A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

AND THEY COME UP WITH FUN NICKNAMES LIKE TWITCHINGTON, TOO: It took me the better part of four days to watch last week's SYTYCD -- for lack of time, not lack of interest -- and tonight, attendance at my first baseball game of the season will once again preclude timely viewing or posting. And so, while I do hope to eventually get around to posting on actual individual dances one of these days, today I will simply offer up my own macrolevel list of things I love about the show.

• Dancing is Hard, Yo. I hate to perpetually define SYTYCD in terms of its relationship to American Idol, but in this case it's necessary. Singing is one of those things that a person either can or can't do. We all sit here and talk about smart song choices and stupid song choices, but at the end of the day, AI competitors have the pipes their mama gave 'em. But while every dancer in the SYTYCD top 20 is indisputably talented, they can't all do it all. The dancers' abilities to learn types of movement that they've never done (or often even seen) before, to perform those moves with a partner, to not drop that girl they're flinging around in the air -- this is not easy.
• Nigel is Really, Really Good at This. I'm always impressed by Nigel (and, presumably, the other producers) and the degree to which he takes his job seriously. When he praised the Tabitha/Napoleon choreography last week, you could all but hear the unspoken "oh thank God that we've got Tabitha and Napoleon on board to do something other than the same tired stuff that Shane Sparks was dishing out all last season." His comments to the dancers reflect both his own dance expertise as well as an acutely tuned sense of what it takes to do well on this TV show. (Dancing plus personality plus getting a little lucky in the random selection of genres plus the all-important secret nudging to vote for certain people by virtue of what the judges do and don't say.) And, of course, he has fun -- could you see Simon Cowell agreeing to be tied up for some big AI group sing?
• The Dancers and Choreographers are Amazing. On the subject of AI group sings, can you think of a single one that didn't suck to some degree or another? In contrast, the SYTYCD group dances are almost always really creative and interesting, as are a solid percentage of the partner dances. True, there are some clunkers here and there, but for the most part -- great stuff, great to watch.
• Cat Deeley. I love Cat. Everyone loves Cat.
• Fabulous Self-Referentialness. I've said it before, I'll say it again: SYTYCD constantly rewards the long-time viewer. From Cat pausing for the audience to shout "jidges" on the very first live-audience episode of the season to the invocation of the tamale express without a moment of explanation to the casual mention of Wade Robson getting revenge on Nigel for last season's mama/baby fox (get it? FOX?) dance in the finale (oh, and speaking of Wade, oh my God), SYTYCD is a homey little club where everybody knows your . . . well, you know.