(S01E05) I have to say, I'm glad to be done with the qualification episodes. The show is always best when it gets into the competition round anyway, but these last couple episodes have just been very poorly produced. It's hard to argue for or against any of the judges decisions about who is in, and who is out, because we have seen so little of the actual performances.

Getting the final fifty contestants down to the top twenty followed along those same lines. It was an hour spent trying to create suspense that mostly fell flat. It's a little difficult being concerned whether or not someone is moving on when we haven't even been introduced to them. And since they refuse to put names on the screen, we aren't even sure who some of them are anyway.

(S01E04) After the three audition episodes that seemed to plod along, spending so much time on interviews and back stories, this episode just felt odd. It was as if they stuffed two hours of show in a one hour bag. Dancers just appeared on screen with no names or introduction, whether we had seen them before or not.

It was also hard to get any idea about the judges decisions. For so many of the contestants we were only shown small fractions of their performance. Between this and the 'new format every week!' On The Lot debacle, I'm left wondering if everyone in the Fox reality department has just closed up shop for the summer. It's all very strange. But there were auditions, so after the jump a look at a few of the stories that stood out in Vegas.

(S03E01) If the May sweeps are over and a new American Idol has been crowned, it must mean it's time for another season of So You Think You Can Dance. Given its heritage, I usually think of the show as American Idol's younger sibling. It is never going to get Idol numbers, but it works hard to try and live up to the example that its big brother has set. The show also gains a lot in being able to build on what is already a successful format.

Unfortunately, the show also suffers from some of the problems that Idol has, as was evidenced in this first episode of season three. The Idol audition episodes always make me wonder if people really do tune in to see the horrible performers. Would the ratings be any less if the focus was switched more to the people with an actual shot in the competition? Or perhaps, would they possibly be even better? After the New York auditions, I'm left wondering that same things about SYTYCD.