one of these "inspirational" dancers has to get a ticket for Vegas, right? They send her through to choreo.
• Jonathan Bryant, a.k.a. "Extra," is way over the top. I actually like his dancing, but there's an element of control that's missing. He's a little loosey-goosey. This kid gets the 'you have to listen to critiques' speech. And then he gets so worked up that he starts to cry.
• Nigel admits that he'd be "bored stiff" watching them lecture Jonathan on TV and expects this exchanged to get edited out of the episode. Uh, then why are you showing it to us?
• Thomas Hamilton is kind of of a Will/Brandon-style strong contemporary dancer. He says he was born a crack baby. He was raised and adopted by his aunt because his birth mother is a drug addict. He wants a ticket to Vegas so he can get out of his town. He's a good dancer, and he takes the performance aspect very serious. He took a class with Mia and she is his inspiration. Nigel thinks he lost the performance aspect toward the end when he started "praise dancing." He's through to choreo.
• Maybe I'm speaking too soon, but Lil C has really laid off the SAT words tonight.
• After doing the choreo, Matthew and Jessica aren't through to Vegas. Jessica says she's going to go find a salsa club.
• Thomas is going to Vegas, along with seven other dancers from day two.

Just me or have the auditions not been all that exciting this season? There have been some good dancers, but it's been awhile since someone's really, thoroughly wowed me.


Tomorrow: first SYTYCD auditions in New Orleans ever. And it looks like Nigel didn't make the trip (did it coincide with his honorary degree conferral this summer?), so the judges are Mary, Shankers and Lil C. I'm interested to see how that goes.


The audition episodes feel like they're taking even longer than usual this season. Normally we watch them in two-hour blocks, two times a week, so we burn through them fairly quickly. At this rate, it feels like we're not going to make it to Vegas week until sometime in November.

Glee: Put a Ring on It

Glee:
"Preggers"

This was my least favorite episode of Glee so far, yet the episode still contained its share of hilarious moments and entertaining comments.

Highlights and my thoughts:

• LOL at Kurt lip-syncing and dancing to "Single Ladies." BTW, Britt (blond cheerleader with bangs) and Tina are good back up dancers.
• Ha, yeah, all the jocks are wearing unitards these days.
• Kendra: "Dishonesty is food to a marriage; it would die without it."
• Ha ha, Sue has her own segment on the local news. Wow, and she's be written up twice on the sports page of USA Today. That's impressive.
• Sue just called Emma "Alma."
• Ha, Sue said that Will has to go to the salon every week to have his hair permed.
• Ha ha, Mercedes is a Jet in West Side Story.
• Artie: "The more time she storms out of rehearsal, the less impact it has."
• Finn: "But, thanks, I know how important dances are to teen gays."
• Kurt: "My body is like a rum chocolate souffle. If I don't warm it up properly, it doesn't rise."
• To their credit, the football players are actually laughing less at Kurt's dance routine than I am.
• Sue is pro-littering.
• How is Quinn pregnant?
• Sandy: "I'm living in a cocoon of horror."
• Well, that was the strangest blackmail ever.
• Sue: "If I was out to get you, I'd have you pickling in a jar on my shelf by now."
• Sue: "Find your voice. Stomp that yard. All that crap."
• Tina's good, and this is not an easy song to sing. It's really high.
• What does it matter who Will "gives this song" to? They rarely ever perform. So Tina sings a solo in practice, so what?!
• Puck: "I knew it! You're in love with Kurt!"
• Ahhh, Quinn slept with Puck. That explains everything.
• Ok, but Terri's supposed to be like 4 months pregnant and Quinn's only 5 weeks pregnant, so isn't Will going to notice that his wife was pregnant with their baby for like 12 months? (No, actually, he probably won't notice because he doesn't seem to be that swift about these things.)
• The football team gets a large crowd turnout at its games despite being so bad.
• On the bright side, the other team has only scored 6 points, so the defense must have been doing ok.
• A dancing football team is soooooo Remember the Titans. At least those people had the good sense not to dance in the middle of a play though.
• This has to be some kind of penalty. The offensive line isn't allowed to move.
• The football players are pretty darn good "Single Ladies" dancers, however.
• How does the offensive line hold the defenders off long enough for Kurt to do his dance?
• Kurt's mom is dead. Did we know that?
• Kurt's dad: "I've known since you were 3. All you wanted for your birthday was a pair of sensible heels."
• Quinn is horrendous for telling Finn it's his baby.

