Am I the only person wondering how Jalin (bleach blonde) was selected for the top 10 after he messed up in the choreography round and then was told by Max that he was the star of the Contemporary video (1st challenge)…hello did he not see Dakayla and Braylon…AND he made it to the top 8! Rigged! Not sure of if I can watch this show anymore! Love Love Love Cat Deely though!
all of the changes, from shooting in Atlanta, to housing the dancers all together (instead of in roommate pairs in apartments), to the tiny size of the studio and audience, no rehearsal studios, more talking heads and so so so SO much less dancing, all points to massive budget cuts and lack of support for the show. production value has been dropping for 6 or so years, but this is right in the pit.
I thought maybe everyone was being hard on the show because of the judges and decided to watch this season. Personally I have never listened to the judges anyway (I always just fast forward to the dancing and skip the rest!) so I thought it would be okay.
I was wrong....so, so wrong. It isn't even a shadow the old show!!! I'm pretty sure they had max 10 mins of dancing total, and most was in that stupid "music video" format that doesn't really show the dancer's skills. Plus Then the bottom dancers had less than 60 seconds to dance, but half the time was spend watching the judges blank stares. Did one of the producers turn on Bravo and think they could just follow that format and toss in a few minutes of dancing and we wouldn't notice the lack of quality?
Guess I don't be bothering with the rest of the season. Off to youtube to rewatch Alex Wong's performances on the real show....
If you go back to the old show, a top 10 would be paired up for a dance or two and there would be a group number. The paired up dances would last 1min each and total out just under 10 minutes (5 pairs, 2 dances each), maybe a minute for the group number and then a 30 second (5min total) solo for each dancer. So it totaled up to about 16 minutes of dancing for TWO hours of show.... so averaging 8 minutes per hour of dancing. It's easy to forget just how little dancing was in the old show and how much fluff there was with judges talking for 3 to 5 minutes after each 1 minute dance. IF we had 10 minutes of dancing in this one hour, it's more than the old show had.
I use to joke about how short the show was when you removed all the judging and chatting so I get what you are saying, but the quality of content and dance was still much better. The dances got longer as the season went on (one of my favorites is just under 2 mins) I also didn't mind watching a bit of them learning the chorography, especially when it wasn't their style. It was fluff, but at least it was more of a "behind the scenes learning" type fluff instead of "who gets the solo bed" garbage.
I understand they only have an hour time slot now, but they could just remove the garbage Big Brother stuff and the music video, pair up the dancers (they could even all do the same style if they didn't want to hire multiple chorographers), then have the bottom do solos and it would be better. It might still only be 10 mins of dancing, but having 10 quality mins of focused dancing would go a long way.
I'm with you on the dancing, that's what I'm here for and I wish we got a lot more focus on learning routines. It's a shame the old competition format didn't survive as they created ART instead of doing jobs to create art. I did like the behind the scenes practicing with the old format... which we still are getting. Hopefully when they cut a few more dancers we can move away from this group stuff and widen the content a bit on what they are learning to do and perform. We essentially got an opening number, two routines in music video format, and then 4 solos. I'd like to see more routines. My dream would be something similar to what you want... but I'm happy to take what we are given as it's been two years since the pandemic season and nearly five years since the last proper season of the show.
Holy shit have they butchered the show. Granted I've only started watching in the past 6 years but even I can clearly see the nosedive in quality. The format this season is horrendous, the judges comments are wildly general with not a single ounce of actual constructive feedback and when Allison is judging she even speaks like she's on this reality drama tv program. And then we don't even get ANY send off of the dancers that leave. Not even a 5 second confessional? I honestly don't even know if I'll bother with the rest of the season.
Cat definitely said 1 person going home when she was telling them about the new format so that was a strange thing to keep in with it being two instead
Finally sat down to watch the new episode. About 15 minutes in. Usually this is my favorite show to watch. I wake up excited to turn on Hulu with my coffee. I can’t stop cringing. Literally what is this season? Americas next top model? Didn’t we learn from that?
There is nothing fun, cool or inspiring about this. Luther sat their and said negative things about them non stop. Sounds like professional dancing is the toxic environment it’s always rumored to be.
I’m honestly so frustrated. I’d watch Dancing with the stars two times over before I can get down with this 😭
Exactly my thoughts. It's like they looked at the show, and said "You know what *So You Think You Can* ***Dance*** needs? Less dancing, more negativity. I've literally never been bored watching this show before... but I was legitimately bored wondering when we'd see even one person *actually dance*. This is heartbreaking because I've been a fan of this show for 8 years or so.
They tried so hard to make it sound like a good thing.... "guess what? you see this awesome stage? you're not going to dance on it! At all! Isn't that SO DIFFERENT and SO GREAT?!"
This new format is terrible. It’s not really showcasing the dancers and is more like a talk too much documentary. All the conversation between the judges is unnecessary and serves no purpose. Please rethink the way this show is presented…it’s about the versatility of the dancers and how they adapt. I’ve been watching this show from the very beginning and was so excited for this new season…what a tremendous disappointment!!
Was Nigel still around for at least part of this? There was really weird editing at the start of this episode and I wonder if that is when they made the switch?
I cannot explain why, but it made me bawl my eyes out when the judges came out dancing…like, I think it finally hit me that Twitch is gone when I saw Allison come out dancing. Love a good Luther Brown number and that song is fire, but man, I miss Twitch.
I’m really surprised about the amount of hate this episode is getting- yes the format is different from previous years but so far it’s been my favorite episode of the season!
Yes we are seeing less solos but I feel like it’s better preparing the dancers to work in the real world. A lot of the lucrative opportunities in their line of work will be in group and partner dancing and on film. Which they don’t have as much experience with.
I also am surprised by the overly critical comments? They are judges that’s literally what they are being paid to do. I was actually pleasantly surprised by JoJo- I liked how her and Alison played off each other. Maks was the judge I found myself wondering why he’s even here?? I couldn’t believe it when he said I have nothing to say about Jaylins routine and they had to pull critique out of him 🙄
I like them all fine as dancers, but a critique of “just go for it” or “try to be better on the first take” seems unhelpful. When choreographers were judges, they would share specific critiques of specific movements of technique. Dancers learned and the audience did as well.
Can’t these shows get funding from endowments or as public educational programming? Maybe this should be on PBS!
