Top 10

We're down to the top ten on So You Think You Can Dance?, and everything changes. New partners every week, each dancer performs a solo and a partner dance, and the voting is all that counts. The solos certainly make the blogging difficult this week! But I LOVE the change this year that they all danced the same solo. It's the first time I've felt like I could really compare dancers side by side. And there was clearly a difference. Let's see...

Jaime kicked off the solos in a big way. She really is a phenomenal dancer, and you could see it in her solo. Her routine with Dominic was ok...I worry about her for tomorrow since all the judges could talk about was Dominic. Kind of a bummer for her again (since she was with Hok up until this week).

I love Dominic. But you could tell in his solo that he is not a trained dancer. And while I didn't think his routine with Jaime was as bad as the judges said, it wasn't great. I don't think it's totally his fault - what was he supposed to do when the choreographer gave him a Spanish Viennese Waltz?

Sara has to be one of the favorites to win the competition. Her solo was phenomenal, and when you realize that she is a b-girl, well...holy cow. I thought it was way better than Nigel gave her credit for - I'm glad that the other judges were so positive. Her disco routine was also excellent. If I was going to vote, I would vote for Sara tonight.

Pasha's solo was pretty good. But I really liked his hip hop routine with Lauren. Who knew that he had that in him? He should be safe for sure!

Ok, I can see why they kept her Lauren! Her hip hop routine with Pasha was really good. I didn't like her solo as much as the judges, but it was definitely well danced overall. (it just didn't show as much emotion or connection with the piece as Sara or Lacey).

Neil is supposedly a contemporary dancer. But I wasn't enthralled with his solo tonight. He did an excellent job with his disco routine though, so it will be close with him whether or not he will stay this week.

After Sabra's routine with Kameron, I would bet that she will be in the final four. Soaring through the air like that was amazing. Her solo was really well danced, but she clearly took a different spin on it than some of the other girls. For those of you who don't usually watch dance, it's impressive how much change you can make by changing the emotions in the very same piece of choreography.

During his routine with Sabra, I wasn't thrilled with Kameron. I agree with the judges...Lacey really had been carrying him and you could tell tonight. His solo was pretty good, but I can see him being in the bottom two (three?) tomorrow night.

Lacey's technique in her solo wasn't as good as some of the other girls', but she is quite the performer - maybe the best in the bunch. The emotions in her dance were amazing. Her performance with Danny was also really good. She was in her element with the style, and she carried both of them.

Danny's solo was good - he's got the contemporary technique down. His routine with Lacey was good too. He kept up with Lacey for the most part, and I think he'll be safe tomorrow night.

So I'm not really sure who will be going home tomorrow night. For the guys, I think it will be close...it will come down to who has more fans. On technique alone, it should be Dominic. But I think (and hope) that he has enough fans to keep him safe and send Neil home. The girls are really tough. They're all so good, so it's almost like finding the worst of the best (or, as my husband likes to say, the skinniest kid at fat camp). I think that we'll be saying goodbye to Jamie tomorrow as well.

Age of Love

I can't believe I'm still watching this. Of course, I do love to watch and yell at them. And I had plenty of opportunities for yelling tonight. Mostly when Jayanna was eliminated, and couldn't believe that her own words were being used against her. How old are you? Anyways, I think we're almost done with this nonsense show...thank goodness.

Evel Dick Gets Even

Last night's episode of BB8 was a good one. I liked the softer, gentler side of Dick. I also liked what one of them said about voting to evict Joe instead of Dick - if he's going to stab you, it'll be from the front. I also thought that the bit with Nick having a list of guys he would date if he was gay was hilarious. Who does that??? :)

I liked the food competition too. I was wondering when we would have a competition like that. It seems that Big Brother does one of those every few weeks to make sure that no one eats slop all summer. (and what's the deal with the slop anyways? I miss PB&Js...)

Oh yeah - I started to pay attention to whether or not the scenes are shown in order, and they DEFINITELY weren't last night. There was a scene with Jen in her normal clothes, then they were all sitting around the table and Jen was back in the darn unitard.

