As frustrating and annoying as last season’s So You Think You Can Dance was, this season is fabulous and thrilling. My goodness what dancing. What nice kids. And what lunacy on the judges’ panel.
Last night, the six dancers had an all-star pairing, an each-other pairing, and a solo. I loved almost all of it. Let’s begin.
Guest judge tonight is the terrifying Amazonian ballroom expert Toni Redpath. Everything about this woman scares me. I’d love to put her and Cat Deeley into a steel cage and watch what happens.
First up is Kent and Anya, doing a Jean-Marc and France cha cha. This will be Kent’s second cha cha. In the first one, if you recall, Anya won. This time around, that clever Jean-Marc and the almost-always-silent France have cleverly created a dance in which Kent is supposed to be all naïve and young and inexperienced, and Hot-For-Teacher Anya is going to show him a thing or two. Except by the end of this most excellent routine (already downloading that song), Kent comes out on … top. Fabulous.
And now is when we pause to say, Mia Michaels, PLEASE SHUT UP. Seriously, you and your obsession with Kent’s facial expressions. Did you see Anya’s face during this routine? Half the time she looked like was at the dentist’s office, awaiting treatment for something painful. The depths of my dislike for Mia Michaels grows and grows.
Robert and the ever more lovely Kathryn get a Stacey Tookie contemporary about going off to war (big twist at the end – it’s the girl who leaves!). This was really gorgeous, but if we are going to be honest, it was because of Kathryn. Nigel talks about Robert’s amazing growth this season, which is in direct conflict with what he said last week about Robert not growing enough, which simply proves my point that really, the judges are full of crap.
Jose does an awesome solo. I love this kid. Not as much as my Legacy, but I love him.
Adechike and Courtney do an amazing Tyce jazz number that is just fabulously insane, and Adam Shankman loves it so much that he calls it “balls out dancing” and then realizes he is not supposed to say that on live TV. The guy manning the 3-second delay bleep button was immediately fired, I’m guessing.
Lauren does a solo that is both restrained and powerful and just beautiful. Final two, baby.
Jose and Comfort do a hip hop number by a couple Who Are Not Nappy-Tabs, and it’s set to Otis Redding and it is a blast to watch. Mia Michaels again proves she is utterly worthless. Dear Mia: Please get a real vocabulary. There are CDs you can buy. Best part? When Cat said to Jose, “Just don’t worry about it.”
Billy does a solo, Kent does a solo (to my beloved Elliott Yamin!!!). Because of the horrendous camera work (why do they bother with dress rehearsals and blocking?) I missed the little gimmick at the end of Billy’s dance, and had to go back after Cat mentioned it. Oh, and Kent will win.
Lauren and Allison do a Tyce Broadway number, it’s the first hot girl-on-girl action ever on SYTYCD, and I am underwhelmed because I am not a fan of Broadway in general.
The best part of this whole number is that Nigel refers to the show as American Idol, which Cat points out, and which is hilarious because it came out this week that Nigel might be going back to Idol, and he’d like to fire all the judges. Ha! Paging Dr. Freud.
Robert does a solo. He’s going home tonight.
Billy and Ade get a Stacey contemporary, about a business man and a homeless man, which Phil Collins once wrote a pop song about, and in the beginning there is so much going on, dancing-wise, that it’s almost too much. But then when they come together as partners, it is gorgeous.
Adechike solos. That guy can jump higher than anyone.
Jose and Kent get a Spencer Liff Broadway number, and I like this, they are two guys just girl watching on the street and it fits them perfectly. I love these two together. When Jose goes home tonight, I’m going to be sad.
Lauren and Adechike do a Jean-Marc and Silent France fox trot which I find very dull.
Then Billy and Robert close the show with Bollywood, which, ugh to begin with, I am so over this genre. Secondly, remember when Twitch and Joshua did that Russian number together and it was so masculine and awesome and magnificent? This was none of that. The judges swoon. I am blinded by all the sequins and, well, all that they imply and I hate it.
So, I think Robert and Jose will go home. I wish it were Billy and Robert, but I don’t think it will be. How about you? What do you think?
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Closer: Meet the new boss ...
