Ditto. I enjoyed the original routines much more, and I’m afraid the judges did too. I think it was kind of a shitty thing to do to the dancers- we’re not just going to judge you on the merits of how you did, but also against the original iconic performances. So right out of the gate you’re playing catch-up. Good luck!
I didn’t like the structure of the “one choreographer” show, although if they ever do the same thing for Tyce’s work, it’ll be an easy decision for me to just not watch that week.
And the Ballet Boys’ commentary was about as milquetoast as you can get. I’d think with their experience they could have been a little more constructive. This ep isn’t going to win any Emmys.
Was very surprised they cut Amelia. Now we’re stuck with 2 identical brunette girls I can’t tell apart and 2 identical blonde girls I can’t tell apart (and Eliana). I was also surprised they cut Matt. His first time in the bottom and he seemed just the kind of cute boy who would whip the fan girls into frenzy. George might be a great dancer but wow, boring personality!
I agree that this episode was boring. I don’t think any of the routines was as good as the original. I like Mia and I like her routines, but a whole episode of them is more than I can stand.
Also, this season. I really do not like the format of watching a whole episode, only to find out at the end, who was out from the week before. I find it really confusing. Especially if the dancers do a really good job and get lots of kudos from the judges during the same episode where they are later cut. It seems disingenuous on the judges part.
I think this episode really illustrates how well Mia choreographs to the strengths of the original duo. However, I think stand outs this time were Elianna who danced the hell out of the door routine, I really love her, a ballerina with so much strength and gorgeous technique, and Cole who didn’t try to mimmick Kupono, but took his character in a new direction.
My wife brought up videos of the original on her ipad and then watched them side by side.
Since so much of the changes this season seem to be focused on cost savings (I assume they were on a bubble of cancelation?) I thought they went with the Mia Michaels retrospective so they wouldn’t have to pay for 7 completely new numbers.
I hated the whole show and I typically like Mia’s routines. But everyone else is right… it was cruel to compare the dancers and it was worse, in my opinion, to get rid of one of the most distinctive girls. I’ve had less fun watching this season than any, so I don’t know if I’ll be back for another. It feels like too much has changed.
She wasn’t my favorite, but she was one of two left I recognized…the other was the belly dancer who was also cut this week. None of the rest of them are interesting to me.
I still like Cole and Cyrus, although I had high hopes that the latter was going to grow as a dancer. Instead, he’s pretty much retained his own style and he’s not even remotely in the same league as similar contestants of the past, like Legacy. The choreographers just won’t give him anything new to do. The show is almost depressing in its mediocrity this year. Sigh.
Nigel himself said the show was more or less a disappointment, and I agree. That said, he also said this was much like real life–dancers don’t have choreography created for them. They have to make themselves fit the work, rather than the other way around.
However, it was depressing in a way. One, this show has had so many interruptions this year, it’s weakened my personal investment in the dancers. Two, the weird format of voting off someone based on the previous week’s vote (and this time, from two weeks ago) seems to take away from that night’s performance. Three, going back to some of the most memorable performances with some of their best ever contestants was just plain unfair to these dancers. I couldn’t help but find Amelia’s performance in the butt dance really weak. Actually, both of them I thought were weak. It seemed juvenile and silly, whereas the original was smoldering and voyeuristic. She just seemed her typical perky self.
That said, I think both Cole and Lindsay killed it in the last dance–in fact, they made me forget the original. I actually found myself preferring Cole’s chilling, emotionless interpretation over Kupono’s insidious one. Add Lindsay’s desperation, and it truly was the performance of the night.
I hope these season is an aberration, and next year Fox lets this show be what it had been.
(Although…I’m all for leaving out performances by Katie Holmes et al.)
I really don’t understand why they’re not doing it the way they did during the very first season. Like this year, the first season was only on one night, for two hours. After the night’s performances were over, the voting lines for open for a certain period of time. After voting was over, they would tape the elimination. Then, everyone started working on their next dance. The “results” would air for the first twenty minutes or so at the start of the next episode.
To me, that makes so much more sense than this bizarre “dance, dance, elimination based on the first dance” format they have this year.
I think the reason they are filming the eliminations this way is for them to seem more fair… they also get to talk to the choreographers about their whole body of work and work ethics, mix in the popularity votes from the viewers and possibly let the dances that night sway their decisions, not to mention if they get to dance again for their lives. In reality though, I think it’s all just an allusion and they’re basing who they send home on who had the least votes over all this season. Otherwise, I can’t imagine a compelling reason to let Amelia go.
Also, I think it’s very telling that no single judge keeps going on and on this year about how THIS IS SEASON EVER!!1!
I was amused yesterday by Nigel’s comments on why they kept saving the blonde girl AND why “Cyrus was still there.” I think he’s peeved that America is Getting It Wrong, from his pov.
I think they saved Lindsay FOUR times! And all for nothing, because the first time the judges couldn’t intervene, she was gone.
She must be a fabulous dancer, but clearly she couldn’t connect with the voters.
That was actually Witney that was eliminated last night. Lindsay, the other blonde ballroom dancer, was eliminated last week.
I think the fact that I could only remember the blonde ballroom dancers’ names after one was eliminated pretty much encapsulates how I feel about this season.
I’ve watched every episode of every season, and I’m finding it hard to maintain enthusiasm this time around.
Part of it is the new format: it seems incredibly rushed, like we got down from 20 to 6 in 2 weeks.
The most memorable dancers got the boot early (the flapper, the belly dancer) and everyone else seems interchangeable. I can’t remember anyone’s names.
I miss Adam Shankman as a judge, and Wade Robson as a choreographer.
And it seems (possibly not borne out by the facts) that the dance mix has leaned heavily towards jazz and contemporary, and I’m getting pretty sick of writhe, spin, fall down, get up.
Lindsay was saved twice - and one of those pretty much came down to, “Do we let Lindsay or Amelia on the tour?” I am still a little surprised Nigel did not immediately announce that they would let Amelia be on the tour. (Wasn’t Amelia the one who said during Vegas week that she needed the show because nobody was hiring her?)
Witney, on the other hand, was saved three times, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it was almost solely to keep “the ballroom girls” together on the show as much as possible? The problem now is, while both of them are on the tour, the one male ballroom dancer was cut in the Top 20 round.
I might have an idea as to why Nigel isn’t exactly thrilled with Cyrus (who, along with Tiffany, have never needed a save). Nigel said that one of the things he asks the choreographers is, “Would you hire this dancer?”, and I have a feeling a number of them would say, “No, unless I was casting the next Step Up movie.” (I am fairly convinced that the real reason the show exists is for the producers to sign dancers to work contracts, which explains the age limits to some degree.)