Anyways, no surprise with the nominations, but if neither girl wins PoV, it will be a close vote. Should be good! :)

Eviction #2

Eviction night in the Big Brother house, and another live show. I love the live shows...I am such a nerd! :)

I wasn't surprised at all the Joe went home. He realized it as soon as he got nominated. I thought he had a chance when Dick started shouting at Kail, but it was pretty clear at that point that unless
there was a clear majority voting to keep Joe, no one would. And even though I don't like him, I was glad Dick won HoH...Jen and Kail will be nominated for sure. Of course, if he's smart, he won't nominate Jen. He could nominate Kail and anyone else. Kail would go home. THEN...if Kail wins PoV, he can nominate Jen, and Jen will go home. Either way, Dick will get one of them out of there. I just don't know if Dick is that smart of a player. (or that kind of a strategist...it so often seems like these people haven't watched any of the other seasons!)

I also thought it was interesting Nick's reaction to Julie asking about him and Danielle. Guess that was a secret! Should be interesting to see how THAT plays out in the house, especially since Danielle has been so upfront with everyone (including Nick) that she has a boyfriend. I'm also interested to see the pictures in Dick's HoH room...will there be pictures of Danielle in there?

Not a Shocker on SYTYCD

Well, the top 10 is set on So You Think You Can Dance?, and I'm not that surprised. Don't get me wrong - I have no idea how Anya & Danny got into the bottom three. But once they did their solos, the judge's decisions seemed pretty clear. Hok had to go. He probably should have gone even earlier, especially considering there are other B-Boys that are just as good as him, but are far more versatile. And Anya? Well, you knew they wouldn't send home Jamie, not after all the praise they heaped onto her. And when it came down to it, they definitely have some love for Lauren. I don't know if it's favoritism (since she has connections to the show outside of being a contestant) or if they feel bad that she's been dancing with Neil all these weeks. I guess we'll see next week.

Were Those Dancing Welders?

It was a strange night of dancing on So You Think You Can Dance? tonight. Two couples really separated themselves from the pack, while others were good, but not great. And we had the constant reminder that whoever made it through this week would be in the top 10.

The two top couples were amazing - Sabra & Dominic and Anya & Danny were phenomenal. I don't think there's anything else to say - the four of them were simply amazing.

Rounding out the top three tomorrow night, I think, will be Sarah & Pasha or Lacey & Kameron. Sarah & Pasha were really good tonight. They were each so out of their element, and you would never have known. Lacey & Kameron were also good - better, I think, than the judges gave them credit for. I think that Sarah & Pasha were a bit better, but they have a lot of fans, so it could be close.

Destined for the bottom two are Jamie & Hok and Lauren & Neil. It's funny - before the show started, I said to my husband that everyone I was rooting against was out. But I could root against both of these couples. I loved Tyce's choreography for Jamie & Hok, but I agree completely with the judges - they just didn't play up the characters enough. And Lauren & Neil were good, but not great. The choreography was so strange (and I like strange), but they weren't dancing it together in a bunch of spots.

I don't know how the judges will choose someone to cut - I think that the solos tomorrow night will make all the difference.

Big Brother

I don't know about this season of Big Brother yet. I loved all stars, but DH and I love Chill Town. There's something about Dr. Will that is just genius. There are no real characters on this season, at least not yet.

That isn't to say, of course, that there aren't people that I hate. Because there are - and Jen is #1 on my list. I have never seen someone so self involved (though, I LOVED the Jen drinking game). Who makes shirts like that? And with her currently prancing around in the red unitard, they simply must make her put on underwear. Has anyone else noticed that they aren't showing her from the waist down from the front? Yikes. I feel bad for her family - they must be so "proud." I also wonder how this will affect the rest of her life. I can't imagine anyone hiring
her as a nanny after this. There have been lots of instances where being on a reality show has affected jobs for former contestants. Some it's been good - some people leave a reality show and are inundated with job offers. Others have been fired because they showed their "true side" on air, and have found it hard to find another job. (for example, there are lawyers that have gone on these shows who are now "no longer practicing law") I'm really just embarrassed for her.