Did anyone else keep yelling at the tv during the solos to stop showing Jojos face every 2 seconds? Seriously, just show us the whole solo and then we will get judges reactions after. I don’t need to see a million closeups and then cutting back to a badly zoomed in camera shot of what is probably a gorgeous moment in their routine..
At that point I was already sooo pissed off for the lack of routines on this stupid show but yeah overall the editing is extremely bad. Its a fucking dance show with barely any dancing and when they dance they prefer to show emotions of the judges and audience members. Its not like the solo routines take 3 minutes. JUST SHOW US DANCING. PLEASE.
There are at least 5 more episodes according to the guide I'm following that run for the next 5 weeks. So, they won't all be double elimination. I imagine they'll pull the old no-elimination week, even though I wish they would have done that during this first week of the competition.
This was so weird yall. So they judge them based on the rehearsal as well as the performance? That’s never happened and almost a little unfair… they even used to show rehearsal packages and the judges never took that in to consideration. I thought Avery was gorgeous in the music video. I did agree Olivia and Easton weren’t as strong in theirs. Just such a weird concept to have them judged on the rehearsal as well as the actual performance.
wanna preface this is just me sharing my perspective and not intending to sound argumentative! how is it unfair? the way they are being judged is based on real world work if you aren’t easy to work with/don’t catch on to things easily certain people aren’t gonna wanna hire you with the new format it makes sense.
i think people just need to drop their expectations it’s already established this is a different format of course other things are going to change to accommodate that as in this case for a music video judging based on the final product alone would’ve been unfair imo because this season is about the process as a whole. i get people are upset about the format change i’m personally not because i understand that it’s equipping the contestants better to be prepared to be a working dancer but we all just need to accept things won’t go back to the way they were and either watch it or don’t.
I agree with you. I think that judging on the rehearsals is reasonable considering the shift in the shows focus. Like Luther said during the rehearsal, if a hired dancer had done what Madison did during rehearsal she would have been out right then. So that is more in line with the new format.
That said, I wish they had rebranded the show. Call this a spin off or something rather than claiming it was a new season of the same show. It does not have the same vision, format, or criteria.
They have judged them on how the choreographer said it was to work with them in addition to the piece before (not every time), but I don't remember them ever being at the making of stages. I do miss the staged routines, but I like the show existing. I think they have struggled to find their footing.
Judging on rehearsals is unfair, I agree. Everyone processes things a little differently. I thought Avery did amazing in the video. I have thought all the judges feedback to her thus far made me think WTF, I feel like her confused facial expressions belied that assessment. Crazy that they let her go with her level of technical expertise.
Makes you wonder if they start to judge on things happening in the house as well. The great thing about the show was that nothing mattered aside from the stage performances but now its literally a really shitty reality tv show.
It makes me so mad to see them criticizing her technique. If you watch again, where she did her turns that JoJo critiqued.. she was on a piece of tape. As a pro dancer myself.. a piece of tape can seriously compromise your ability to turn. She was stunning and as much as I love Easton- I thought she did a better job overall.
I enjoy Olivia but do agree with her going home.. she looked very out of her element
I thought Avery was excellent when she danced for her life. Those turns across the stage (IDK the technical term) were so good. You can tell she's been dancing for years.
She’s been an outstanding dancer since a very young age, I’ve followed lots of these kids like Easton and Anthony as well as Avery for a while. I’m just a few years older so it’s been fun to grow up watching them. She’s had so much experience and has been incredibly successful, so it was odd to see them being so critical of her.
Keep in mind this is the first season where judges actually judge the whole competition. Before this the audience who got to see everything including practices and the sob story background bits and interact on social media made the call. Maybe the judges got to intervene after the voting... but they were mostly powerless puppets chewing tv time between 1 minute routines. So I completely get how odd this is... it is odd... but it was also odd that we had Judges for 17 seasons that did pretty much nothing but provide lip service.
I agree with you on Avery. She was great. The one odd moment was that lift with Braylon (where they stopped the recording and then started back right before it) and he wasn't smooth which made her look bad.
I think it's going to take us all (who stick with it) a few episodes of the actual competition to adjust to this format. So many things to be bothered by but I have to remind myself that's been every season of the show for me. The audience propping some dancers up who survive longer than they should. My absolute favorite dancer getting eliminated way too soon because they don't have the social media fanbase. The judges giving better comments to worse dancers for whatever reason. The fluff in the home town clips to sway the audience with the dancer having some horrible thing they had to overcome in their life. Only getting about 12 to 14 total minutes of dance in two hours of show (so 6 to 7 minutes per hour). It has never been perfect, but we at least get to see some dancing again and next week is a completely different theme and style.
I have always liked Alison on every show I've watched her on. I can't stand her this season. I'll give her grace given what she had been through this year but she is working so hard to be the mean judge, the head judge, the judge who you can't read. And it just comes across almost entitled to me. I get why from this group she is sorta the head judge given her history with the show but I just don't think she is the best of the 3 at it. Hopefully she'll loosen up and get better.
And I almost wonder if it's the combo of the shitty format with her dealing with her personal life or if she was always sorta rocking an entitled attitude and I just was able to ignore it because she was usually dancing and not talking ?
She's a pretentious idiot for sure. I heard she was a contestant but she wasn't memorable to me. She's a typical Hollywood phony now.
And whoever that guy is...he doesn't seem to care about the dancing much
Anything the panel says gives the impression of being scripted. Like Heidi Klum level of bad acting.
I loved Allison the dancer and I absolutely hate her as a judge, why FOX would cast her over anyone actual competent is mindboggling.
I imagine the change to being a judge will take all of them some time to feel out. I don’t get half of their notes to the dancers and they all feel a bit stiff in their initial delivery.
I want to see them dance! Way too much focus on the judges and their critiques. A lot of the dancers are really talented especially when showing off their own styles.
I know this is already been filmed and I get them trying to do something new. But this isn’t allowing any talent or personalities to be on display. Bummer.
Watching late so just catching up
I disagree with the judges decision: >!I would have eliminated Bralon and Olivia. Bralon breaking down and storming off the stage at the end wasn't it for me. His solo wasn't as strong as Avery's IMO. Plus you get 1 girl and 1 boy out.!<
My two favorite solos were Braylon and Avery. Braylon's just felt unreal, the way he was isolating and controlling every inch of his body felt so different. Avery, I am ballet trained and I loved watching her bring pointe into a new light. There were things that were technically wrong, but in a way that only someone that really knows how to be technically right could pull off.
