'So You Think You Can Dance': The action begins

If the last few weeks of "So You Think You Can Dance" have mimicked "American Idol," last night's episode kicked off the part of the show that most parallels "Dancing with the Stars."  While on AI this would be the equivalent of the first set of vote-offs on the small stage, like in DWTC, the contestants are paired off, asked to perform different dances that have nothing necessarily to do with their own particular specialty, and then get voted off the next day-as couples. 

SYTYCD is such a good show that minor weaknesses show through at this point where on a lesser show they might be hidden by other negative traits.  For instance, decent-length dance routines (they seemed at least twice as long as those on DWTS) along with backstory on each dancer and a behind the scenes look at their practice for the week grew a little long into hour two.  And it's almost a little general, entertainment wise right now-the line between excellent dancing and the efforts of an excellent dancer who didn't do a great job but tried very hard is actually very thin for us non-dancers at home.  We have a feeling the action is just going to maintain a steady temperature for the next few weeks and then start to sizzle as the very good dancers are voted off and the excellent ones remain. 
 

Even through these weak spots though further examples of why this is definitely one of the best reality shows out there were highlighted.  You can't be a wallflower and be a dancer trying out for a live TV show, so the dancers, as they were being interviewed, revealed a wealth of real attitude, style and personality is typically absent on such shows (compare them to the ladies of, say, "The Bachelor.")  And it's nice, too, to be treated to music that was written sometime after 1983, because on "American Idol," old Whitney Houston is still pretty new. 

So even the lesser episodes of SYTYCD should still be worth tuning in for, especially if it can get the country in a heated debate of whether hip hop or ballroom rules more.

(Photo courtesy Fox)