Episode song list: "Single Ladies" (lip sync), "Taking Chances" (Rachel), "Tonight" (Tina)

Next week: Emmy-winner Kristin Chenoweth!

Glee: Jolly Good Acafellas

Glee: "Acafellas"

Glee offers up another great episode. Highlights and my observations:

• WHAT?!?! WILL'S DAD IS VICTOR GARBER!!!!! OMG. Does this mean that Will is Sydney Bristow's half-brother?
• And Victor's wearing a bow-tie--how adorable.
• Aww, Victor/Will's dad says he has no guts. (That is very unlike Jack Bristow.)
• The Cheerio spies in glee club have set a plan into action to get a ridiculous choreographer to bring about the downfall of glee club.
• Emma: "They say it takes more certainty than talent to become a star. Look at John Stamos."
• The cake Terri got for the shop teacher whose thumbs got cut off has two hands giving the thumps-up guesture. Oy vey.
• Ken: "I live in a YMCA, and I only have one pair of long pants..."
• Sandy writes Desperate Housewives fan fiction. Ahahaha!
• Will: "Apparently I don't know how to dance."
  Henri: "I have no thumbs!"
  
• Will: "Sandy, we voted: when you're in the group, it's creepy."
  
• Terri: "Will! If I don't get some sleep, I could miscarry." (She is horrendous!!)
  
• Finn: "See anyone else in here with a plate of 'I'm sorry' cookies? I don't. Just you."
  
• Mercedes: "Have you ever kissed anybody?"
  Kurt: "Yes, if by someone you mean the tender crook of my elbow."
  
  
• Why do all of Will's performances (first "Gold Digger" now "Poison") involve him rapping? LOL.
  
  
• Acafella's dance moves aren't bad.
  
  
• I can't believe the Acafellas were written up in the newspaper.
  
  
• Sandy: "'Who is Josh Groban?!' Kill yourself!"
  
  
• Kurt: "My dad got it for my sweet 16 when I swore I'd stop wearing form-fitting sweaters that stop at the knee. What he doesn't know won't hurt him."
  
  
• First this rival glee club (Vocal Adrenaline) did "Rehab," now it's Duffy's "Mercy." And the dance moves these people do are unreal. I bet half the members of the group don't sing and are just there to do back flips and fancy dance moves. (Obviously in real life their are probably two different sets of performers: the singers we hear and the dancers we see.)
  
  
• I see Lauren from SYTYCD!!!
  
  
• Finn: "I tried to talk some sense into Rachel, but she's gone all chick-batty."
  
  
• Puckerman wants to be in the a cappella group? So he can hit on moms?! Eeeew! I don't doubt that he's tired of dating high school girls, though, since he clearly looks at least 35.
  
  
• Puck: "Dude, my bowels have better moves than you."
  
  
• Rachel: "We need to have a gay-vention. That's a gay intervention."
  
  
• Rachel: "He wore a corset to second period!"
  
  
• Kurt wasn't being "sweet" to Mercedes last week when he was telling her that she looked like a Technicolor zebra.
  
  
• Mercedes' hair looks super cute at the car wash.
  
  
• The Cheerios do make good backup dancers.
  
  
• Mercedes is a fantastic singer.
  
  
• So they guy playing Dakota, the crazy choreographer, played Walter "Duckface" on Full House. Wow.
  
  
• Dakota: "Artie, you're cut. You're not trying hard enough."

  Artie: "At what?"

  Dakota: "At walking."
  