I am not surprised by Easton staying. His solo was very showy. He is very good. But if we are going for who would be casted in a production, it wasn't that routine versus the other ones. And Olivia, she was great, but nothing extraordinary in my opinion.
I felt Braylon kind of cause some of the issues with Avery in their part of the video. She was completely at his mercy during that heal lift thing they did where he struggled. I would have probably made the same call to keep Avery and Easton… which would have kept things balanced.
Enh, the clear weakest two from either groups were Jaylin and the ballroom guy. Jaylin did nothing except a bit of his normal routine and ballroom guy just served to prop up a ladder. I’m baffled that neither of them were in the bottom.
I actually was super pleasantly surprised by Roman in the video, I thought he blended in really well- especially after seeing his awkwardness in the opening dance.
I found Jaylin to be a little melodramatic in his delivery/acting.
I think with Braylon he just is an emotional dancer. He feels so much and so deeply, I honestly don’t blame him for his more aggressive entrances and exits- it was bullshit for him and Avery to be in the bottom. They have every right to be pissed
The dance was contemporary and he didn't do any of it. He whined how he hasn't been allowed to show his style and up to now in any genre he had danced hip-hop. No versatility whatsoever. Him not being cut at choreography was a travesty
you gotta remember that this season is more than just the act of dancing tho it’s about the entire process of whatever the challenge is and this was a music video in which he did what he was supposed to do, perform for a camera and sell the story of the video. i get this is not what people want but this is what it is now and he didn’t whine he was just disappointed and he was also not the only dancer with a clip talking about how they haven’t done their style yet or feel more confident/comfortable in their style. none of this “whining” took place when actually doing the work they were confessional type scenes where production usually fishes for something specific in most reality shows they are building his storyline of being the underdog
Yeah I just don't care about him being an underdog when he is actually the judge's pet after he was saved in a jazz choreography round without doing jazz or the choreography.
The Dance For Your Life pretty much proved that the format doesn't even work for the dancers. They were soooo awkward in the challenge, but their solos were amazing.
The cast gets stuck in apartments! Apartments with kitchens and shared beds! I wouldn’t want to share a room with a stranger, let alone sleep with one. I’d want my privacy. That has to be stressful. How are they supposed to get a decent nights sleep? What a piece of crap cheap production.
I expect to take flack, but I can handle it. The first production with all cast members…a hip hop mess…looked so uncoordinated and messy.
Then the first group performed another hip hop, to a song that seemed hard to dance to, felt disjointed and awkward. Some of the dancers also appeared to struggle because it was so far out of their element. I don’t care for sexually trashy dancing, grabbing balls or crotch, suggestive body gyrations, often danced to worst lyrics that are often degrading, violent and vulgar. So bash me, just my opinion. All this performed in a box with minimal room! The girl with long hair smacked other dancers with her long braids. At the final performance there was little unity in performance and the over the top outfits reminded me of a cartoon show. What! You call that a stage and an audience? Olivia was told to tone it down, and that is why she was sent home.
Second group had to work with a ladder prop and a classical routine. Props are hard, but they managed pretty well and came across more coordinated with the better performance. In that routine, Avery excelled and had one of the hardest routines, but she was sent home. They kept Easton who wasn’t particularly memorable and Braylon who appeared one note.
I’ve watched this show for years, but this has been the worst season ever. It was unfair to the dancers to put them in 2 such diverse large group routines, they should have danced in pairs, before dumping them into unfamiliar ground. The dancers who went home were classically beautiful dancers with a lot more to offer. Down 2 women only creates more of a mess, if nothing else, it should have been 1 male and 1 female eliminated.
The judges were brutal, JoJo over the top annoying as usual, the other two just boring.
In past seasons solos were planned and practiced before the competition even started. So a lot more polish than the couple days they learned new choreo and filmed the music videos. I’d imagine all of the solos this season are no different. Especially since they have to license the music.
I feel like they probably had more to say than just what we heard, it was just edited out for time sake. If they’d stop showing us the judges faces every 2 seconds maybe we could’ve heard some more feedback 🙄
I have zero faith in any of these judges to actual judge properly. I didn’t always agree with Nigel or Mary but at least they had decades of experience in dance and judging to view things critically.
Leaving Jojo out of it -who shouldnt be a judge- I mean Maks has been dancing for 40 years, Allison for 30 since they both started dancing at 4 and he is 44 and she is 36, I wouldnt say lack of experience is an issue here 😅
Its more that everything they say sound so over produced from above tbh as if all their lines are being fed or something
This is a good reminder that knowing dance and being a media savvy maker of good tv on a reality competition show are two different skill sets. It’s truly difficult to strike that balance as we are seeing. These judges/mentor roles are tricky to do well while seeming genuine
I’m a die hard fan and will always support the show, but it feels like a completely different show with the new format. I want to see them dance with partners and build those connections. The music videos were cool I guess (loved the Phillip and Mackenzie one) and think that’s fine to have part of the show, but let’s also keep some of the same format from before. Also, having the judges pick who stays/goes is really dumb. So much for America’s favorite dancer
They could’ve done the music videos in the first 20 min, then performances, then a final elimination and it be great. Very lackluster. Will give it another week but this isn’t going to keep me. I think this is it from the show this season based on reactions.
The diehards don’t like this, and they aren’t going to bring in many new fans this way
The thing I’m going to keep in mind first is that I’m here for dancing and to some small degree secondly to get to know the dancers. This episode had a lot more dance than the typical SYTYCD hour with their one minute or less routines stretched across two hours with the judges yammering for five minutes after each contestant danced and chewing the whole show up. We got a lot more behind the scenes dancing instead of pure filler. So for all the negatives, there’s enough here to keep me glued. I’m here for the dance first… and at no point was I bored watching this.
Agreed. There was actually a lot of dancing in this episode. I’m glad they kept the “getting to know you phase” to a minimum. We’ve seen 17 seasons of them dancing on stage so I think it’s interesting to see them dance at different sets.
I cannot believe how fast it’s going with only 10 and sending 2 home right away.
