catdeeley

(S06E01) FOX is easing us into this new fall season of So You Think You Can Dance with only one episode per week for the first three. Then, the show will settle into its regular Tuesday/Wednesday timeslots; keeping them warm for American Idol in the winter.

Things kicked off in LA with Adam Shankman joining Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy on the dais. I wouldn't mind Shankman taking that slot permanently, as he's the most consistent of the rotating "third judges." With the shorter one-hour premieres, there was little focus on the terrible; instead they chose to show us more of what was great -- a smart move.

If SYTYCD is to be the showcase for the most talented amateur dancers on the planet, we need to see how great they are. Like American Idol, there have been seasons where SYTYCD went too deep into the bad dance, but anyone can do that. What's amazing is seeing people do things you could never in a million years achieve.

(S05E22) The judges were so excited about the final four that they even critiqued the solos. I was glad to see Adam Shankman on the panel as he's one of the few guest judges who truly offers quality criticism to the dancers. Surprisingly, hip-hop was completely absent tonight, but there were some amazing performances. And ballroom came on strong!

GROUP

"Boys Boys Boys," Lady Gaga (Pop-Jazz, Wade Robson)
That was cute. It was a little more mellow than I expected, but I do believe that every man out there with a cheerleader thing just passed out. It was a hot and fun little high school number, and nobody stood out in a negative way so I'll give them that. A feel good opening for sure.

(S05E18) While Mia Michaels was a little better during her last guest stint at the judge's table, it was Ellen DeGeneres that excited me the most. I'm a huge fan of DeGeneres, dating back to her stand-up work. And while I think she's hilarious and I love her comedic style, I'm not sure if her presence here made much sense.

GROUP

"Let It Rock," Kevin Rudolf f. Lil' Wayne (Contemporary, Travis Wall)
I'm not sure this offered each individual dancer the chance to shine that Travis indicated it would; either that or they were all shining in the same style. Nevertheless, it was a high energy performance. I actually found the lighting on the costumes a bit distracting from the performances, but as it's a group number, I'm not too worried about it.

(S05E14) Nigel was finally ready to announce their pending plans for a Michael Jackson tribute, but apparently the big plan hit an insurmountable impasse as they couldn't get the music cleared. It's a shame, because I think the diversity of styles broached on SYTYCD would have made a much better tribute to the King of Pop than that sub-par MJ episode of American Idol the network re-aired the past few weeks.

This is also the last chance that the judges will have to maintain at least a bit of control over who gets eliminated week after week. Next week is the Top Ten and the control shifts entirely to America to figure out who goes home. What isn't clear is if they'll start competing individually or if America will be voting out entire couples. That said, will they even be keeping the same partner from one dance to the next from here on? We already know current partnerships are breaking up. So many questions, so much unclear! But who's in that Top Ten?

(S05E11) You know that there is going to be a lot of unnecessary fluff when there are seven couples and two hours to fill. The show decided to give us highs and lows of the dancers. Damn time wasters. Did anyone notice the credits took twice the amount than they normally do?

Our guest judge was Mia Michaels who admitted that her harsh opinion of Brandon has changed. Cat in her hot fuchsia dress mentioned a "big announcement" near the end of the show, as if she didn't want us to switch over to America's Got Talent. Unfortunately, it wasn't Michael Jackson related.

(S05E09) Oh my god, a group number? Who knew?

Group Number - "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)," Pitbull
(Hip-Hop, Dmitry Chaplan and Napoleon & Tabitha) Cat got a more dramatic entrance after this busy little number. I found myself enjoying the piece as we got into the middle of it. The beginning seemed overly long with the close-ups of the dancers undulating around in the dark. It was more posturing than dancing at that point. But when we got into it there were some nice moments, though no particular breakout stars.

Which actually sums up some of the problems with this season so far. Brandon is a force to be reckoned with, and I like Ade but I think by this point last season I was already seeing a lot of fun personality from Twitch, Joshua, Katee, Chelsea, Courtney, Gev and so many more. Where are those strong dynamic and unique performers this year? We have a lot of great dancers, but a real dearth of stars.

The summertime is when I could get a breath of fresh air from Ryan Seacrest. By the end of American Idol, I'm just hoping that Ryan would stop interviewing contestants and just get to the singing. Eventually the confetti falls, we have a winner, and Ryan Seacrest disappears from my television until January.

So You Think You Can Dance rolls around and we're greeted by the wonderful Cat Deeley. I have to admit that she's light years ahead of Ryan Seacrest. She may not be as witty as Tom Bergeron, but she brings a flair to her hosting duties.