I really like Eric, and I wish he wasn't "America's Player" - I would like to see how he would do playing on his own. If he doesn't win (which is still a possibility), I think that the producers should let him come back and play again next summer on his own. I also wonder if they have a plan for what happens when Eric gets nominated/evicted. Hmmm. I also think the producers are being a bit too strict with giving him credit for tasks completed. He should have gotten credit for the sleepwalking (which was hilarious). I think the producers realized how expensive this could get, and are making it harder for him to"complete" the missions - they announced last night that he only gets the money for completing the assignment if the person America has him
vote for actually gets evicted.

I didn't really care about Carol leaving last week, but I'm not such a fan of this week's nominations. I didn't like Danielle being put up against Dick. And now that she has the POV (and when do the others realize she's a threat in the competitions?) I'm not sure about Joe being nominated. I have no idea who would be better to go home, but whoever is left will be going after Jen hard. For a brief moment I thought Jen would nominate Nick. It would have
been for a dumb reason, but if she was smart, it would have been brilliant strategy. Everyone would vote to evict Dick, and therefore she would have the person off that she wanted. But now, I think the vote will be close.

Oh yeah, the strategy in the veto competition was ridiculous. Anyone who got out early should have picked one of the good gifts that had already been picked instead of trying to get the gift with the veto (since if a middle person got the veto, each person after them would have stolen it anyways). It just seemed stupid to me.

Some Thoughts Back from Vacation

Well, I'm back from vacation, and I think I'm almost all caught up with my tivo (though I still have two episodes of Shaq's Big Challenge...with any luck I'll get to those this week, or at least watch them while my husband takes his turn with Harry Potter this weekend (just because it's his birthday doesn't mean I'll let him read it all first!). I'll talk about Big Brother 8 in another post, but have a few thoughts on Age of Love and So You Think You Can Dance?.

A word about Age of Love - even though I set my tivo to record it, it didn't. It's one of the few times that my tivo has chosen to not record something - for all you who think that your tivo has a life of its own, this may back that thought up. Never fear, though - I watched the episodes I missed online. I think I may be the only one. It really is train wreck television. I am rooting for the 40s, and was rooting for crying Mary to be sent packing sooner than she was. She was crying so much that I was seriously worried for her that she was becoming dehydrated. Get that girl some Gatorade! The show is getting really low ratings (go figure), so I wouldn't be shocked to see the last few episodes condensed. I wouldn't be sad either - I've invested enough time in it that I care to see who wins, but it would be great to do it in less time.

So You Think You Can Dance? has me annoyed this summer. I love the dancers - in fact, I think that they're the most talented group ever on the show. And I love the choreography - holy cow, what I would give to work with some of them. So what's annoying me? The judges. I actually think that they're doing an excellent job of judging on performance night (and I LOVED the guest judge last week - he's an amazing choreographer, and did a great job pointing out the parts of the performances that look easy but are actually ridiculously difficult). But their choices to cut have been a bit suspect. They got a lot of heat for cutting Jessi (though I agree that it was the correct decision). And what was their fascination with Cedric? He should have gone home week 1 (or maybe not even have made the top 10). I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when the judges aren't involved with choosing who goes home.

Big Brother 8

I'm pretty excited that Big Brother is back. Of course, it's tempered with the fact that I'm leaving in a few days on a vacation to an island where I won't have tv. Really. (I know, I'm as shocked as anyone that I scheduled a vacation with no tv during a week with the start of Big Brother and, more importantly, the All Star Game...thank God for tivo...) So a few quick thoughts before I get back to figuring out what exactly you pack for a trip to an island with no tv...

It was a good first episode. It seems like an interesting cast, and I like that they're mixing it up with some new twists this season. The fact that three of them have a "rival" in the house is interesting, but I don't understand why only 3 of them have a rival. Two summers ago when they did the "secret relationship" twist, didn't they all have a secret partner, not just a few? Anyways, I'm a fan of the ex-boyfriend (Dustin), but the other two are already getting on my nerves. I'm also not sure of how CBS is handling the fact that Danielle is under 21. She shouldn't be allowed to drink on the show, yet I could have sworn she had champagne with the others. And her bio online has her favorite alcoholic drink listed as margaritas. Something doesn't add up. And did Joe admit on national tv that he had gonorhhea? Interesting choice...

I do like the "America's player" twist. I had already been thinking that I liked Eric, and I like him more now that I get to help him play. (insert evil laughter here) I can't wait to start to tell him how to vote...