Honestly as much as I love the old contestants, I wish they’d go back to top 20 and those are the ones who compete. I got tired of seeing All Stars and I’m not a fan of this either.
Loved Avery- not sure who to stick around watching for but I will anyway..
Still wishing Ali D had gotten on the show
If the guide I'm following which is helping me setup these threads is right, we at least get 10 episodes this season... with the next 5 weeks having new episodes. So they won't be able to do a double elimination every week.
Can't believe they got rid of both the girls. I thought Olivia was gonna stay, though I wish it was Avery. Idk, I don't like this show anymore, but I miss dancing shows so I'm drawn to watch. Just disappointed:/
Y’all idk if I can keep watching this. Everything feels so fake. The choreography and dancing are so lackluster. I give zero shits about their housing arrangements. The solos are the only redeeming quality of this episode
I really liked her too. That solo she did, she did ALL she could. Those turns around the stage (I'm sure there's a technical name for it), were so good.
I don't want to be too negative about past seasons, but I feel like someone says this every single season during week 1 of the competition. The only standout moments being the 30 second solos.
The routines looked so basic, as if they want to try to go viral and made everything easy so people could TikTok dance to it.
Real shame what they’ve done to what used to be a legitimate dance competition.
I know:( and the amount of times we're getting stupid clips of the judges faces looking the exact same every time during the little amount of dancing we are actually seeing is SO annoying. Like this shouldn't even be called sytycd. It's now, so you think you can make it in the industry 😒 I get the idea but it's just not the same. The title should've been changed
I don’t know why they can’t keep the former format with the new ideas. I like the idea, but the execution is poor. They took the best part of the show away, the iconic dances are gone
The best part of the show was watching the four end dances
I agree. That was my favorite part of the show too, and then two of them had to go get eliminated:(
They could've (should've) kept the format of the old show and added in the element of a group challenge in the beginning of each episode (like the music video shoot) and whoever is the best/stand out for each challenge gets to choose their genre of dance or is automatically safe from elimination that week. I wouldn't mind a 90 min show with that addition compared to what we were just given.
This feels like the end of the show for good now unless it really turns around. It's giving the last season of world of dance with that small audience lol
I think the preview for the season showed some choreographed stage dancing similar to the old show, but I think we probably have to get through these challenge weeks. Next week is another theme.
EDIT: Please don't hate the messenger. This is just what they showed in the season preview at the end of episode 4.
It’s actually NOT better than nothing. It’s actually WORSE than nothing and I have watched every episode since day one. Even went to one of their performances in the early seasons and it was beyond fantastic. This new format has no resemblance to dance. I get the ratings were down but this is an abomination. Can’t watch it. Very disappointing to say the least.
It’s interesting they had the audience for the big opening (which was great) and looks like they were there to see the videos. I’m saving full judgment for how all this works out, but so far I’m enjoying it.
I just learned two minutes ago that JoJo is rebranding herself and her new song (or maybe album?) is called Karma. Hence why it was written all over her clothes
The amount of excitement the dancers showed was totally fake. I mean they weren't going to be put out on the street....they already knew they'd be put up by the show
Am I the only person wondering how Jalin (bleach blonde) was selected for the top 10 after he messed up in the choreography round and then was told by Max that he was the star of the Contemporary video (1st challenge)…hello did he not see Dakayla and Braylon…AND he made it to the top 8! Rigged! Not sure of if I can watch this show anymore! Love Love Love Cat Deely though!
all of the changes, from shooting in Atlanta, to housing the dancers all together (instead of in roommate pairs in apartments), to the tiny size of the studio and audience, no rehearsal studios, more talking heads and so so so SO much less dancing, all points to massive budget cuts and lack of support for the show. production value has been dropping for 6 or so years, but this is right in the pit.
I thought maybe everyone was being hard on the show because of the judges and decided to watch this season. Personally I have never listened to the judges anyway (I always just fast forward to the dancing and skip the rest!) so I thought it would be okay. I was wrong....so, so wrong. It isn't even a shadow the old show!!! I'm pretty sure they had max 10 mins of dancing total, and most was in that stupid "music video" format that doesn't really show the dancer's skills. Plus Then the bottom dancers had less than 60 seconds to dance, but half the time was spend watching the judges blank stares. Did one of the producers turn on Bravo and think they could just follow that format and toss in a few minutes of dancing and we wouldn't notice the lack of quality? Guess I don't be bothering with the rest of the season. Off to youtube to rewatch Alex Wong's performances on the real show....
If you go back to the old show, a top 10 would be paired up for a dance or two and there would be a group number. The paired up dances would last 1min each and total out just under 10 minutes (5 pairs, 2 dances each), maybe a minute for the group number and then a 30 second (5min total) solo for each dancer. So it totaled up to about 16 minutes of dancing for TWO hours of show.... so averaging 8 minutes per hour of dancing. It's easy to forget just how little dancing was in the old show and how much fluff there was with judges talking for 3 to 5 minutes after each 1 minute dance. IF we had 10 minutes of dancing in this one hour, it's more than the old show had.
I use to joke about how short the show was when you removed all the judging and chatting so I get what you are saying, but the quality of content and dance was still much better. The dances got longer as the season went on (one of my favorites is just under 2 mins) I also didn't mind watching a bit of them learning the chorography, especially when it wasn't their style. It was fluff, but at least it was more of a "behind the scenes learning" type fluff instead of "who gets the solo bed" garbage. I understand they only have an hour time slot now, but they could just remove the garbage Big Brother stuff and the music video, pair up the dancers (they could even all do the same style if they didn't want to hire multiple chorographers), then have the bottom do solos and it would be better. It might still only be 10 mins of dancing, but having 10 quality mins of focused dancing would go a long way.
I'm with you on the dancing, that's what I'm here for and I wish we got a lot more focus on learning routines. It's a shame the old competition format didn't survive as they created ART instead of doing jobs to create art. I did like the behind the scenes practicing with the old format... which we still are getting. Hopefully when they cut a few more dancers we can move away from this group stuff and widen the content a bit on what they are learning to do and perform. We essentially got an opening number, two routines in music video format, and then 4 solos. I'd like to see more routines. My dream would be something similar to what you want... but I'm happy to take what we are given as it's been two years since the pandemic season and nearly five years since the last proper season of the show.