(S05E09) Things were getting too exciting during the competition episodes, so the producers brought in Toni Basil to join Nigel and Mary on the panel. Even though it's a big deal to be receiving a prestigious award, I still found myself dozing off when she started talking about it.

This year, the competition is so tight that it's hard to figure out who's going to be in the bottom three from week to week. So many of the contestants are really impressive in picking up the different styles, and that continued tonight.

What also continued was couples who were great last week being not so great this week. And there are still so many couples that there are only a few favorites sprinkled throughout. In other words "What have you done for me lately?" is in full effect. So what did they do?

(S05E07) Shane Sparks, you sly devil. Somehow he managed to choreograph two routines and allow his face to be shown. That's great because Shane has provided some of the best hip-hop choreography this show has seen. Unfortunately, this episode didn't show any of it.

Cat Deeley starts off the show on an odd note. I didn't know that wrapping my living room drapery over one shoulder is fashionable. The order of the show threw me off, because they put the best performances in the middle and the bad ones on the ends.

(S05E06) The show opened, as usual, with the group number. And because The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" isn't getting enough airplay, So You Think You Can Dance threw the band a bone and used it for this Shane Sparks piece. Unfortunately, with 20 dancers on stage it's hard to make the piece not look like a bit of a mess. Sparks' choreography was pretty good, but I don't think the dancers were all equally up to the task.

When the majority of your dancers are not familiar with the style you're using, it must be even harder to put these things together. This isn't to challenge them, nor is it for votes, it's just supposed to be for entertainment. Unfortunately these numbers aren't as impressive until later in the season. At least they're superior to those awful group numbers they force on the American Idol contestants.

(S05E06) Not to be a hater, but my favorite thing about this first performance episode was the complete and total lack of Mia Michaels anywhere on the show. Now I actually enjoy some of her work as a choreographer, but her horrendous judging and her personality, in general, are becoming very off-putting to me. But we don't have to even think about her tonight because we got the delightful Adam Shankman on the panel instead.

I like Adam because he's got such an upbeat personality, but he's not afraid to criticize when necessary. And when he does, he gives constructive criticism to generally improve the dancers. Tonight he revealed that Katee, Joshua, Ivan and Twitch all have roles in the new movie he's working on: Step Up 3-D.

(S05E02) This week we get four hours of SYTYCD. Four cities over two nights with tons of great auditions and some disastrous ones. In fact, the ratio of good to bad was perfect tonight. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a train wreck as much as the next person, but I enjoy even more seeing something that makes my jaw hit the ground. And we got plenty of that tonight. Already, I'm excited about the season to come.

In Miami, Nigel and Mary were joined by Tice DiOrio while it was Lil' C that offered wisdom in Memphis. The show kept moving at a nice clip, quickly burning through two hours. In fact, it wasn't until my recording stopped that I realized the show had gone over. And it's not even a live show!

"Your metal rod is showing" – Sonya Tayeh

(S05E01) Screams and potential contestants wailing to the cameras start off our show. What did I get myself into? Cat Deeley preps us that we have thousands of dancers, six cities, lots of tears, and one obsessively screaming judge. I guess we don't get an explanation as to what happened to Joshua, other than making it to the opening credits. Whatever did happen to Step Up 3D? Let's hope it doesn't go straight to DVD.

We started the night with New York City's auditions, specifically in Brooklyn. Cat does the Brooklyn Dance while more people dance for the camera. Our judges today are Nigel, Mary, and Tabitha & Napoleon, our favorite lyrical hip-hop choreographers. The dancers still have the same process for auditions: win (straight to Vegas), lose (rejection) or draw (choreography round where the judges will make their decisions).

'So You Think You Can Dance' is back for season 5 (premieres Thurs., May 21, 8PM ET on Fox), and before it's even begun, it's already been announced that season 6 will follow closely behind it this fall.

So does the show's own Cat Deeley think you can ever have too much 'SYTYCD'? Of course not!

We caught up with the über-host to talk fans, her love-it-or-hate-it fashion sense and why finding that special star quality in people makes the show so fun. -- By Maggie Furlong

This week, reality television maintained some normalcy. The outliers in Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, and Hell's Kitchen went home. Although I'll lament the loss of Mel and Mike in The Amazing Race, I believe that all the remaining teams deserve to be there.

Speaking of teams, the Survivor Secret Alliance still has the numbers. With the merge inevitable, we'll see if one of the best alliances ever created will stick together. As long as Coach goes home, I'll be satisfied. More analysis after the jump.