As Brenda Leigh herself would say: Oh my ...
The new season of The Closer (technically, this is the sixth season, although it's only been five years; cable math is not like regular math) certainly got thing going with an aptly named episode The Big Bang. It wasn't the crime our favorite major case squad was looking into, though. It was the last two minutes, when everyone learned that Chief Pope wants to be the chief of the entire department. Hmmmm.
Of course the second episode did what The Closer always does: got better and more complicated and raised the stakes even higher, and then in those last two minutes, smacked us again with ah great twist. A California-earthquake-level twist: Maybe Brenda should be the chief of the entire department. Hmmmm, squared.
And then last night, the third episode, which involved a really terrible crime (quintessential Closer really, in that many lives were ruined, not just the victim's) and all kinds of Brenda issues: Brenda keeping the idea secret from Fritz (never a good idea), Brenda keeping the idea secret from Pope, and Brenda torturing herself with the thought of leaving behind her beloved squad. Not because her squad is beloved so much, but more because she knows nobody would care for it the way she does. Nobody except her well-trained Gabriel, of course, and he's not eligible.
So six seasons in and we really have to give the show's writers a giant shout out for coming up with this most welcome of twists: Brenda toying with the idea of betraying Pope, worrying about what the nefarious commander would do, wondering if she wants to continue to be Pope's Number 2 or make him her Number 2, agonizing over the idea of leaving behind crime solving and becoming a bureaucrat.
The strengths of this show from the day it arrived on TNT are its ability to mix the dark with the light, its ability to first create and then sustain a cast of characters who are believable in their lives and in their interactions, and a constant stream of plots that are both compelling and upsetting. Season Six is so far showing itself to be no exception.
How about you? Should Brenda become chief? Should she make Fritz head of Major Case? Would Pope and Taylor join forces to try and destroy her if she were chief? Would you still watch if Brenda were no longer on the streets, solving crimes and closing cases?
The new season of The Closer (technically, this is the sixth season, although it's only been five years; cable math is not like regular math) certainly got thing going with an aptly named episode The Big Bang. It wasn't the crime our favorite major case squad was looking into, though. It was the last two minutes, when everyone learned that Chief Pope wants to be the chief of the entire department. Hmmmm.
Of course the second episode did what The Closer always does: got better and more complicated and raised the stakes even higher, and then in those last two minutes, smacked us again with ah great twist. A California-earthquake-level twist: Maybe Brenda should be the chief of the entire department. Hmmmm, squared.
And then last night, the third episode, which involved a really terrible crime (quintessential Closer really, in that many lives were ruined, not just the victim's) and all kinds of Brenda issues: Brenda keeping the idea secret from Fritz (never a good idea), Brenda keeping the idea secret from Pope, and Brenda torturing herself with the thought of leaving behind her beloved squad. Not because her squad is beloved so much, but more because she knows nobody would care for it the way she does. Nobody except her well-trained Gabriel, of course, and he's not eligible.
So six seasons in and we really have to give the show's writers a giant shout out for coming up with this most welcome of twists: Brenda toying with the idea of betraying Pope, worrying about what the nefarious commander would do, wondering if she wants to continue to be Pope's Number 2 or make him her Number 2, agonizing over the idea of leaving behind crime solving and becoming a bureaucrat.
The strengths of this show from the day it arrived on TNT are its ability to mix the dark with the light, its ability to first create and then sustain a cast of characters who are believable in their lives and in their interactions, and a constant stream of plots that are both compelling and upsetting. Season Six is so far showing itself to be no exception.
How about you? Should Brenda become chief? Should she make Fritz head of Major Case? Would Pope and Taylor join forces to try and destroy her if she were chief? Would you still watch if Brenda were no longer on the streets, solving crimes and closing cases?
Monday, July 26, 2010
My Boys: Speaking each other's unspoken language
So we have some bad news and some good news with last night's return of the tbs sitcom My Boys (a double-dose return, no less!).
The bad news is that Jim Gaffigan, that hilarious King of the Deadpan Delivery stand-up comic/actor, has apparently left the show. Booo. I love Gaffigan in general, and I particularly loved him as PJ's brother Andy, the official Eeyore of this merry group of pals.