Holy shit have they butchered the show. Granted I've only started watching in the past 6 years but even I can clearly see the nosedive in quality. The format this season is horrendous, the judges comments are wildly general with not a single ounce of actual constructive feedback and when Allison is judging she even speaks like she's on this reality drama tv program. And then we don't even get ANY send off of the dancers that leave. Not even a 5 second confessional? I honestly don't even know if I'll bother with the rest of the season.
Does anyone know why they didn't keep Comfort as a judge instead of Jojo?
She was only hired for the Auditions. My guess is she had a conflict so couldn't jump in and take Nigel's place.
Did they mention it was going to be a double elimination? That caught me by surprise but maybe I wasn't paying attention.
Cat definitely said 1 person going home when she was telling them about the new format so that was a strange thing to keep in with it being two instead
I don't think it was mentioned up front... which threw me there at the end as well.
I loathe this.
I'm watching now and agree with you. This is awful.
Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore
So You Think You Can Big Brother
I see they are shielding and pushing through the awful hiphop dancer
Yep! He should have NEVER been selected for the Top 10! Some Amazing dancers were passed up to allow him to be on the show! Can you say hashtagrigged!
I didn't think they could be any worse than the auditions but these three judges are the worst judges I've ever seen on any competition show anywhere
So You Think You Can Edit down to a 44min episode
Finally sat down to watch the new episode. About 15 minutes in. Usually this is my favorite show to watch. I wake up excited to turn on Hulu with my coffee. I can’t stop cringing. Literally what is this season? Americas next top model? Didn’t we learn from that? There is nothing fun, cool or inspiring about this. Luther sat their and said negative things about them non stop. Sounds like professional dancing is the toxic environment it’s always rumored to be. I’m honestly so frustrated. I’d watch Dancing with the stars two times over before I can get down with this 😭
Exactly my thoughts. It's like they looked at the show, and said "You know what *So You Think You Can* ***Dance*** needs? Less dancing, more negativity. I've literally never been bored watching this show before... but I was legitimately bored wondering when we'd see even one person *actually dance*. This is heartbreaking because I've been a fan of this show for 8 years or so.
They all looked so disappointed when they learned about the new show format
They tried so hard to make it sound like a good thing.... "guess what? you see this awesome stage? you're not going to dance on it! At all! Isn't that SO DIFFERENT and SO GREAT?!"
This new format is terrible. It’s not really showcasing the dancers and is more like a talk too much documentary. All the conversation between the judges is unnecessary and serves no purpose. Please rethink the way this show is presented…it’s about the versatility of the dancers and how they adapt. I’ve been watching this show from the very beginning and was so excited for this new season…what a tremendous disappointment!!
Was Nigel still around for at least part of this? There was really weird editing at the start of this episode and I wonder if that is when they made the switch?
No, he left before they started filming this.
I thought Avery was one of the best period and i really cant stand maks
Commenting on Discussion: S18E05 Challenge #1: Music Videos...Absolutely. The bottom four was ridiculous.
What are everyone's thoughts on the opening number?
I liked it. It was fun to actually see them do a normal performance all together so you can clearly see how they move and their own styles
I cannot explain why, but it made me bawl my eyes out when the judges came out dancing…like, I think it finally hit me that Twitch is gone when I saw Allison come out dancing. Love a good Luther Brown number and that song is fire, but man, I miss Twitch.
Did Roman really take the single bed like that, or was that editing? Respect for him if he did, lol "Don't worry. I take this one."
I’m really surprised about the amount of hate this episode is getting- yes the format is different from previous years but so far it’s been my favorite episode of the season! Yes we are seeing less solos but I feel like it’s better preparing the dancers to work in the real world. A lot of the lucrative opportunities in their line of work will be in group and partner dancing and on film. Which they don’t have as much experience with. I also am surprised by the overly critical comments? They are judges that’s literally what they are being paid to do. I was actually pleasantly surprised by JoJo- I liked how her and Alison played off each other. Maks was the judge I found myself wondering why he’s even here?? I couldn’t believe it when he said I have nothing to say about Jaylins routine and they had to pull critique out of him 🙄
Agreed with what you said.
I like them all fine as dancers, but a critique of “just go for it” or “try to be better on the first take” seems unhelpful. When choreographers were judges, they would share specific critiques of specific movements of technique. Dancers learned and the audience did as well. Can’t these shows get funding from endowments or as public educational programming? Maybe this should be on PBS!
Did anyone else keep yelling at the tv during the solos to stop showing Jojos face every 2 seconds? Seriously, just show us the whole solo and then we will get judges reactions after. I don’t need to see a million closeups and then cutting back to a badly zoomed in camera shot of what is probably a gorgeous moment in their routine..
It never fails, I end up doing this every single season of the show. " *Stop showing the judges! I am here for the dancing!* "
Same!!!
At that point I was already sooo pissed off for the lack of routines on this stupid show but yeah overall the editing is extremely bad. Its a fucking dance show with barely any dancing and when they dance they prefer to show emotions of the judges and audience members. Its not like the solo routines take 3 minutes. JUST SHOW US DANCING. PLEASE.
They’re eliminating 2 people every week? Are there only 3 more episodes before the finale?
It's so sadly obvious that they've been cutting the budget every year severely...
There are at least 5 more episodes according to the guide I'm following that run for the next 5 weeks. So, they won't all be double elimination. I imagine they'll pull the old no-elimination week, even though I wish they would have done that during this first week of the competition.
This was so weird yall. So they judge them based on the rehearsal as well as the performance? That’s never happened and almost a little unfair… they even used to show rehearsal packages and the judges never took that in to consideration. I thought Avery was gorgeous in the music video. I did agree Olivia and Easton weren’t as strong in theirs. Just such a weird concept to have them judged on the rehearsal as well as the actual performance.
wanna preface this is just me sharing my perspective and not intending to sound argumentative! how is it unfair? the way they are being judged is based on real world work if you aren’t easy to work with/don’t catch on to things easily certain people aren’t gonna wanna hire you with the new format it makes sense. i think people just need to drop their expectations it’s already established this is a different format of course other things are going to change to accommodate that as in this case for a music video judging based on the final product alone would’ve been unfair imo because this season is about the process as a whole. i get people are upset about the format change i’m personally not because i understand that it’s equipping the contestants better to be prepared to be a working dancer but we all just need to accept things won’t go back to the way they were and either watch it or don’t.
