SYTYCD: 100

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

Happy 100th episode, So You Think You Can Dance!

Let's see who gets cut going into Top 6 week. The 8-to-6 cuts have been dicey in the past. Yesterday I mentioned that Will got cut during Top 8 week last year, and it has since occurred to me that Allison got cut in Top 8 week during Season 2. And Will and Allison were definitely two of the best dancers ever on SYTYCD, so who knows what surprises we're in for tonight.

The play-by-play:

• Why was I under the impression that this was a special two-hour episode?
• Do not tell me this is another Tyce Broadway number! How many of those are we going to have to watch in one night?
• I don't know why the audience is screaming? I could do this stuff... I don't think I'd wear that white tux outfit though...
• Did we just kick of the 100th episode with arguably the worst group number ever?
• MIA choreographed it!!! Not Tyce! Ugh. The poor Broadway choreo disease is spreading...
• Cat is wearing a black mini dress with sleeves that has a sparkly tiger face on it! She's pulling out the big guns (cats?) for this special episode!
• Mia's headband situation is so bizarre.
• How many birthdays does Nigel have this year?
• I see Pasha!!!
• And Courtney Galiano! I like her. Does this mean we get to see "The Garden"? Please?
• Hey, there's Benji in the back! You win the stinking show and they don't even give you a front row seat?
• If Nigel thinks Tyce's cancer routine united a country, he was not reading the same EW message board that I was...
• The retrospective montage included the swing dancing guys!!! I still love them.
• Why does Sex get more screen time in the retrospective than past winners?
• Why was Jason crying during Vegas week? Did they show us that?
• Well, if nothing else, at least SYTYCD gave Twitch a reason not to join the Navy when he didn't want to...
• Gosh, there have been a lot of great routines on this show. Unfortunately, not many of them have been this season...
• Who cares about the results? I just want to see the vintage SYTYCD routines.
• Ohh, booooooooooooooo! Tyce's cancer routine bought Melissa an extra week that she did not deserve. This is going to suck.
• So, what's that mean? That Kayla's going to go home? Geez. Is Top 8 week when we lose all the good dancers?
• This doesn't bode well for Jason either.
• And Janette's the other one in the bottom two girls. This situation is NOT good.
• Well, even if this season is now completely screwed up, at least we get to watch "The Hummingbird and the Flower." This routine is really fantastic. And not because it was specifically choreographed to garner sympathy votes...
• Boys' results: Ugh. Poor Jason. Maybe he'd be save this week too if only his zombie had had a horrible disease (aside from zombie-ism, that is). WHAT? Now BRANDON is in the bottom two as well? Oy vey. This will officially go down as the night Season 5 (already a precarious endeavor) veered waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off track. This show is really going to have to bring it for Season 6 to make up for the debacle that Season 5 has been.
• Explain to me why if one of the Janette/Evan combo had to be in the bottom four, it turned out to be the one who danced both of their dances better?
• Now on to the (previously taped) "Bench" routine. Heidi's hair is brilliantly blond these days! It's kind of amazing how they can perform these routines so very similarly after several years.
• Kayla does the same solo she did last night, which is fine with me, because I still like it and I still love the dress.
• Jason also does the same solo, more or less. Maybe a little better tonight. Cat says it's brilliant.
• Janette is also doing the same one. I kind of wish Jeanine was in the bottom two just so I could see her solo again; I really liked that one.
• Brandon opens his solo with an impressive display of pirouettes, as if to say, "Why did you crazy-ass people vote for Evan instead of me?"
• It's time for "Ramalama"!! (Which I think is also previously taped.) Allison looks crazy scary. Wade! Whose place is Wade taking? There were five guys and four girls dancing this routine the first time around because one of the girls was injured. (After consulting Wikipedia, it looks like the fifth boy--who Wade was subbed in for--was Ryan Rankine.) I feel like we're seeing way more of Wade than everyone else combined. Ivan looks different. Dmitry looks almost unrecognizable. I think it's because the zombie makeup is even weirder this time around. The red under-eye circles are not particularly flattering.
• I love how Cat took all the "in danger" dancers up onto the balcony with her and had them pretend like they just saw "Ramalama" performed. That was some pretty impressive acting from them.
• The ridiculousness of tonight's results is detracting from my enjoyment of the performances of the iconic routines.
• And now for another previously-recorded dance routine...it's the already-legendary Tyce/Katie Holmes number. Let's finally see this monstrosity... Or at least stop talking to Katie Holmes--we don't really care what she has to say at this point. Is she going to dance in those super high heals? It's Mark! Oh yeah, Katie's not lip-syncing at all... She doesn't even have a microphone. Is that Joshua I see? Who are these other generic dudes? The one is getting a heck of a lot of screen time. Way more than Josh, a SYTYCD winner. I don't think they got one good shot of Josh during that whole number. (Did I hear that Twitch was supposedly in it too? I didn't see him at all.)
• Well, at least Josh got some quick camera time there for standing next to Tyce. Unfortunately, that means he had to stand next to Tyce... Lol.
• Ha ha, Judy Garland's son, Joe, was there in the audience tonight "to witness that" number.
• Girls' results: It's Janette! This sucks. She never even got to do that fancy flip-split thing again. Good luck at the bank I guess, Janette. Nigel says that Janette was his favorite and he really wanted her to win this season. Ok, Janette says that she's realized how much she really, really loves to dance, so it sounds like the bank job is on hold now.
• Guys' results: Jason. Boooooooooooooo. Poor Jason. I'm guessing he won't get a special speech from Nigel too, huh? He should have gone shirtless for his solo this week, I guess. Aww, poor Jason is crying. He's very gracious and thanks everyone who has helped him get to this point.
• All the judges, choreographers and alumni dancers join this year's contestants up on the stage. When the end credit music starts to play, some of the current dancers go to hug tonight's evictees, but the alumni just start dancing. Lol.
• So it's looking like Evan for the win, huh? He's been sailing through while being mostly mediocre, so if he actually pulls out something awesome in the next two weeks, it looks like he's a virtual lock.