  
• I kinda loved how Finn stood up for Rachel when Dakota said she needed a noise job.
  
  
• Dakota: "What's wrong with me is that you're freakishly tall! I feel like a woodland creature!"
  
  
• Rachel: "Our point is that you're fired. And I'm taller than you."
  
  
• The Acafellas are awfully dressed up for the PTO meeting.
  
  
• Wow, they've got some fancy lighting for this performance. This song ("I'm Going To Sex You Up") is ridiculously inappropriate for the PTO! Ha. All the better to distract the parents from the prison food scandal, I guess.
  
  
• Josh Groban is hitting on Will's mom!
  
  
• Victor's going to law school! Yea!!! (I still wish he'd gotten the chance to sing something though.)
  
  
• Why did the costume department insist on dressing Victor Garber like Tiny Tim thoughout this entire episode?
  
  
• Kurt: "My dad took my baby away after he found my tiara collection in my hope chest."
  
  
• Sue: "I'm revoking your tanning privileges for the rest of the semester."

  Cheerleader (bursts into tears): "No!"
  
  

Episode music list: "This is How We Do It" (Acafellas), "Poison" (Acafellas), "Mercy" (Vocal Adrenaline), "La Camisa Negra," "Bust Your Windows" (Mercedes), "I Wanna Sex You Up" (Acafellas)

Premiere Watch '09: Glee

Glee:

"Show-

mance"

Since I blogged about Glee's pilot last spring, I'm going to do my official "premiere watch" review on its second episode, which was fantastic. I'm just glad this show is finally on the air after seeing the incessant promo ads for it all summer during SYTYCD.

Highlights and my thoughts:

• Cheerleader (to Will and Emma): "Get a room!"
• Sue calling the glee club Will's "island of misfit toys."
• They should really not let kids (or teachers) carry cups full of liquid around this school.
• Kurt: "No, it's the song. It's really gay."
• I am having a really hard time believing that "Freak Out" was a "crowd-pleaser" in 1993. That was the age of Nirvana for goodness sake.
• Kurt: "You need to call me before you dress yourself. You look like a Technicolor zebra."
• Rachel is wearing a turtle neck sweater and a cardigan at the same time. I think Kurt needs to turn his saucy fashion-critiquing tongue on her next.
• I love the show choir version of "Gold Digger."
• Will's got some fairly impressive dance moves.
• The matching of the audio of them singing to the video of them "singing" needs some help.
• Rachel: "The girl who was throwing up before me left that."
• The guidance counselor's brochures include "My Mom's Bipolar and She Won't Stop Yelling" and "So You Like Throwing Up."
• Will: "Hold on a second, Sue!"
  Sue: "I resent being told to hold onto anything, William. I will not be treated like a second-class citizen because of my gender."
• Terri just keeps getting better and better. Like, seriously, how has Will been able to stand her for this long?
• OMG! Finn ran over a mail man.
• Ok, the celibacy club's activities are so beyond wrong. Should there not be a teacher advisor/chaperone at this meeting?
• Personally, I don't see how "Push It" is any less embarrassing than "Freak Out." This production is giving me flashbacks to the dance scene at the end of Little Miss Sunshine. And I really don't think that any high-schoolers would react to this in any other way than vicious laughter.
• The best part of the production number was when Kurt smacked Finn's butt and Finn's reaction.
• Sue: "My first thought was that your students should be put into foster care."
• Principal: "You need new outfits. I got several flashes of panty from your group today and I'm not talking about the girls!"
• Ken: "They can't fire me because I'm a minority so I'll always be able to provide for you..."
• Finn: "Well, when I first joined, I thought you were kind of insane. You talk more than you should and, to be honest with you, I looked under the bed to make sure you weren't hanging out under there."
• Finn: "The cups are like the airplane cups."
• I'm a bit surprised that we got to Finn and Rachel kissing so quickly. I thought that would get strung out for much longer. And I realize that Quinn's a nightmare, but if she is Finn's girlfriend, shouldn't he not be kissing other people? Between this and the Will and Emma flirtation, it's like the message of this show is "nice guys cheat too." How uplifting.
• Shouldn't the doctor/ultrasound technician be a little more sympathetic to a woman having a hysterical pregnancy? Maybe call for a psych consult or something?
• Quinn and her back-ups are good. And they've got much more of a flair for choreography than the current glee clubbers.
• Quinn: "There is something going on between Finn and that thing! You saw how it was undressing him with its eyes!"
• How dumb is Will? They wouldn't know if Terri's baby is a boy or a girl yet.
• At least Terri had the decency to give up on the house.
• Was there really a disco revival in 1993?
• I'm not sold on the musical numbers when they're not well-integrated into the show (like when Rachel "practices"--with back-up singers and spotlights--just so she can sing a song that reflects her inner emotions). I'm totally okay with characters singing songs that reflect their situations in life, as long as the singing itself makes a little more sense in the context of the episode (like when Will sang "Gold Digger" during practice). Rachel's "Take a Bow" and Will's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" (in the extended pilot) just felt too heavy-handed for my taste. It is especially pushing it too far to have Rachel belting the song out in the middle of the hallway when no one else can hear her. That's too "conventional musical" for me.