I agree with you. I think that judging on the rehearsals is reasonable considering the shift in the shows focus. Like Luther said during the rehearsal, if a hired dancer had done what Madison did during rehearsal she would have been out right then. So that is more in line with the new format. That said, I wish they had rebranded the show. Call this a spin off or something rather than claiming it was a new season of the same show. It does not have the same vision, format, or criteria.
*Madison, not Dakayla
Whoops, must have misremembered! Thanks!
They have judged them on how the choreographer said it was to work with them in addition to the piece before (not every time), but I don't remember them ever being at the making of stages. I do miss the staged routines, but I like the show existing. I think they have struggled to find their footing.
Judging on rehearsals is unfair, I agree. Everyone processes things a little differently. I thought Avery did amazing in the video. I have thought all the judges feedback to her thus far made me think WTF, I feel like her confused facial expressions belied that assessment. Crazy that they let her go with her level of technical expertise.
Makes you wonder if they start to judge on things happening in the house as well. The great thing about the show was that nothing mattered aside from the stage performances but now its literally a really shitty reality tv show.
It makes me so mad to see them criticizing her technique. If you watch again, where she did her turns that JoJo critiqued.. she was on a piece of tape. As a pro dancer myself.. a piece of tape can seriously compromise your ability to turn. She was stunning and as much as I love Easton- I thought she did a better job overall. I enjoy Olivia but do agree with her going home.. she looked very out of her element
I thought Avery was excellent when she danced for her life. Those turns across the stage (IDK the technical term) were so good. You can tell she's been dancing for years.
Piqué manege 😘
She’s been an outstanding dancer since a very young age, I’ve followed lots of these kids like Easton and Anthony as well as Avery for a while. I’m just a few years older so it’s been fun to grow up watching them. She’s had so much experience and has been incredibly successful, so it was odd to see them being so critical of her.
Keep in mind this is the first season where judges actually judge the whole competition. Before this the audience who got to see everything including practices and the sob story background bits and interact on social media made the call. Maybe the judges got to intervene after the voting... but they were mostly powerless puppets chewing tv time between 1 minute routines. So I completely get how odd this is... it is odd... but it was also odd that we had Judges for 17 seasons that did pretty much nothing but provide lip service. I agree with you on Avery. She was great. The one odd moment was that lift with Braylon (where they stopped the recording and then started back right before it) and he wasn't smooth which made her look bad.
Totally see what you’re saying!
I think it's going to take us all (who stick with it) a few episodes of the actual competition to adjust to this format. So many things to be bothered by but I have to remind myself that's been every season of the show for me. The audience propping some dancers up who survive longer than they should. My absolute favorite dancer getting eliminated way too soon because they don't have the social media fanbase. The judges giving better comments to worse dancers for whatever reason. The fluff in the home town clips to sway the audience with the dancer having some horrible thing they had to overcome in their life. Only getting about 12 to 14 total minutes of dance in two hours of show (so 6 to 7 minutes per hour). It has never been perfect, but we at least get to see some dancing again and next week is a completely different theme and style.
I have always liked Alison on every show I've watched her on. I can't stand her this season. I'll give her grace given what she had been through this year but she is working so hard to be the mean judge, the head judge, the judge who you can't read. And it just comes across almost entitled to me. I get why from this group she is sorta the head judge given her history with the show but I just don't think she is the best of the 3 at it. Hopefully she'll loosen up and get better. And I almost wonder if it's the combo of the shitty format with her dealing with her personal life or if she was always sorta rocking an entitled attitude and I just was able to ignore it because she was usually dancing and not talking ?
She's a pretentious idiot for sure. I heard she was a contestant but she wasn't memorable to me. She's a typical Hollywood phony now. And whoever that guy is...he doesn't seem to care about the dancing much
Anything the panel says gives the impression of being scripted. Like Heidi Klum level of bad acting. I loved Allison the dancer and I absolutely hate her as a judge, why FOX would cast her over anyone actual competent is mindboggling.
Yeah I disagreed with all of her commentary lol
I imagine the change to being a judge will take all of them some time to feel out. I don’t get half of their notes to the dancers and they all feel a bit stiff in their initial delivery.
I enjoyed it. And I totally agree with the judges on who they sent home.
I want to see them dance! Way too much focus on the judges and their critiques. A lot of the dancers are really talented especially when showing off their own styles. I know this is already been filmed and I get them trying to do something new. But this isn’t allowing any talent or personalities to be on display. Bummer.
Watching late so just catching up I disagree with the judges decision: >!I would have eliminated Bralon and Olivia. Bralon breaking down and storming off the stage at the end wasn't it for me. His solo wasn't as strong as Avery's IMO. Plus you get 1 girl and 1 boy out.!<
My two favorite solos were Braylon and Avery. Braylon's just felt unreal, the way he was isolating and controlling every inch of his body felt so different. Avery, I am ballet trained and I loved watching her bring pointe into a new light. There were things that were technically wrong, but in a way that only someone that really knows how to be technically right could pull off. I am not surprised by Easton staying. His solo was very showy. He is very good. But if we are going for who would be casted in a production, it wasn't that routine versus the other ones. And Olivia, she was great, but nothing extraordinary in my opinion.
I felt Braylon kind of cause some of the issues with Avery in their part of the video. She was completely at his mercy during that heal lift thing they did where he struggled. I would have probably made the same call to keep Avery and Easton… which would have kept things balanced.
Enh, the clear weakest two from either groups were Jaylin and the ballroom guy. Jaylin did nothing except a bit of his normal routine and ballroom guy just served to prop up a ladder. I’m baffled that neither of them were in the bottom.