Top 8 results night strikes again! These results were altogether depressing... At least VH1 is showing The Temptations miniseries tonight. That will cheer me up a bit; I hardcore love that movie. (If you don't feel like sitting through the entire six hours, here's the best part.)

SYTYCD: Vampires, Aliens and Ballerinas, Oh My!

So You Think You Can Dance: "Top 14 Performance Show"

The episode started off with quite a dramatic opening montage, seeing as it's only Top 14 night. (That intro seemed like it was designed for the finales or at least the week the cuts for the Top 10 are made.)

Cat's dress is a little on the boring side again this week. Strapless, hot pink, poofy skirt, kind of prom-y. She has at least paired it with kind of a punky belt, however.

Has the line above the U in Kupono always been there? I've not noticed it before. I guess I've got to start figuring out how to get that symbol in Blogger... or not.

Oh nooooo, the third judge is Mia! Poor Brandon. Hushed silence as we wait to find out if Mia pulled the stick out of her butt in regards to Brandon. She reports that her opinion of him has improved. So that's nice. I was sure they were going to milk that later in the show: Brandon performs and Mia suddenly has an epiphany and realizes that he doesn't represent everything she hates in the world after all. And everyone cries.

Do we need to do such a thorough retrospective on every couple's three previous routines? It's only been three weeks!! I still remember all of their previous dances.

Janette and Brandon (Jean Marc & France Genereux cha cha):

• The featurette: Janette's bangs/hair really bother me.
• The dance: I like Janette's hair poofier like this. This routine is pretty good. Janette's obviously really good at it, and Brandon's keeping up well. It wasn't really a Benji/Heidi-caliber Latin-style routine, but will anything ever be? I'm beginning to think no.
• The judging: Nigel says this was "the best damn cha cha ever on this show." I'm not convinced, but upon further reflection, I remember that Benji and Heidi did a "club salsa" and a "mambo" but not a cha cha, so all comparisons to them are, in fact, completely irrelevant. Apparently, salsa technique (Janette's specialty) and cha cha technique are totally different. After a remarkably reserved and articulate critique, Mary gives them two first-class tickets on the hot tamale train and totally loses it. Mia tries to explain her past pissiness off as her recognition that Brandon has great talent and her wanting to be harder on him so that she can drive him to his full capabilities. I think she might just be kinda mean. Or that the producers told her to pick someone random and just skewer them to create some drama on the show. Whatever.

