Cat Deeley! SYTYCD was like a sweet cool drink of water after dying of thirst in the desert of AI. Lots of good kids. Minimal bad dancer montages. And the judges don't put you through the choreo just because of your back story, Big Girl Dancer. (Even though I liked you, but you need to mature more and learn how to partner) Or just because you have ginormous ta-tas, Too Much Boobs. (And no one knows your little girl group and despite your too much boobs you're still kind of busted in the face and you have stank attitude. Dismissed) They hold the line.

The Good:

Sarah Brinson - Now that's how a big girl dancer gets it done! Great center, great control, good musicality. Just an all around lovely dancer. And I totally see the Charlize thing.

Giselle and Henry - This girl also had too much boobs working. But she could rock it. I want to see Burn the Floor so badly. Anya and Pasha were in it, too. That's a hell of a cast. I think I liked her better than him, but she needs to put the girls away.

Teddy Tedholme - I didn't care for him too much and all his twee plaid pantsness. I liked him much better this time, but I'm still not in love. He's ridiculously talented, but I still find him too pretentious. And the solo was so literal. I just . . . well, I think I just don't like him all that much. Something about him just chaps my hide. And homeboy needs a tube of Clearisil, stat. (A couple of the other boys tonight did as well. WTF dancer boys? Good skin is your friend)

Anthony Burrell - Is just gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous in every way. I would like to have his babies.

Edwin Spots - Forget about it. As soon as I saw him start to move, I could tell he'd studied with Ailey. He's raw, for sure, but so amazing. Extension for days. Strong center. And a lightness to his leaps that was lovely to see. He needs to refine his dancing and really work on finishing, dancing through the tips of his toes, because I definitely saw some duck feet. And I loved how much Shankdaddy loved this kid. I think he can relate.

Terrell and the Most Awesome Dad Ever! - T'is the season of the awesome dad. I want to introduce Terrell's dad to Burt from Glee so that they can form an Awesome Dad Appreciation Society. I was so pleased that the dancing matched the backstory. I found this kid mesmerizing. Loving me some Terrell.

Amy Aguilar-Riley - Another one where I was glad that the level of her dancing matched up to the egregious baby pimping back story. She's a fave. I love the way she really dances down into the floor.

Jose Ruiz - His body control is insane. And he's so, so pretty, y'all. Another one that needs to discover the joys of Pro-Active, but seriously, despite the forehead acne, he's so, so pretty. Is he better than Legacy? Well, not right now. But then again, Legacy wasn't better than Legacy at this point last season, so . . .

The Reality Check:

I think there are very few candidates for making it all the way through to top 10 from this bunch. Teddy seems probably the strongest, with Terrell, Anthony and Edwin forming a tight clump slightly behind him. Oops, make that a tight, incredibly hot, chocolate brown clump behind him. As for the girls, I'd be surprised if we see any of them make it to the top 10. We will definitely see stronger contemporary dancers. Maybe Giselle could be the token ballroom girl, although while she's my personal favorite of the two, I acknowledge that Henry is probably "better".

Everybody else was blah to bad.

SYTYCD!!!! Wow, I've missed this show.

Yeah, especially with it being ten only. That`s crazy few. Vegas is going to be necessarily brutal.
 
Oh, I forgot about the Ailey boy. I kinda want him to stay with Ailey. He was great, though.

For SYTYCD it was a little weird with "very good" dancers -- it's hard to care, knowing there's just no way they slide into a five-dancer group. (Remember Billy Bell? I do!) Also, between Mia and Adam, ISTG, I was having sympathy tears for days. Those two divas were ridiculous.

Just watched TCM tonight. I don't actually hate Rick Moonen, since his asshattery seems to be just playing to the interview. It's not like the other chefs hate him. (I'm rooting for Susur.) Susan's dish -- it's unfortunate she lost on that, because I've had that dish, and it's one of the best things I've eaten in this town. It's crazy good. But maybe the other four dishes just topped it. Could be. Maybe they were bothered that she just produced a dish straight out of her restaurant. Because there's nothing simple about it, compared to the other dishes.

SYTYCD: What a great bunch of auditions last night! The highlights for me were Sarah (such amazing extensions she had), Edwin (his body is as close as I can imagine to perfection of the male form--wow, this guy should be modeling), and Terrell (in all of his great contemporary moves, I saw a real ability to move his hips--if he gets on the show, I think he has the potential to perform ballroom really well).

Just found out that Henry, who was in that first ballroom couple to audition in New York, was on SYTYCD: Australia, and had actually made it into the Top 8. I call bullshit on him being able to be on SYTYCD: US after that.

Wow. Glad I decided to watch SYTYCD instead of FlashForward, if only for Teddy's dance. I liked him last year, but that was incredible.

Aw, I missed Teddy's dance b/c my DVR recorded a Community rerun instead until I caught it. Came in right on his judging. Will have to track it down.

I went to bed right after ffwding through Broccoli Boob Dude(tte).

I have one question: does Sex show up?

Haven't we suffered enough, le nub? Don't say his name out loud or you'll conjure him up.

I had read that the Burn the Floor dude was on SYTYCD Australia. You can see clips on YouTube. I don't mind all that much. He didn't win. I kind of look at it as just another professional experience, which lots of these kids have. Being in a Broadway show is already a huge advantage in terms of ability to pick up choreography quickly, for example, or experience in the dance competition circuit can give an edge in performance quality and just comfort with being judged. There have been several contestants on the show who've worked with choreographers as their assisstants and that can be an advantage. I don't know. I'm not all het up about it.

I'm disappointed that we didn't see that gorgeous dancer from Miami City Ballet last night. I was hoping he'd come back once his contract was up.

Yeah, I`ve given up hope that we`ll ever see him. And we haven`t seen his like.

kat,

ha! he isn't like Beetlejuice, is he? You know I don't watch the audition shows until I know the man isn't there. He skeeves me that badly.