Songs: "Le Freak," "Gold Digger," "Push It," "I Say a Little Prayer," and "Take a Bow"

"Premiere" Rating: 8.0/10

(photo: fox.com/glee)

Greek: Tomorrow Never Dies

Greek:

"The Day After"

It took me six days to get around to watching the new episode of Greek and there really wasn't even much else on television this week...aside from the U.S. Open, that is, which I've been watching constantly. I'm going to be so screwed next week when Gossip Girl, Glee, SYTYCD, etc. start up new episodes.

Anyway, Greek:

• What time of the year is it on Greek again? Late fall, I guess?
• It's the day after the end of the world. Ha.
• Ha, Jimmy is creepy.
• Why would Cappie and Casey dating be so weird for Jordan? She should be one of the few people for whom it's not weird.
• Casey: "I had some cookies. But they were in the 100-calorie packs...so I had seven of them."
• Ugh, you break up with somebody and the ZBZ sisters come and sing to you about a cat? That's horrendous.
• ZBZ girl (whose name I forgot): "I mean, he was a nerd, but he was hot. It was confusing."
• Why wouldn't Casey just assume that whoever Rebecca was kissing was one of her own former boyfriends?
• Calvin: "Not to mention how they'll react having two gay guys in the house. One is fine, two is just bathhouse."
• Dale: "I had to fake a noise bleed to get out of there."
• Aww, is that Dale's Canadian ex-roommate? (Remember, the one who is deathly pale, has a weird, unplaceable accent and wrote a Dale thank you note for making his own bed.) I'm so glad we finally got to see this kid!
• Dale: "The first rule of living every day like the world's going to end is making sure the world actually ends."
• Good for Rusty giving Casey some grief about the Max situation.
• Rusty: "Yeah, Casey, you can help me with my organic chemistry report on the guy from Entourage."
• If Rusty really wants to see Max, he could just head over to the new Melrose Place.
• Beaver: "Take you marks! Fire at Wil-ber."
• Wade's dressed like an old lady. These KTs...
• Calvin: "Fate? Yeah... Eternity...really?"
• Very smooth, Calvin: "Nothing happened!!"
• Security guard: "Yeah, he does look a little sickly."
  Casey: "Yeah, he's hypoglycemic. That's why he looks that way."
  Rusty: "I'm hypoglycemic, not deaf."
• Cappie: "Wait, did you just say Maxipad? That's still funny!"
  Dale: "I know."
• Betsy guesses that "E.C" is Edward Cullen. Ha.
• Calvin: "Thanks for letting me raid your closet, Dale. You were the only person I know that might have clothes resembling anything close to Austin Powers."
• Dale: "I was at that stupid party and everybody was talking about the end of the world and the apocalypse and blah blah blah and it was like every Easter Sunday back home."
• Say something, Calvin! Aww, poor Dale.
• Cappie clocking Rusty with the door was funny.
• Rebecca looks cute as Sydney Bristow.
• Ashleigh: "And, Evan, you're wearing Banana Republic!"
• Do Cappie and Casey have to stand there and talk while Rusty's trying to work? This is not conducive.
• Cappie: "I'm a ninja!"
• Cappie: "I'm a ninja for the ethnic treatment of animals."
  Security guard: "NETA? Not one of you guys again!"
• Cappie: "Did you know that there are more animals used for testing than there are in the entire world?"
  Security guard: "What? That doesn't sound accurate."
• Sheila is horrendous. Calvin needs to go give poor Dale a hug.
• They should get Sheila fired. It can't be ok for her to sleep with her tenants.
• Who did Becca really make out with? I'm assuming it's someone else's boyfriend. Fisher? Cappie? Max? What other guys are there? Beaver? I can see why she'd want to keep it a secret if she was kissing Beav ;-)
• Evan calls Max "Casey's Enginerd"
• Wow! This is a strange change of pace--Evan talking logic and instilling some morality into a situation? (Reminding Cappie that Casey and Max just broke up and that Cappie has no intention of ever leaving college and Casey does.)
• Called it: Rebecca was kissing Fisher. She seriously needs to find a boy who is not already dating one of her best friends.

