Change Comes To America... n Idol

No American institution is immune to the wave of change sweeping across America under our new President Ryan Seacrest. Tonight's "Final Round" of Hollywood Week on AMERICAN IDOL was oozing change. No more weird A CHORUS LINE-like spare rehearsal studio. Now the judges lounge like kings and queens in overstuffed chairs in "The Judges' Mansion" making teens and those who the teens have passed by battle each other for a spot on this season show. The Judges Mansion?! What the hell? Do they all live there during the show? Will there be a spin-off show? Do they have "swinging" parties at this "judges' mansion"? Also, Fox should get its money back from whoever upholstered those judges thrones. Tacky and sloppy workmanship. Anyway, also new to the show this year is the "sing off" where the judges pitted contestants against each other and put them on the spot to sing a song to stay on the show. The "sing off" portion of the two hour show was the most stomach churning. Then when the judges FINALLY deliver the news, they pull that tension-building crap by stalling the delivery of the good new with a fake out, "We don't have good news for you..." The contestant is in tears and about to pass out. Then the judges all look sad and then say "...we have GREAT news for you! You're in!" Then the contestant has a spaz attack! The judging panel had a very ANTM feeling (and that is NOT a step UP for AMERICAN IDOL). They have the tough task of "narrowing" the field down to 36. 36!? That's bigger than a football team isn't it? How long is this show gonna be on?! Until next February?! Bat-shit crazy, Tatiana, is this season's Sanjaya Jaya Binks. She's a kook! Rosie O'Donnell's prodigy Von Smith made it through. Sexy, god-loving widower Danny Gokey is gonna be a "story" this season. Anoop Desai is like a gag from a HAROLD AND KUMAR movie, but he can definitely rock out. I'm also keeping my eye on social outcast and Heatherette model (in his own mind), Nathaniel Marshall. Since we've only seen about 10 of the final 36 actually sing, the next few weeks may actually get this Spruce Goose of a season off the ground (or water or whatever). Who do you like? Who do you love? Who do you hate? Can you believe that sexy-god-loving-widower's BFF weird-facial-piercings-guy didn't make it?!

Apparently, One May Not Pants

Jamie "Look At M'balls!" Bayard was the first guy sent home from SYTYCD 4 last night. His hip-hop was weak, but two things that Nigel "Look At M'teeth!" Lythgoe --the show's judge and executive producer (the guy who is in charge of everything)-- said really surprised me. He said that he thought that "America" may have been offended by Jamie's pantsing, and he also said that going first during a loooong 2 hour show is like the kiss of death. He said something like, no one will remember the first routine by the end of the show. Well, BOTH of those reasons sound like an unfair advantage created BY the producers who could have cut the pantsing if they thought "America" would be offended. I also love that SYTYCD has SUCH an anti-American (government) bias. It's great! It's like the British's chance to get us back for getting them into Iraq. It's like he's saying, "America, you can't handle this show!" Anyway, the producers (and FOX's show-padding-machine) could have made the show 60 minutes or 90 minutes without so much stuff between all the performances. The contestant who sang first on AMERICAN IDOL this season was almost always in the bottom 3. I'll call it FOX-padding-syndrome. It's another example or symptom of the ever-growing storm of new millennium Quiz Show Scandal where reality game shows (shows with prizes and teams and such) have crossed the line of fair play and the only thing keeping the whole mess in check is that the desperate-for-attention contestants wouldn't dare cry foul for fear of not being invited to participate in upcoming shows and projects produced by the show's producers, dancers, choreographers, and crew.

Dance Dance Dance Dance Dance Revolution

I've seen hours and hours and hours and hours of dance in the past few days. I watched 4Th "TiVo hours" of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. I watched 2Th of STEP IT UP AND DANCE. I watched 2 1/2Th of RANDY JACKSON PRESENTS AMERICA'S BEST DANCE CREW BROUGHT TO YOU BY RANDY JACKSON AND RANDY JACKSON, DOG. And I watched 6 live and in-person hours of the Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) at beautiful McCaw Hall at Seattle Center on Sunday. There's nothing better than a good ballet live. The men in tights! The ladies who are lighter than air! And, after 8 1/2Th (which is about 5 hours and 20 minutes; 1Th = 40 mins - except PBS and Disney Channel) of dance (much of it hip-hop) I was so pleased to be immersed in spectacular live ballet and modern dance. The matinee ballet was a trio of Jerome Robbins pieces which were powerful and beautiful and funny. I love dance that really makes me laugh and cry. "Fancy Free" was funny and breezy and very masculine. "In the Night" was so beautiful and classic. It had the most astounding lift work I've ever seen. And "The Concert" capped off the show with a hilarious and touching story featuring my favorite costumes of the day. The evening ballet was, EIGHT ENCORES, the final show of the PNB season which featured 8 of the season's best numbers and a few extra special encores thrown in. It was a delightful mix of classic ballet, modern ballet, and modern cutting edge dance. The sold out show was a who's who of Seattle dance. As PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal said, "I'm told there are 1500 people here tonight... and almost half of you paid for your ticket." The last piece on the program was "Caught" which uses strobe lights to make the dancer appear as if he or she is frozen in mid air almost floating as a still images across the stage. It must be seen to be believed, and even then... So, it would appear that dance is making a comeback. Get out there and support your local dancers, dance crews, and ballets.