I better publish this blog before it gets too dated. Earlier this month, Singapore has aired the finale of “So You Think You Can Dance Season 2”. I have not missed a single episode of both Season 1 and 2. “So You Think You Can Dance” (SYTYCD) is a great concept. Unlike “American Idol” that focuses on individual competition and finding an unique voice, SYTYCD is a competition that focuses on partnering with different contestants from different genres and requires each contestant to go out of his or her genre that includes ballroom, tango, hip-hop, contemporary, disco, and others – some I have not even heard of. It may sound easy but it is not. That is why partnering contestants from different genres will ultimately help one another to grow. And that is why contestants learn from one another more so than aiming to eliminate one another. Another thing I observed is that dancers are the emotional bunch. You can really see how they give in hundred-and-one percentage. I saw tears in SYTYCD more than other reality shows.
That is the brief introduction of the show. Season 2, in my opinion, is more successful than Season 1. The panel of judges and the team of choreographers are pretty much the same. It is the replacement of the host with Cat Deeley that makes all the difference. I can see that Cat Deeley enjoyed the entire season thoroughly and she did interact with the contestants on stage and off stage a lot (perhaps due to her background). The little compliments she gave, the small talks with the contestants on stage, the little jokes she had with the judges … I think she is the real star behind SYTYCD. And how can the faithful audience forget the scene when the hot Russian dancer Dmitry approached Cat Deeley with a sexy dance after his solo performance that resulted in Cat blushing from head to toe? Or when executive producer and one of the judges Nigel Lythgoe commented on Cat’s dress (covered with small silver reflective rectangular pieces) “If we would have hung you from the ceiling on a wire we could have spun you around. You were like a disco ball tonight.” Cat’s reply (with a big smile) was, “Listen, if you fix the wires you can hang me any way you like.”
There is still no news on a potential third season. I hope there is one on the way.
2 replies on “Cat Deeley – The Star Behind “So You Think You Can Dance””
Hey, seems like great minds do think alike! I watched a few episodes of SYTYCD because Felicia (my wife) watched it, and I caught it on the bus sometimes, on TV Mobile. I think the host was excellent, especially her British accent – a total turnon! In addition, I was telling Felicia that the format of the show is probably one of the better ones, in terms of the fact that the judges had the final say on who to kick out in the earlier episodes. This prevents the rich kids with rich supporters from winning all the time, as well as poor judgements by viewers for whatever reasons.
I think Mediacorp should consider adopting this format of voting out the competitors for all such shows. I think the Singapore viewers are too immature to be given the power to vote. The National Elections are indications of this 😛
Ha ha ha … your reply has a few agenda. Election aside, I agree with you that giving the judges the power to eliminate contestants in the earlier round makes SYTYCD so much better than others.
Not sure if you have noticed. In Season 1, during the early rounds, it was the judges who identified the bottom 3 couples and let the public voted to keep their dancers on the show. In Season 2, again during the early rounds, it was the public votes to determine the bottom 3 couples and the judges did the elimination based on a solo dance performance and past records. I think they have made a vast improvement there.
I often think that one of the reasons why Cat Deeley was picked as the host is because the executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is also a British.