Kayla and Kupono (Sonya Tayeh contemporary): Enjoy your gift, kids. I can't imagine a more favorable combination of style and choreographer for these two dancers at this point in the competition.

• The featurette: Sonya's hopping right onto the pop culture vampire bandwagon with this routine.
• The dance: And, just in case we didn't get it, the song (Blue Foundation's "Eyes on Fire") comes straight off the Twilight soundtrack. I'm loving Kayla in this. Kupono's okay. I'm kind of wishing that he was Mark right now though. Mark + vampires would be absolutely creeptastic! I think they could have done a little more with Kupono's makeup for this one. He does not look all that vampire-ish; his lips aren't red enough.
• The judging: Nigel mention's Twilight and Sonya goes "YES!" in the audience. Lol, that seemed excessive. Nigel says that he's not going to talk about Kayla first because Kupono was so awesome. Ok, whatever. Mary likes it too and wants to know where Kup's beautiful kicks came from. Mia thinks this is Sonya's best piece ever on the show. (I still like "The Garden" better.)

We're 35 minutes in, and only two couples have performed. Oh my freaking heck...

Randy and Evan (Joey Dowling Broadway):

• The featurette: The couple reflects on their charmed life in this competition (getting assigned jazz, jive, and contemporary routines). And now Broadway! This is Evan's specialty. Ha ha, this Joey chick is hardcore.
• The dance: That opening spin/kick-(cartwheel)-on-the-table thing from Evan was awesome. Evan also looks way hotter than usual tonight. And this routine is eons better than most of Tyce's Broadway routines. Let's lock this Joey lady down! Evan was really good, and Randi was good too.
• The judging: Nigel thinks that their wrists need to be more flexible. Seriously? How does one make one's wrist more flexible in a week? Nigel says Randi did well but that Evan could do more. Mary says she really enjoyed it, but the tone of her voice doesn't sound too convincing. Mia says that since Evan and Randi are short, they need to take the dancing to an even higher level. Mia says Randi's dancing was "a little heavy." Mia also says "good job," but in a way that makes it sound like she's saying "that was the most horrendous piece of crap I've ever seen."

Wow, does Katherine Heigl's The Ugly Truth look terrible, or what?

Caitlin and Jason (Brian Friedman pop jazz):

• The featurette: Jason's personality seems a bit too calm for this show. He's very chill, and chill is rare on SYTYCD. Brian's back! Catlin is an alien who blew up Earth and then comes down to find the last man left with whom she can procreate. Now we're talking.
• The dance: Santigold!! "Creator" is a kick-ass track and it fits this theme well. Caitlin's doing pretty well with her alien role, but Jason's looking really good, even though his role isn't as flashy. Actually, he's kind of killing this. His pop jazz movements are superb. Isn't anyone going to suck this week? Who are we going to put in the bottom three?
• The judging: Nigel thinks Brian comes from another planet. Are those cuts on Jason's face part of his costume? OMG, Nigel just said that Caitlin's outfit makes her look like a "dancing condom." Cat: "Safety first, Nigel." Mary says this doesn't sit right with her. Come on, what's the big deal? How was this any weirder than crash test dummies or vampires or comic books or foxes or transformers or mannequins or any of the other weirdo stuff they've had on this show before? Would we seriously rather watch the same sappy contemporary routines about lovers getting together and then breaking up over and over and over again? I would not.

Jeanine and Phillip (Napoleon and Tabitha hip hop): ARE YOU SERIOUS?! They're doing another Nappy-Tabs hip hop routine? They did a Nappy-Tabs routine in week one! This is week four! That means that two of their four routines have been Nappy-Tabs hip hop routines! Come on! I realize that Phillip hasn't been showing that he can do any other style particularly well, but that's no reason to keep serving his specialty up to him.

