Well, yes and no. Nigel showed the top 3 from S5 and then he starts going on about how hard it was to pick only 3 from each season (although S1 only got two - what?) and how he thought it would be so hard to chose just one "best of all time" but surprisingly it was easy. And then "boom", we're right into Tasty going on about his cancer stricken friend and we see Melissa and Ade do the dance and then we see Mia weeping for her father and folks in the audience holding up signs with the pink cancer ribbon and Tasty is crying in the audience and whatever, you know? And then Nigel talks about how this dance will go down in the annals of history and be remembered for all time as the nee plus ultra of SYTYCD. Not to take anything away from Melissa and Ade, because I love them, but hell to the naw. It's not even the best contemporary piece that Tasty has ever done for the show. He's had some great ones. I'd put his Why for Allison and Ivan or his beautiful piece for Will and Jessica above the cancer dance any day.

!!! Ugh. I didn't even like that routine, let alone thought it overrated.

ETA: It's on now. Bob Bob: "I heard that they had cured cancer, but kind of lost the thread there. So this is what did it? Huh."

My TiFaux decided to tape the midnight re-broadcast instead of the 10pm TC. Bad TiFaux! No biscuit!

My Tivo decided that 18=180 and I had to tape the 12:45 rebroadcast.

But, I thought that Jen rocked as executive chef and they did, in fact, get rid of the clueless chef. I think that Mike was hoping to ride on the coat tails of Michael V.'s dish. I wonder what the judges would have done if he hadn't made that second dish?

And I wonder if Ashley expressed discomfort at cooking for the military but TC chose to not air that because they didn't want her to be the villain? Or because it's so impolitic?

And I wonder if Ashley expressed discomfort at cooking for the military but TC chose to not air that because they didn't want her to be the villain? Or because it's so impolitic?

It's probably not quite as emotional an issue for her. Ash (whom I'm growing fond of) admitted that he was anti-war, but that he found the experience moving. So they were probably not opposed to capturing contrary opinions if they could find them.

I wonder what the judges would have done if he hadn't made that second dish?

I'm guessing if they hadn't been so clear about who was responsible for what that Kevin would have won and someone else would have been the third at Losers' Table. If they'd taken the "we share a brain" line the women did I doubt they'd have handed Michael the win and it would have flipped to the other team.

I find the (possibly spoilery) interview with Ashley Merriman in Seattle's "The Stranger" (one of my favorite papers anywhere) to be very enlightening. Love that the reporter included the disembodied voice of the network PR person hovering over the conversation.

Money quote:

I don't know what I'm allowed to say about the editing. [Pause. The Disembodied Voice remains silent.] I will say that to me it seemed like there wasn't really much else going on in that episode, just the men and women going back and forth... The story was made, for sure. My objection was not about the wedding or the party, it was about the behind-the-scenes production. [The Disembodied Voice: "We're not allowed to talk about production." Pause.] Suffice it to say I was disappointed and frustrated with how it came out. Absolutely.

One more from the "Stranger" interview:

I adore Isabella. He comes across as a complete jackass, [but] Michael Isabella is a very talented chef and a very smart man, and I adore him. Knowing the situation and knowing Michael, I didn't take it as anything other than a joke—and in the end, the joke's on him. To me, that's funny.

Huh. It seems the Magical Elves editing monkeys are on overdrive this season ...

I thought that Jen rocked as executive chef

She was awesome as exec chef! She really rode them all very hard and kept them on task and on schedule, like she was supposed to.

and they did, in fact, get rid of the clueless chef.

As soon as Preeti said that, yet again, she had no problems with her dish, I knew she was outta there. Two weeks in a row she can't find the fault in her dish? That's a taste issue, and something that can't be fixed in future challenges.

She was awesome as exec chef! She really rode them all very hard and kept them on task and on schedule, like she was supposed to.

I was a little worried that she didn't actually make anything, but she had immunity, so. I was a little surprised that she didn't try to steer Preeti and Laurine away from the pasta salad, but hey, it is a competition.