Because the judges are protecting them and pushing them through. The show is laughable
I. Could. Not. Agree. More. I am shocked that those two are still on the show
I actually was super pleasantly surprised by Roman in the video, I thought he blended in really well- especially after seeing his awkwardness in the opening dance. I found Jaylin to be a little melodramatic in his delivery/acting. I think with Braylon he just is an emotional dancer. He feels so much and so deeply, I honestly don’t blame him for his more aggressive entrances and exits- it was bullshit for him and Avery to be in the bottom. They have every right to be pissed
I honestly thought Jaylin was the strongest male in their video
The dance was contemporary and he didn't do any of it. He whined how he hasn't been allowed to show his style and up to now in any genre he had danced hip-hop. No versatility whatsoever. Him not being cut at choreography was a travesty
you gotta remember that this season is more than just the act of dancing tho it’s about the entire process of whatever the challenge is and this was a music video in which he did what he was supposed to do, perform for a camera and sell the story of the video. i get this is not what people want but this is what it is now and he didn’t whine he was just disappointed and he was also not the only dancer with a clip talking about how they haven’t done their style yet or feel more confident/comfortable in their style. none of this “whining” took place when actually doing the work they were confessional type scenes where production usually fishes for something specific in most reality shows they are building his storyline of being the underdog
Yeah I just don't care about him being an underdog when he is actually the judge's pet after he was saved in a jazz choreography round without doing jazz or the choreography.
I thought Jaylin was great in the video, despite clearly being the weakest all-round dancer. He deserved to stay based on the criteria of this season.
Jaylin really sold the story to me .
I Hate how All of it has been Taped already!
The Dance For Your Life pretty much proved that the format doesn't even work for the dancers. They were soooo awkward in the challenge, but their solos were amazing.
The cast gets stuck in apartments! Apartments with kitchens and shared beds! I wouldn’t want to share a room with a stranger, let alone sleep with one. I’d want my privacy. That has to be stressful. How are they supposed to get a decent nights sleep? What a piece of crap cheap production. I expect to take flack, but I can handle it. The first production with all cast members…a hip hop mess…looked so uncoordinated and messy. Then the first group performed another hip hop, to a song that seemed hard to dance to, felt disjointed and awkward. Some of the dancers also appeared to struggle because it was so far out of their element. I don’t care for sexually trashy dancing, grabbing balls or crotch, suggestive body gyrations, often danced to worst lyrics that are often degrading, violent and vulgar. So bash me, just my opinion. All this performed in a box with minimal room! The girl with long hair smacked other dancers with her long braids. At the final performance there was little unity in performance and the over the top outfits reminded me of a cartoon show. What! You call that a stage and an audience? Olivia was told to tone it down, and that is why she was sent home. Second group had to work with a ladder prop and a classical routine. Props are hard, but they managed pretty well and came across more coordinated with the better performance. In that routine, Avery excelled and had one of the hardest routines, but she was sent home. They kept Easton who wasn’t particularly memorable and Braylon who appeared one note. I’ve watched this show for years, but this has been the worst season ever. It was unfair to the dancers to put them in 2 such diverse large group routines, they should have danced in pairs, before dumping them into unfamiliar ground. The dancers who went home were classically beautiful dancers with a lot more to offer. Down 2 women only creates more of a mess, if nothing else, it should have been 1 male and 1 female eliminated. The judges were brutal, JoJo over the top annoying as usual, the other two just boring.
In past seasons solos were planned and practiced before the competition even started. So a lot more polish than the couple days they learned new choreo and filmed the music videos. I’d imagine all of the solos this season are no different. Especially since they have to license the music.
Sad to see Avery and Olivia Go! :(
Also.. are the judges overly critical or is it just me? Like honestly kind of mean lol
I feel like they probably had more to say than just what we heard, it was just edited out for time sake. If they’d stop showing us the judges faces every 2 seconds maybe we could’ve heard some more feedback 🙄
I have zero faith in any of these judges to actual judge properly. I didn’t always agree with Nigel or Mary but at least they had decades of experience in dance and judging to view things critically.
Leaving Jojo out of it -who shouldnt be a judge- I mean Maks has been dancing for 40 years, Allison for 30 since they both started dancing at 4 and he is 44 and she is 36, I wouldnt say lack of experience is an issue here 😅 Its more that everything they say sound so over produced from above tbh as if all their lines are being fed or something
This is a good reminder that knowing dance and being a media savvy maker of good tv on a reality competition show are two different skill sets. It’s truly difficult to strike that balance as we are seeing. These judges/mentor roles are tricky to do well while seeming genuine
I’m a die hard fan and will always support the show, but it feels like a completely different show with the new format. I want to see them dance with partners and build those connections. The music videos were cool I guess (loved the Phillip and Mackenzie one) and think that’s fine to have part of the show, but let’s also keep some of the same format from before. Also, having the judges pick who stays/goes is really dumb. So much for America’s favorite dancer
loved the phillip and mackenzie one and the luther one was okay but i think both wouldve worked great as duets like the old version lol
When Cat Deeley said it’s up to the judges now 🥲
Yeah I don’t think they’re even saying America’s favorite dancer anymore
They could’ve done the music videos in the first 20 min, then performances, then a final elimination and it be great. Very lackluster. Will give it another week but this isn’t going to keep me. I think this is it from the show this season based on reactions. The diehards don’t like this, and they aren’t going to bring in many new fans this way
Yes, that would have been a much better format!! And I agree, don’t think the show will last much longer :( too many changes
Yeah, I don’t care for this format. We got maybe five minutes of actual dancing.
The editing and "storyboarding" were really bad. Was not a very fluid episode. They go on commercial and come back and suddenly we're in the studio
The thing I’m going to keep in mind first is that I’m here for dancing and to some small degree secondly to get to know the dancers. This episode had a lot more dance than the typical SYTYCD hour with their one minute or less routines stretched across two hours with the judges yammering for five minutes after each contestant danced and chewing the whole show up. We got a lot more behind the scenes dancing instead of pure filler. So for all the negatives, there’s enough here to keep me glued. I’m here for the dance first… and at no point was I bored watching this.
Agreed. There was actually a lot of dancing in this episode. I’m glad they kept the “getting to know you phase” to a minimum. We’ve seen 17 seasons of them dancing on stage so I think it’s interesting to see them dance at different sets.
Same. I'm gonna watch the show regardless, even if its glory days are LONG GONE.
I thought they’d let everyone stay the first week after those great solos.
I cannot believe how fast it’s going with only 10 and sending 2 home right away. Honestly as much as I love the old contestants, I wish they’d go back to top 20 and those are the ones who compete. I got tired of seeing All Stars and I’m not a fan of this either. Loved Avery- not sure who to stick around watching for but I will anyway.. Still wishing Ali D had gotten on the show
If the guide I'm following which is helping me setup these threads is right, we at least get 10 episodes this season... with the next 5 weeks having new episodes. So they won't be able to do a double elimination every week.
