So You Think You Can Dance: Judges' Pets Get Unfair Advantage - Here's The Rankings
Commentary by RTVC Senior Staff Writer Joseph Braverman
July 31, 2012
It made a difference.
So You Think You Can Dance has started to break my spirits this season.
I rightfully attest that Season 8 deserves the Emmy it was just nominated for, but I think after this season I’m ready to see a true All-Stars season, because quite frankly I’m missing some genuine personalities and a format that truly worked wonders in the past.
Yes, there’s nothing SYTYCD can do about the loss of their results show, but for goodness sake they cram so much into one episode, and then the second dance really doesn’t mean anything for the eliminated contestants, which in turn makes the judges’ comments seem less genuine and reactionary since they already know the results.
Got thoughts? Post them at the end.
I thought Season Seven was my least favorite season, but Season Nine just might be the worst of the worst, much in the same vein that Idol’s Season Nine never really jived with the public.
Before jumping into the rankings, I need to discuss one main point of contention I had that never seems to have laid to rest where it should have during Season Five with Tyce Diorio’s Breast Cancer Routine.
Yes, it is necessary to put on a good show with some amazing choreography and a truly moving story, but please don’t be so blatant about it to the point where I legitimately feel bad for the rest of the contestants.
How could any of the other contestants even compete with Chehon and Witney after their contemporary piece to Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”?
It’s simply an unfair advantage doled out, where the other dancers are made to suffer not because their dancing was worse, but simply because their routine itself was not pandering as much for votes.
Who is going to vote against a Whitney Houston routine, in the same manner that no one would vote against a routine about breast cancer?
You all know my anger over that routine, which undeniably caused Janette’s elimination when it was all but guaranteed a week prior that Melissa was going home based on the votes being cast.
Now, you can kind of make the same argument about Travis Walls’ “Fix You” routine, but to me his story was a personal one that didn’t have any ulterior motives to get people voting.
I’m not disregarding the routines of Tyce Diorio and Stacey Tookey as anything less than powerful or meaningful to them, but I’m cautioning the show to not create certain routines or use specific music that is without question going to skew voting in favor of certain dancers, no matter how well or poor they dance.
That’s not fair to the rest of the competitors who are trying their damndest every week to be America’s Favorite Dancer.
What chance to they have when two dancers are choreographed to a routine where Whitney Houston’s song is playing, with her actual voice being heard?
I cannot in good conscience support such an action being made on the program, and seeing as how it has eliminated incredibly deserving contestants before, I fear Witney and Chehon – whether they deserve to or not – will now make the final four because of that one routine.
It’s quite simply not fair at all.
I’ve said my piece, so let’s get to some rankings before I start weeping.....
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