The good news is that even without Gaffigan, My Boys came back for its fourth season just as funny as ever.
If you aren't familiar with the summertime tbs staple, the premise is this: PJ is a lovely young woman in her 20s who lives in Chicago and is a sportswriter by trade. She is a grown-up tomboy.
Around her is her college roommate and BFF Steph, who is also PJ's polar opposite in that she is a complete girlie-girl. And yet, they work. Her other best friend from college is the adorable Brendan, who is PJ's current roommate. He's kind of a slacker, notch-on-the-bedpost kind of guy, but relatively harmless.
Rounding out the troupe are Kenny and Mike, who together own and run a sports novelty shop and lend the show its sort of Marx Brothers element.
And lastly is Bobby, a fellow sportswriter, closet rich guy, and as of last season, PJ's boyfriend. Oh, and in last season's cliffhanger, Steph and Kenny hooked up.
As we opened this season last night, the gang was trying to deal with Andy's departure and how it affected their weekly poker game. They needed to find a substitute. Of course that turned out to be impossible, because as Steph rightly pointed out, this group is damn near impenetrable by outsiders. As they say in The Sure Thing: They speak each other's unspoken language. Fluently.
In the second episode that aired, the sitcom proved its ability to make me laugh out loud. As Brendan and Mike headed out for an adult night on the town, the other four ended up getting stoned out of their gourds in PJ's apartment. My goodness there were a lot of great throw-away lines in that 24 minutes.
So there you have it. I am happy to have this show back, as summertime is abysmal in terms of sitcoms. Other than this, I only have Hot in Cleveland to make me laugh. Well that and my attempts to remain cool in all this heat. Some of those are pretty hilarious as well.
How about you? Find anything funny on TV these days?
The bad news is that Jim Gaffigan, that hilarious King of the Deadpan Delivery stand-up comic/actor, has apparently left the show. Booo. I love Gaffigan in general, and I particularly loved him as PJ's brother Andy, the official Eeyore of this merry group of pals.
The good news is that even without Gaffigan, My Boys came back for its fourth season just as funny as ever.
If you aren't familiar with the summertime tbs staple, the premise is this: PJ is a lovely young woman in her 20s who lives in Chicago and is a sportswriter by trade. She is a grown-up tomboy.
Around her is her college roommate and BFF Steph, who is also PJ's polar opposite in that she is a complete girlie-girl. And yet, they work. Her other best friend from college is the adorable Brendan, who is PJ's current roommate. He's kind of a slacker, notch-on-the-bedpost kind of guy, but relatively harmless.
Rounding out the troupe are Kenny and Mike, who together own and run a sports novelty shop and lend the show its sort of Marx Brothers element.
And lastly is Bobby, a fellow sportswriter, closet rich guy, and as of last season, PJ's boyfriend. Oh, and in last season's cliffhanger, Steph and Kenny hooked up.
As we opened this season last night, the gang was trying to deal with Andy's departure and how it affected their weekly poker game. They needed to find a substitute. Of course that turned out to be impossible, because as Steph rightly pointed out, this group is damn near impenetrable by outsiders. As they say in The Sure Thing: They speak each other's unspoken language. Fluently.
In the second episode that aired, the sitcom proved its ability to make me laugh out loud. As Brendan and Mike headed out for an adult night on the town, the other four ended up getting stoned out of their gourds in PJ's apartment. My goodness there were a lot of great throw-away lines in that 24 minutes.
So there you have it. I am happy to have this show back, as summertime is abysmal in terms of sitcoms. Other than this, I only have Hot in Cleveland to make me laugh. Well that and my attempts to remain cool in all this heat. Some of those are pretty hilarious as well.
How about you? Find anything funny on TV these days?
Friday, July 23, 2010
So You Think You Can Dance: Making it up as they go along
Last night's So You Think You Can Dance "ouster" episode had no ouster, which they all tried to paint as so shocking and brave and crazy, but really, American Idol et all has pulled this trick so many times that as far as I was concerned, it wasn't *if* SYTYCD would do it, it was *when.*
The bottom three was composed of Jose and Robert based on votes, and Billy based on weenieness. Having injured his knee and then been cleared for dancing by doctors and then opting out of dancing puts Billy in the Permanent Dog House (as opposed to the warm and snuggly Cat House) for me.
