Not Miss America, Teen USA or something. That's why they went to war with Brandy and Carol! The ladies were making fun of Caite over the "like, such as" business.

oh! right! [link]

I thought it was a great idea on the CBS marketing people to have Jet and Cord do the promo for the country music awards next week--they were quite good at it, too!

ugh. Misha Chan? Really?

Though I'm thrilled about Mark.

Dear Nigel, it's Mark Kanemura. Please learn to spell the names of *all* your dancers, not just the European-heritage ones.

Mark! Oh my stars! I will forgive Nigel a lot for giving me back my pretty boy from Hawaii. Even Mischa Chan? It's dicey. But I'd made my peace with that pick a long time ago. There was no way that Nigel was not going to bring Lauren back given the chance. And Mark! Potentially more Mark + Mia and/or Mark + Sonya pairings. Or Mark + Wade!

And see, here's the problem. There's no way that I'm going to be more excited about seeing the fresh meat than I will be about seeing some of my favorite dancer/choreographer combos and the new season is supposed to be about the new kids.

On TAR: I feel like neither Brandi and Carol nor Brent and Caite came off very well last night. But I loved, loved, loved Dan and Jordan calling out the so text-y it was almost not subtext of all the homophobia on display with the Wonder Twinks. They couldn't even be bothered to call them by name. The Lesbians? This late in the game and that's all you know/care about? Hmmm. OK, Sparky. I'll be desperately hoping for a Cowboys/Dan & Jordan/Cops final three, with the cops just there by default (because they've definitely been feeding their "wolf cubs" fire on the whole Brandy/Carol hate-a-thon).

On SYTYCD, Mark!

And see, here's the problem. There's no way that I'm going to be more excited about seeing the fresh meat than I will be about seeing some of my favorite dancer/choreographer combos and the new season is supposed to be about the new kids.

you know, I hadn't thought about that, but you're totally right.

The thing I really love about SYTYCD, or one of the big things as there are many, has always been finding and falling in love with new dancers. It's always crazy to me that by the time I reach the end of the season, there are a couple of dancers I started out hating that I wind up loving, or at least appreciating, and a couple that I loved who turn into complete irritants (Hello, Dom!) that I can't wait to get off my TV screen. But would I have fallen so hard for Mark and Josh if Danny and Travis had still been on my TV screen each week? Would that little high talker have even had a chance to win me over if Natalie or Allison or Chelsie or Janette had been around to consistently turn it out each week? I think I might've just been annoyed by the new people taking time away from dancers that I already cared about and was invested in. I mean, am I really going to be jazzed about Twitch and anonymous dancer X (who is most likely not a hip hop specialist) making it through a Dave Scott routine or am I going to spend time thinking about how much better it would've been to see Twitch and Comfort get another shot at absolutely destroying with Dave Scott? And that's not a knock on the new kids at all because SYTYCD doesn't seem to have quite reached the dregs of the available dance talent out there yet (unlike its sister show). I'm sure some of these new kids will be fierce, but it takes a lot to break through when everybody is new. They will really have to go some to break through when each week, half of the dancers on the show are already beloved favorites.

And I keep saying that I'm going to give this innovation a fighting chance, and I am excited by 99% of the all star picks thus far but . . . I just think they are making a whole new show here. And it might be a show I'm gonna like, but it won't be SYTYCD, no? And I'll miss that show.

Wrod.

PR: I actually liked Emilio's dress better when it was half-finished. I really didn't like what he ended up doing with the bodice, though the skirt was lovely. Seth Aaron, I think, could take every outfit he's made this season and put them together into a coherent show, including this ringmaster thing. Pretty cool.

They've done the design-off thing on mnay previous seasons, haven't they? I was expecting it before we even got the challenge.

SYTYCD: Mark! Yay!