Ok, kids, hang on: we're officially doing Cappie/Evan/Casey round 3 (round 4? round 5? I can't keep up.) Sorry, Casey/Cappie shippers, but right now I'm going with Evan. He always sucks me in when he's not acting like a flaming jerk (you know, like the time he hit Rusty in the face with a paddle).

(Photo: abcfamily.com) **BTW, props to the ABC Family web site for posting a mini album of pictures from this episode. Keep it up with all subsequent episodes, please. (Not to take the credit, but I did fill out a survey for their web site several months ago and made the suggestion that they post photo albums for each episode.)

SYTYCD: Crazy Eights

So You Think You Can Dance: "Top 8 Performance Show"

Yea, it's SYTYCD night! Even though I haven't loved this season as much as past seasons, I still look forward to Wednesday performance nights each week. I'm now officially glad that there's going to be a fall season of SYTYCD this year--I do not like being without this show.

Top 8 night can be tricky--we lost Will this time last year. Will there be any surprise exits this year?

The play-by-play:

• Yea for FOX for not preempting SYTYCD to show Pres. Obama's prime time talk. I hate presidential prime time talks (and I was a political science major). My reaction to the time that Pres. George W. Bush preempted The O.C. was not cute. They should make a rule that says that unless there's some sort of national disaster, presidents only get three prime time talks each year or something.
• During the introduction solos, I thought the dancers were trying to see who could do the most boring solo until Brandon got out there and really shook it.
• Cat's dress is stunning. I'm not entirely sure if it is stunning in a good way or a bad way yet, but it's definitely something. It looks like expertly-draped liquid metal. She has paired it with a sleek pony tail and chunky silver bracelet.
• Oh yeah, I forgot that Ellen DeGeneres was on the show tonight. It's funny that they put Mary in between Mia and Ellen to break up the spiky-haired blondes. It seems like there's a hair theme tonight, and I feel like now we just need to get Kate Gosselin up there. (She'd certainly be able to come up with some critical things to say about something.)
• Ellen says she learned her dance moves on the street of her gated community :-)
• I think Mary just said that this year is "crazy off the chain." That was a very poor use of late '90s slang...
• IT'S TRAVIS WALL AGAIN!!!!!!!!! Choreographing a group number! Wohoo! It's getting close to be Travis-overload these two weeks, but I love it!