This really is a brutal season in terms of ousters at this point because they are all so great in their own ways. It took me a while to get used to the All-Star aspect and the fact there were only 10 instead of 20, but I like it now. There is some kick-ass dancing going on here.
So the judges were all "oooo, look what we did" when Nigel announced that no one would go home, and next week two will shuffle off stage left instead. Honestly, I would've booted Billy, but I do see their point.
As for the two dance-for-your-life solos that we had last night, Jose was the clear winner, as Robert opted to redo his solo from the Wednesday night performance show, while our B-Boy whipped out an entirely new routine that involved cool trick after cool trick. Seriously, he set that stage on fire.
And as for Nigel's statement to both Jose and Robert about their lack of growth? Whut? Did you see Jose do the Sonya routine on the edge of the stage? That was fabulous. And while I agree that the paso doble was weird in that it was both hetero-erotic and homo-erotic at the same time, I think he more than held his own with the far-more-technically-proficient Adechike on that. And Robert is already so great, so tall and long and lanky and bendable and personable.
But I still maintain that all of the above points are moot, as the final two will be Lauren and Kent, and Kent will win in what will be the biggest landslide in SYTYCD history.
What do you think?
The bottom three was composed of Jose and Robert based on votes, and Billy based on weenieness. Having injured his knee and then been cleared for dancing by doctors and then opting out of dancing puts Billy in the Permanent Dog House (as opposed to the warm and snuggly Cat House) for me.
This really is a brutal season in terms of ousters at this point because they are all so great in their own ways. It took me a while to get used to the All-Star aspect and the fact there were only 10 instead of 20, but I like it now. There is some kick-ass dancing going on here.
So the judges were all "oooo, look what we did" when Nigel announced that no one would go home, and next week two will shuffle off stage left instead. Honestly, I would've booted Billy, but I do see their point.
As for the two dance-for-your-life solos that we had last night, Jose was the clear winner, as Robert opted to redo his solo from the Wednesday night performance show, while our B-Boy whipped out an entirely new routine that involved cool trick after cool trick. Seriously, he set that stage on fire.
And as for Nigel's statement to both Jose and Robert about their lack of growth? Whut? Did you see Jose do the Sonya routine on the edge of the stage? That was fabulous. And while I agree that the paso doble was weird in that it was both hetero-erotic and homo-erotic at the same time, I think he more than held his own with the far-more-technically-proficient Adechike on that. And Robert is already so great, so tall and long and lanky and bendable and personable.
But I still maintain that all of the above points are moot, as the final two will be Lauren and Kent, and Kent will win in what will be the biggest landslide in SYTYCD history.
What do you think?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Ladies and gentlemen ...
Meet the new blog.
Two quick things: 1. Billy Bell needs to go home on SYTYCD, because really, when the docs clear you to dance, you dance. Sitting out is not an option. On the other hand, how great was Twitch at that stepping thing (and Nigel's tiny little ego got the best of him, with his hissy fit about Five Guys Name Moe, a routine from three seasons ago, being stepping).
2. I cannot believe that on America's Got Talent, Howie chose that poser magician/fire bug Antonio over that awesome street dance troupe Wreckless. And Michael Grimm? Put the hat back on buddy. Yeesh.
So there we go. I'm up and running. Tell all your friends. Share the link. It's grassroots now, kids, but it's the same old fun and games.
Two quick things: 1. Billy Bell needs to go home on SYTYCD, because really, when the docs clear you to dance, you dance. Sitting out is not an option. On the other hand, how great was Twitch at that stepping thing (and Nigel's tiny little ego got the best of him, with his hissy fit about Five Guys Name Moe, a routine from three seasons ago, being stepping).
2. I cannot believe that on America's Got Talent, Howie chose that poser magician/fire bug Antonio over that awesome street dance troupe Wreckless. And Michael Grimm? Put the hat back on buddy. Yeesh.
So there we go. I'm up and running. Tell all your friends. Share the link. It's grassroots now, kids, but it's the same old fun and games.
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