I think SYTYCD has always been heavy on the contempo kids but this season takes the cake. Let's see. S1, 5 of the top 8 boys were contemp/lyrical and 5 of the top 8 girls. S2, only 4of the top 10 guys were contemp and 6 of the top 10 girls (7 if you count Donyelle, though she was billed as hip hop on the show). S3 had 6 of 10 contempo boys and 6 of 10 girls. S4 had 6 and 7 for boys and girls contemp background. Although one of the 7 girls was Rayven who was technically ballet and who, whatever the genre, was perhaps the worst female contestant ever. (Big Pasty is holding the crown for the men) In S5, half the guys were non-contempo, which I did not recall, and only two of the girls were non-contemp/non-ballet. Ballroom and salsa represent! Last season, there were 7 contempo girls but only three contempo boys. What?

I think it's not a coincidence that S2 was both the most balanced in terms of styles and also the best in terms of quality. (S4 remains my favorite, though, cause, dude, Mark! Plus Josh, Double ee Katee, Courtney, Twitch, Chelsea and the feet of the gods. Wow. Great season)

Skipping right over what the east coasters have said to say:

OMG WOULD YOU FREAKING SHOW ME MORE DANCING AND LESS PHONE CALLS AND TRAVELLING??

Seriously, I don't even care about any of these contestants who are getting bad news, because I don't know who they are, because I haven't seen them dance. They can't even show a quick clip of them dancing, rather than Tyce in Miami or Nigel and the postal worker??

So, back to what y'all said: SmallTownNoodle totally adorable, making Lil'C cry! OMG. But totally true--there's gotta be a bunch of dancers who make it to Vegas thinking "OMG I made it to Vegas, that's awesome!" and don't actually think they'll make the show.

I really didn't like this format at all (and I don't understand how this "only 10" thing is going to work--do we have a much shorter season? I guess only kick off one person a week? It seems like we'll hardly get to know anyone!! We'll see less dancing???

I'm sad we don't get Anthony (?hot black guy from New York who got told he was a MAN not a boy)

I'm glad we got Alexie and not blonde-house-foreclosing-girl.

if they had a reality show for choreographers, I would watch that. Period.

I would SO watch that!! Though I suspect a lot of it would be DRECK. If some of it was like Peanut??

I would've liked to see Kadijah dance her african stuff solo at least, yeesh. Sounds interesting!

Better to have all top 10 at 100% and let Anthony get healthy and come back next season. At least, that's the story in my head.

...how long between Vegas week and the start of the show? Sigh. Much as I think Ohio is adorable, watching Anthony dance next to him? SO much more gorgeous.

Top 11? WTF? Also, apparently it helps to have a name at the beginning of the alphabet, yeesh.

Peanut is love.

I was thinking/hoping that they cut Anthony b/c of his injury, too.

House visits sucked. WTF, Carol got more screen time than some of the dancers.

"only 10" thing is going to work--do we have a much shorter season? I guess only kick off one person a week?

yes, they only kick 1 person off per week (though they might kick off 2 in one week depending on the episode order now that they have 11 contestants).

I'm beginning to wonder if Anthony was not chosen because of his personality - what little we saw of it. He seems really intense and is obviously a good dancer, but they have to choose what will make good tv.

I was rewatching the audition shows before cleaning them off my dvr last night, and Kent's audition was oh-so-adorable, which I had forgotten. Even the judges reacted to him in that vein ("He's just so cute!!"). I think he's got that charming naive-but-talented personality that they were hoping Mollee and Nathan had last season (but they didn't).

TCM: I may have had some problems with Marcus in the beginning but he's been pretty cool for the last few weeks, I thought. I wish that the hippy lady (Susan?) who was booted two weeks ago had been in the top 3 but, really, I'd eat the hell out of any of their food.

I'm surprised about Anthony.

me too. I can only think that it's because of the injury. Remember at the end, he danced so beautifully, but was in tears afterwards and said "I'm in so much pain". If there wasn't plenty of time between Vegas and Hollywood, he would not have been able to last. I think that they should have given him a ticket to Vegas next year automatically.

I have had a soft spot for Marcus since he was trying to explain the concept of a tailgate to Suser and his hilarious "WTF?" looks when Suser was not getting it.

Also, his wife is HOTTTTTTTTT.

They are a beautiful couple, no doubt.

Susur only seemed vaguely interested in his charity. I'm still not sure what it does.

Also, you know they love the "shaping raw talent and watching it grow" storyline on SYTYCD. I think Kent fits that narrative really well. And yes, you can tell how engaging his personality is by the way the judges and Cat reacted to him. And me too!