Group number:

• The featurette: The concept is a rave in the year 2200 or 2300. I guess raves won't change much in those 100 years...
• The dance: Is Nigel going to bitch about these costumes? They look a little alien-ish, and we all know how he feels about that. It is kind of hard to tell who is who. Besides for Evan and Kayla, they all kind of bend in. I think I missed some of the little individual showcases. I caught Brandon's there at the end. Overall, the dance was pretty good. It wasn't exactly up to Travis-Wall-orgasmic-awesomeness levels though.
• The judging: What the hell does Travis have on his hands? I guess they are the little light things that the dancers have. Nigel says he LIKES the costumes! What?! I'm getting the picture that Ellen's job tonight is just stalling. Mary's still trying to sell this load-of-crap line that all of these dancers are equally good. Mia recruits Ellen to wear one of these costumes with her on Thursday.

More musings:

• Where does one pick up a copy of Dance Spirit magazine, anyway? Not that I really want a magazine with one of these people on the cover...
• Wow, Wade's going to dance in "Ramalama" tomorrow! Woooooooo!

Evan and Janette (Sonya Tayeh jazz routine):

• The featurette: This combination of dancers and choreography could either be awesome or absolutely horrendous.
• The dance: The beginning was pretty good. In the middle it looked to me like Janette was really out-dancing Evan. I don't think he's got the arm motions quite right. Nevertheless, it wasn't a disaster by any means, and I really liked the Sonya choreography. I especially liked when Janette jumped up and Evan caught her. I would have loved to see this routine danced by some legit contemp/jazz dancers.
• The judging: Nigel says that he's finally getting "more" out of Evan. Do you think Ellen will say anything negative about anyone tonight? How, Mary, is this "way out" of Evan's specialization? This was jazz. He does Broadway-ish jazz, right? It was "way out" of Janette's specialty maybe. Let's home Mia smacks some truth back into these proceedings! Mia says Evan has gotten by on his adorable face. Mia says that Janette is her favorite, favorite, favorite this season. Whoa!

Kayla's solo: Dances to Imogen Heap while wearing a very pretty sparkly dress. This solo was eons better than most of the other ones she's done! She actually danced during this one, instead of just doing a rapid succession of splits and kicks. And there's her grandpa!

Brandon and Jeanine (Hunter Johnson waltz):

• The featurette: This looks like a power couple! But they drew the waltz... The two seem to be having major difficulties picking up the dance during rehearsal, and Brandon mentions something about thinking about birds and bunnies.
• The dance: I like Brandon's dress-shirt-and-vest look. This routine seems very slow. I'm getting a bit sleepy... It's not bad, but it seems like it could be better. Brandon namely looked a little awkward at times.
• The judging: Nigel says that routine was extremely demanding. He says that the music was "like pulling teeth" and like "music for insomniacs." His eventual point was that because the music was so slow, they needed to be extremely good and they just weren't as good as he wanted them to be. Ellen continues to say only irrelevant things. Mary confirms that that waltz was slooooooooooow and probably the slowest one of the show ever (yea?). Mia says that maybe if Brandon wasn't dreaming about birds and bunnies during rehearsal, the dance would have been better. Mia now says that she wanted more because these two are "the tops."

Jason's solo: Does a few really nice switch-leg splits. Not a whole heck of a lot else to write home about though. Jason points out his brother in the audience. And, is it just me, or has Jason become a heck of a lot hammier in the last few weeks (since about the time Caitlin got the boot)?

Ade and Melissa (Tony and Meredith cha cha):

• The featurette: Ugh. This pairing feels like a tired rerun. Poor freaking Ade--it's back to shlepping Melissa around the stage for him. (Couldn't they have put Ade with Kayla and Jason with Melissa so everyone could dance with someone different? I don't get it.) At least they're doing a cha cha. There haven't been enough spicy Latin dances this year.
• The dance: The highlight is that Ade's wearing bright red pants! Something about Melissa isn't working quite right in this style. She can do the hip-wiggle turns okay, but when she has to move around the stage, it looks wrong. Ade looks okay to me. Geez, there haven't been many spicy Latin routines this year, and there really haven't been many good spicy Latin routines. (Have there been any good ones at all?)
• The judging: Nigel says they did well but then proceeds to kind of pick them apart a bit. Ade's smile is adorable! Ellen: "Are you two carpenters? Because you nailed it!" Mary says she feels like everything is in slow motion right now and that allows us to really notice technique. Ade's bum was too high. Melissa was turning her feet out too much and then turning them in too much. Mia thinks this was Ade's worst performance of the season. Mia says that Ade's movement "is so thick anyways." Mia gives Melissa a free pass because she's a ballerina.

