9 weeks, right? Have a finale with 2 remaining dancers?

Right, that makes sense. But it's the same as doing 20 dancers and sending two home each week. I think.

I hate this change and Nigel and Co. will really have to go some to change my mind. First, I have no confidence in who Nigel would choose as an "all star". I have a feeling we're going to wind up with a lot more supposed fan favorites like Mischa Chan, Chbeeb, and the Tween Terror and a lot fewer Travis and Danny and Janine. Second, if I'm going to get all stars, then I want a real all stars season, not this wannabe DwtS. If I wanted to watch that show, i'd watch it. Third, the problems with the show last season had little to do with the format. They had a few awesome, high profile contenders drop out very early in the season which left us with a less than stellar cast. The choreography was very uneven. Again they lost one of their most consistent choreographers in Mia, and it's imperative that they address the quality issue with their stable of hip hop choreographers if they want to continue to have that as a category on this show. Also, the experiments with world dance styles has been a huge bust except for Bollywood. Make it stop. Finally, the permanent three judge panel just does not work. I missed the variety of voice, even if that voice was as incoherent as that of Cecily and Olissa. Go back to the days of Nigel and a rotating cast of guest judges. Mary, and even Shankdaddy to an extent, is best in small doses. Bring at least one new choreographer and have them sit on panel each week. Any of those fixes would do more for the show than thus innovation. I may be proven wrong and it may turn out to be the best thing since sliced bread, but ad of today, I officially pre-hate it.

Somehow, I believe these changes have something to do with $$. I'm not sure if having this set up means they have better control over who goes out on tour (and thus can make sure the tour makes $$) or if the talent this year isn't as strong as they would like and so they are covering with "all-stars."

The ratings weren't great last year, so this might be the last Hail Mary.

Mia will be back, but I'm disappointed that this last reveal of Nigel's means we'll still only have 2 dancers on the stage, rather than sometimes mixing it up more.

A good first guess for an all-star: Lacey, who did not go back to DWTS?

yep, and she is a great partner.

They probably need at least 1 man and 1 woman in:

ballroom, hip hop (or whatever SYTYCD thinks hip hop is), modern to start. If that is the foundation, the "all stars" can cover the other styles (broadway, lyrical, styles within ballroom and hh) pretty well. I hope they choose individuals who have been known to be good partners (e.g. Lacey, Danny, Russell).

I think it's really odd to feature people on stage in every performance who aren't being judged. What if they completely out-dance the contestant, or at least steal the focus?

That's the core problem, IMO - people will vote for New Dancer Y because she's partnered with Danny, or whatever.

The other totally killer partner was Jakob. He made every single woman he danced with look wonderful (i.e. Fug Princess and Tween Terror both!)

I thought that Kathryn did a good job as a partner, too. She carried Legacy into the Top 8, and even made the Other Tween Terror look good in the "Choreography" Broadway number.

Jakob would be heaven. Kathryn would be good, too. She worked miracles with Legacy. I want to make a list of dancers from each season who I'd love to see back.

Another reason I'm iffy on this innovation is that the all stars will only be dancing in their own styles and half the fun of this show is watching the kids really stretch and grow and push themselves to be better dancers. Half the fun of someone like Josh, say, was watching this guy who was primarily a hip hop specialist tear it up in Bollywood or do a gorgeous waltz or be so amazing in a Mia contemporary. Josh in hip hop is great, but i'd want more than just that from him.

I think a lot of the low ratings last season had to do with the ill advised attempt to do back-to-back seasons.