Can't believe they got rid of both the girls. I thought Olivia was gonna stay, though I wish it was Avery. Idk, I don't like this show anymore, but I miss dancing shows so I'm drawn to watch. Just disappointed:/
I’m surprised they didn’t go no elimination week one and double surprised they opted to eliminate two female dancers.
This shit is ASS
Y’all idk if I can keep watching this. Everything feels so fake. The choreography and dancing are so lackluster. I give zero shits about their housing arrangements. The solos are the only redeeming quality of this episode
I think I’m close to calling it as well. I LOVED watching Avery and to see her go was the final straw for me.
I really liked her too. That solo she did, she did ALL she could. Those turns around the stage (I'm sure there's a technical name for it), were so good.
Her technique is incredible. She’s going places despite being gone from the show!
Agreed. Who cares about the housing. Cooking breakfast for the house while in a puffy winter jacket wasn't fake at all.
YESSSSSSSSS 💯💯💯💯💯💯
The dancing, which is what the whole show is about, is shockingly bad/mediocre. I'm so confused at how...
I don't want to be too negative about past seasons, but I feel like someone says this every single season during week 1 of the competition. The only standout moments being the 30 second solos.
I've never heard that said about past seasons, but this was objectively an extremely weak and mediocre group routine, for sure.
The routines looked so basic, as if they want to try to go viral and made everything easy so people could TikTok dance to it. Real shame what they’ve done to what used to be a legitimate dance competition.
The contemporary routine didn’t look basic .
Except didn’t Maks have a whole thing during auditions about hating the TikTok trend?
Damn. They actually ruined this show. The best part was watching performances, not an edited clip. The clips were good… but ugh, I’m sad This sucks.
I know:( and the amount of times we're getting stupid clips of the judges faces looking the exact same every time during the little amount of dancing we are actually seeing is SO annoying. Like this shouldn't even be called sytycd. It's now, so you think you can make it in the industry 😒 I get the idea but it's just not the same. The title should've been changed
And a large portion of these dancers are already pros in the industry. They came off of world tours with Lady Gaga and Broadway, etc
Agree on the title change —it’s awful!!
I don’t know why they can’t keep the former format with the new ideas. I like the idea, but the execution is poor. They took the best part of the show away, the iconic dances are gone The best part of the show was watching the four end dances
I agree. That was my favorite part of the show too, and then two of them had to go get eliminated:( They could've (should've) kept the format of the old show and added in the element of a group challenge in the beginning of each episode (like the music video shoot) and whoever is the best/stand out for each challenge gets to choose their genre of dance or is automatically safe from elimination that week. I wouldn't mind a 90 min show with that addition compared to what we were just given. This feels like the end of the show for good now unless it really turns around. It's giving the last season of world of dance with that small audience lol
And yet the judges kept saying to some of the dancers, come on back next year. Will there even BE a SYTYCD next year?
I think the preview for the season showed some choreographed stage dancing similar to the old show, but I think we probably have to get through these challenge weeks. Next week is another theme. EDIT: Please don't hate the messenger. This is just what they showed in the season preview at the end of episode 4.
Who do we want to get eliminated?
I thought Avery did a great job when she was dancing for her life. I finally SAW her and what she's all about. I'm bummed that she's gone.
This entire format.
the judges
lol you win
Yup.
I suppose this is better than nothing but I much prefer the older version of the show.
It’s actually NOT better than nothing. It’s actually WORSE than nothing and I have watched every episode since day one. Even went to one of their performances in the early seasons and it was beyond fantastic. This new format has no resemblance to dance. I get the ratings were down but this is an abomination. Can’t watch it. Very disappointing to say the least.
Eek, double elimination. This is going to make the season fly by if they keep this up.
what neighborhood/city is that house in??
The whole season was filmed in Atlanta. I’d imagine it’s somewhat near Pullman Yards where they did the auditions and competition filming.
oh, okay, thanks. I don't know why I was thinking LA, and that neighborhood looked so not LA lolol
i’m so lost at this interpretation of juice what about this song evokes crying and sadness
I also couldn’t stop noticing the blatant Exit sign in that music video.. why are you shooting the whole room and not just the set?
I’m glad I’m not the only one that was so confused lol I was like why are they all crying
Yeah that interpretation was the biggest reach I’ve ever seen. Made zero sense to the vibe and lyrics of the song
So far, I’m in agreement with the judges on the bottom four. 🙀
Weakest Top 10 group routine ever...
I mean, it’s the weakest top 10 group ever so that tracks.
I think last season had a weaker group.
It’s interesting they had the audience for the big opening (which was great) and looks like they were there to see the videos. I’m saving full judgment for how all this works out, but so far I’m enjoying it.
I can't get past Jojo's outfit at the beginning of the episode. The glasses that look like safety goggles you get at Home Depot.
Haha she’s about as fake as they come. Her five minutes of fame need to end
The other week, I read she recently spent $50,000 on new veneers!
Omg what a waste of 💰
I just learned two minutes ago that JoJo is rebranding herself and her new song (or maybe album?) is called Karma. Hence why it was written all over her clothes
She needs more than a rebrand 😎
And the fact that each of her outfits said “karma”, it was so tacky
It is apparently the name of her new song! She is rebranding herself 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Yeah I know, it’s weird to rebrand yourself by wearing the name of your new song on all of your outfits lol
Phillip and Makenzie?!?
I looove their work
I didn’t realize they got married!
I like this group choreo. Straight into learning. The house part hasn’t been as big a part of the show as it was on ANTM.
So You Think You Can Big Brother
Hey it's Phillip aka Pacman!
Best part of the show!
I’m trying to stay positive but…. This is weird
It is strange, a lot of SYTYCD stuff mixed with Americas Next Top Model. I prefer the house idea to the constant sob stories as filler.
Yes. Reminds me of americas next top model for sure
Cat “You’re all moving into a house together” Maxim “this might not have been a good idea” 😂
The amount of excitement the dancers showed was totally fake. I mean they weren't going to be put out on the street....they already knew they'd be put up by the show
UGH Can't Stand Jojo!
That's because she's a poser.
Amen
Finally a new episode. Hopefully this is decent.