Janette's solo: Dancing to slow music in the most clothing I think I've seen her wear all season. It was a very nice solo--she managed to contemporary-up her salsa moves a bit with some spiffy leg extensions.

Another musing:

• I wish Glee would just go ahead and start back up already. I'm getting really sick of hearing about it during every single SYTYCD commercial break. And I want to seem them perform "Gold Digger."

Jason and Kayla (Tyce Diorio Broadway):

• The featurette: Ugh, it's Broadway and Tyce. The routine is about a guy who is caught up in the music and a girl who wants to capture his attention.
• The dance: Kayla's dress is gorgeous. I'm really liking Kayla in this style. I think the dancers are doing a great job, but the routine looks a little under-choreographed. When the music was really pounding, Jason was just kind of standing there for a couple seconds.
• The judging: Nigel says that Jason's toes and feet were absolutely terrific, and at times Jason reminded him of Gene Kelly (take that, Evan supporters!). Oh my freaking heck, Mary has an actual train whistle! The interesting thing is that the whistle is far less annoying then her screaming. Cat suggests that Mary could sell her own line of train whistles. I'm not sure if that would catch on. Mia says that Jason needs to open up his upper body. Now Mia says that if Kayla can act and sing, she'll take Broadway by storm. So, basically, it sounds to me like Mia can't make up her mind of who her favorite actually is (Janette, Jeanine, Brandon, or Kayla).

Ade's solo: Is pure awesomeness. The music is just tones and rhythm, and he choreographed his moves well to it.

Evan and Janette (Tony and Melanie rumba):

• The featurette: Well, let's see if Janette can bring the sexy out of Evan. If she can't do it, no one can. Sorry, Evan, but I think most everyone falls into the sexy Latino mindset easier than you.
• The dance: Performed to a heavily-orchestrated version of "Heartless." Geez, I hate rumbas! They are so slow and boring that it looks like two random people off the street could do one after a half-hour of practice. I realize that that's not the case, but that's what it looks like. Aside from boring me to tears, the dancers did pretty well. Evan wasn't ridiculous at least.
• The judging: I think Nigel just acknowledged that people don't vote for rumbas because they're boring. Nigel doesn't think that there's anything passionate in Evan's face, and that he has heavy eyelids that make him look sleepy. Ellen says she loves Evan's eyes, and sadly that's the closest she's come to giving a substantive critique all night. Mary commends Evan for not losing his balance at any point, which does seem to be the general idea... Mia says that not everyone has to be a sexpot. Mia says that Evan was using a Zoolander face.

Melissa's solo: More interesting in the first 15 seconds than her entire solo was last week. Looks like Debbie Allen's comments hit home. The solo still didn't seem to be jam-packed with great stuff or particularly awesome for any reason, but at least it was less boring than last week's solo.

Brandon and Jeanine (Laurie Ann Gibson pop jazz)

• The featurette: Whoa, Laurie Ann is no joke! She's working them hard and reaming Jeanine out!
• The dance: This is some sort of military-themed routine that would be a lot cooler if it weren't set to a mawkish Jordin Sparks song. The dancers are trying to infuse it with a lot of strength and feeling and emotion but the song just doesn't go there with them. The dancing was good but the song ruined it for me.
• The judging: Nigel says this has been the flatest night ever on SYTYCD until this routine (which is an odd thing to say since he's given most everyone decent critiques up until now). Ellen says that they made it look appealing to join some sort of armed forces. After a long build up, Mia lets out a few loud screams. Mia says Brandon is such a powerhouse (I don't understand why she sees this now, but hated everything about him a few months ago).

