So You Think You Can Dance: New York Auditions

Episode Guide

If the May sweeps are over and a new American Idol has been crowned, it must mean it's time for another season of So You Think You Can Dance.

Given its heritage, we tend to think of it as the younger sibling of American Idol. It is never going to get Idol numbers, but it works hard to live up to the example that its big brother has set. The show also gains a lot in being able to build on what is already a successful format.

Unfortunately, the show also suffers from some of the problems that Idol has, as was evidenced in this first episode of Season 3.

The American Idol audition episodes always make us wonder if people really do tune in to see the horrible performers. Would the ratings be any less if the focus was switched more to the people with an actual shot?

Or perhaps, would they possibly be even better? After the New York auditions, I'm left wondering that same things about SYTYCD.

Kicking off in New York, the familiar faces are back:

• Cat Deeley is handling hosting duties.
• Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy resume their posts at the judges table.
• Dan Karaty is along as the third judge in the opening round.

They had quite a turnout, with performers from a variety of disciplines, with a wide array of abilities.

THE GOOD

With 59 people getting tickets to the next round in Las Vegas, there were certainly some good performances to be had. There were also some good personal stories to go along with it.

One favorite was Heather Zampier.

Coming back from two hip surgeries to fix a bone spur, the tattooed Heather is easy to root for. She's cute, and very likable, and really showed some talent in her audition. Dan said that there was a fire as soon as she hit the stage.

A close second in the human interest category was Hannah Lee.

We got to see video from a wedding she attended in Israel where the floor collapsed and a roomful of people fell some three stories. It was shocking footage, and Hannah has had to battle back from a lot of injuries as a result. Her performance wasn't great, but it showed potential.

She didn't get a ticket to the next round right away, but was invited back for the choreography segment of the audition. There, she passed, and will be moving on.

It was a close call, trying to decide the top favorite dance performance of the night. In the end I'm giving the nod to Faina Savich. Her brother Stanislav, from Season 2, was on hand to dance with her and they put on quite a show. Faina has the total package and could be a contender.

Also in the running for best of the night were Pasha Kovalev and Anya Farnis. Another ballroom pair that really shined. Very intricate, and very polished. After their performance Nigel said, "That was hot."

They will be joined in Las Vegas by a different kind of pair, student and teacher. Katherine Watts and Ashley Keegan have a cute story. Katherine has been Ashley's teacher for the past six years. I liked Katherine right away when she told the camera that Ashley was actually better than she was.

She was right, Ashley was better.

Her audition was excellent. Nigel said that she has all of the qualities they are looking for in a dancer. Katherine still did alright for herself though. With a performance that the judges praised for great technique she joined her student on the list of contestants moving on to the next round.

THE BAD

It was pretty clear that we were going to get a number of bad performances right from the get go when we saw Jessica Diaz. We were confused by her dance, and more so by her explanation. It had something to do with her being Jesus, who had lost his crown. Nigel was also flummoxed by it and asked, "What planet are you from?" Her response, "New York."

Okay then.

Jenna Dejosia had a tough time with the judges as well. She talked about the various kinds of dance she does in the interview, but the audition didn't live up to it. Dan didn't think she had been taught the proper way to break. Mary said she didn't have the endurance for the competition.

Nigel got sidetracked by Jenna saying that she teaches dance to children. He didn't like that at all. You kind of had to feel bad for her as she left in tears, right up to the moment where she started swearing at the camera.

Like big brother American Idol, there's one every year.

Carmen Lugo and Joel Bernabel were very similar to Jenna in performance. Coming in you thought that maybe they would surprise you. There was just enough shown in the interview segments to think there might really be something there.

When they did audition, it just wasn't up to the standard that had been set. Joel came across rather oddly in the interviews we thought, and it seems like a good think that the two are not dating any more.

I'm putting Jamal Weaver and Earnest Phillips in the bad section for two different reasons. Earnest gets lumped in here because he didn't make it through to the next round.

Entertaining, maybe, but he's really not a good dancer.

Speaking of not a good dancer, we have Dancing Derrick.

This was another one where the interview segments showed just enough that it looked like he might have a shot. The actual performance though, was chaotic. It was like an epileptic seizure with rhythm. The judges weren't impressed and sent him home. That is, after he saw the paramedics and got some oxygen. How weird was that, after his performance? He was dripping sweat and couldn't talk. Very strange all around.

THE UGLY

Sex is back, and if you are like us, you have to be asking, "Why?"

You know the drill. Very weird, maybe even creepy, guy that can't even dance yet still takes up a big chunk of the show. They even got his mother in on the act as she took Nigel to task for trying to crush David's dream.

And that gets to what was the really ugly part of the show.

Nigel called David out, telling him that he was being rude to all of the good dancers by being up there, insinuating that he could be one of them.

Ouch.

We really do like the show. It's perfect television for the summer season, and we're very much looking forward to the actual competition once we get through the auditions. But at this point, the show is held back by what many think is a misguided American Idol notion that people would rather see the joke contestants just showing up than an early look the contenders.

A rough start to the season, but the great performances of those that made it into the good section of the post are evidence that there are plenty of good episodes to come.