• The featurette: Phillip describing how he felt when his pants ripped last week was hilarious.
• The dance: Kayne West's "Love Lockdown," get it? Because they're chained together? I appreciate that the addition of this chain must make this whole thing much harder, but the problem is that they're making it look like it's hard. I thought they were going to take each other out for awhile there. I'm not super impressed. Even the parts where they could ignore the chain and just dance for a while didn't seem that great because everything looked so much like what they did in week one.
• The judging: Nigel, however, loves it. Nigel actually uses the term "Nappy-Tabs." I thought that term was kind of derogatory, so I'd been refraining from using it. Mary says that this routine was just so incredibly creative. So to Mary, chains = creative, but aliens = no good. Oookay. Somehow Mary and Nigel both manage to not mention that this couple already did a Nappy-Tabs hip hop routine just weeks ago! Mia, however, thinks the chain made things look sloppy, and I agree. Way to sock it to Nappy-Tabs, Mia!

Melissa and Ade (Thordal Christensen classical/traditional pa de deux):

• The featurette: I guess this is the first "classical" pa de deux because Melissa's going to wear pointe shoes. So obviously this the only couple who could pull this style off, as Melissa is the only pointe dancer. I mean, can you even imagine Phillip trying to do a classical pa de deux?
• The dance: Beautiful. Not as flashy as SYTYCD routines are known to be--just very simple and classy. Excellent lifts. Melissa was lovely and Ade did all right. I would like to see them do a routine sometime that puts more focus on Ade, however. I feel like he's almost always there just to lift Melissa.
• The judging: Nigel almost wets himself over this, and then points out that tonight we've seen aliens impregnate dancers, dancers in chains, and now classical ballet. Mia says that Melissa was brilliant.

And now for a special announcement: Nigel, Adam Shankman, Carrie-Anne Inaba and Katie Holmes (naturally) have established The Dizzy Feet Foundation to benefit young, underprivileged dancers. They are kind of making it sound like no one has ever given scholarships to dancers in need before. In any event, Katie Holmes looks far better here in this interview than she's looked in years. Also involved is the top-notch team of Lil C, Paula Abdul, Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lopez, and Debbie Allen. (Debbie is actually top-notch. Miley, not so much.) For more information: DizzyFeetFoundation.org.

Then Nigel announces (to no one's surprise) that SYTYCD's 100th episode on July 23 will include a tribute to Judy Garland choreographed by Tyce Diorio featuring Katie Holmes, who "donated her entire performance fee" to Dizzy Feet. Since when can Katie Holmes demand a performance fee for dancing? She was on freaking Dawson's Creek. That's like Adam Brody showing up on American Idol and expecting to get paid for singing.

Karla and Vitolio (Jean Marc & France Genereux quick step): These poor kids almost got kicked off last week and now they've got to end the show with a quick step!? It sure seems like they are getting thrown under the proverbial bus.

• The featurette: Jonathan looks just as happy sitting in the audience tonight as he did when he was actually in the competition. Vitolio already had to do a ballroom routine; cut this kid a break.
• The dance: I love Karla's polka dot outfit...whoa, and then all of a sudden it turns into a flowy pink dress! I'm no quick step expert, but this looks okay. I'm not sure that the quick step technique was impeccable, but the routine was fun: there was some Charleston and there was a little bit of a story. It was nice. I don't know if it will really inspire people to vote for them though. I think this does prove that Jonathan was holding Karla back a bit.
• The judging: Nigel and Mary both like it. Mia says Jean Marc is a genius and that this piece was amazing. Mia says that at times Vitolio looks like "a wild horse" who cannot be tamed, but sometimes he's great. Vitolio: "It was the kiss of death, but hopefully we made it the kiss of joy." That was a sweet thing to say, Vitolio, but I think it's going to take more than that to keep you out of the bottom three.

Phillip almost took Karla out when they first started to dance during the end credits. Other than that, the end credits dancing was much improved this week.

My favorites: Kayla and Kupono's contemporary, Caitlin and Jason's pop jazz, Randi and Evan's Broadway

Headed for the bottom three: It's kind of a tough one to call this week. I'm thinking Karla and Vitolio, Caitlin and Jason (due solely to the judges' lackluster critiques), and maybe Brandon and Janette (just because they went early and didn't have one of the gimmicky "marquee" routines of the night).