Evan's solo: Hey, look, he's wearing a fedora, dress shirt, tie and suspenders. Who'd have thought? He accidentally drops the fedora, but covers it pretty well. The solo was charming, but nothing we haven't seen from him before.

Jeanine's solo: Very fun, different, nice solo to "Let the Drummer Kick" by Citizen Cope. I would have liked to watch another few minutes of this one. The girls' solos have been better over all this week, I'd say.

Ade and Melissa (Tyce Diorio contemporary):

• The featurette: The routine is designed to be a powerful piece about a woman battling breast cancer.
• The dance: Melissa's wearing a head scarf like a cancer patient would. Some gorgeous lifts and jump/catches. Not sure I really "got" the full story there though. I could tell Melissa was fighting something, but I didn't really get why Ade was there. I didn't really understand the resolution either.
• The judging: Nigel is almost in tears and says that he'd be surprised if Tyce doesn't get an Emmy nomination for this. He thinks it was one of the most memorable routines on the show ever. I'm not sure I agree. I've been more touched by other SYTYCD routines (and I honestly don't really feel the need to be "touched" by SYTYCD routines anyway). Ellen says it was the "most beautiful thing she's ever seen." Maybe it looked better in person? Mary is in tears. I'm not really understanding this "thanks to Tyce for shedding light on this situation" stuff either--yes, it's a tough subject, but it's not like breast cancer is something no one has ever heard of before, you know? I do agree that it's a good thing for us all to think about, but please don't act like none of us knew about how devastating cancer is until Tyce depicted it for us. Mia is also in tears (her dad passed away due to cancer). Tyce is crying too. One of the girls in the audience looks really familiar, like Sarah Drew from Everwood maybe. (BTW, when I Googled Sarah Drew to make sure that was really her name, I read that she is Ben McKenzie's second cousin!)

Brandon's solo: This week he's wearing no shirt, which is far more Brandon-like than his fully-clothed look last week. And this solo is really good, complete with nice dancing, fancy tricks, awesome splits and a slammin' series of back handsprings into a huge back layout.

Jason and Kayla (Shane Sparks hip hop):

• The featurette: Jason is a zombie who beats Kayla up. This seems like a very strange choice for a follow-up to the cancer routine (and a little bit insensitive). This will give both Jason and Shane the chance to redeem themselves for that horrendous hip hop routine they did with Caitlin a few weeks ago. And just for the record, so far this year we've had vampires, aliens and now zombies. What's left--werewolves?
• The dance: Zombies and dancing is very "Thriller," which Jason (the MJ fan) should like. I'm enjoying this routine a lot. They're hitting the moves well and syncing well with each other. My favorite part was Jason's little solo dance after he knocked Kayla to the ground. That was so cute! This was the first time Kayla's done hip hop, and she was great. And Jason was definitely way better in this than he was in his previous hip hop number.
• The judging: Jason is really into this zombie thing. Nigel likes the routine. He says that he's been a bit disappointed with the hip hop this year, but this one was really good. Ellen says if they keep dancing like that, they'll have their own talk show some day. Mary thinks Jason, her "little puppy dog," must have gotten rabies. Mia says this is her favorite Shane Sparks routine on the show ever and that she especially liked the strangling pose at the end.

Favorites: Jason and Kayla's hip hop, Evan and Janette's jazz, Jason and Kayla's Broadway

In trouble:

The guys: I honestly don't know who is going to get this boot this week. Personally, I'd go with Evan, but he seems to have a substantial following, so he might get through. So that would mean that the guy going home would be Jason? Maybe Ade? Maybe Brandon if people forget to vote for him? I have no idea.

The girls: Send Melissa hoooooooooooome. Her cha cha was no good, her solo was okay, and her contemporary was lovely, but the other girls are better.