So You Think You Can Dance: Season 9 – L.A. Auditions

E: Last week brought us dancers from the usual two day long auditions in both New York and Dallas. By contrast, this episode was a two hour feast of a single day’s auditions.  Was the team really only in LA for a single day?  Or was the first day that great and the second day, terminally boring?  Either way, there’s a lot to talk about.

Joining Nigel and Mary at the judges table is “superfan” Jesse Tyler Ferguson.  I still honestly don’t know how I feel about that (he’s fun and funny, but is it really fair to the dancers to put a non-pro in a power position?) but he acquits himself well enough.  He’s confident in his opinions and seems generally to concur with Nigel and Mary.  Except when it comes to groping oneself and booty shaking, that is; he’s in favor, but Mary is not.

So You Think You Can Dance: Season 9 – NYC and Dallas Auditions

E: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They are back, baby!  Cat!  Nigel!  Mary Murphy!  And the most amazing, mindboggling, fantastic dancers.  Such good times.

Unlike American Idol, the audition rounds on So You Think You Can Dance have a really special charm.  First, they’re much better at not making fun of people; there are a lot more great auditions then there are awful ones.  Second, and most excitingly, we get to see a wider variety of great dancers than the ones who make it on the show.  The live performance rounds require a particular skill set; you need to be able to partner, do lifts, and be flexible enough to pick up lots of new styles.  Clearly, this tips the scales toward contemporary dancers.  But in the audition rounds, we get to see spectacular breaking, tapping, clogging, whaacking, you name it.  We get to see people who excel in their own genre, even if they don’t make it on to the live shows.  And I love that!  So while the auditions on American Idol are generally painful, these?  These pretty much rock.

Now, okay, granted, we didn’t see any clogging last night.  But did we have fun?  Did we see some really unique, personal performance styles?  Oh yes we did.  It’s the good stuff that interests me, and that’s mostly what we got.

The Good Wife: The Dream Team

E: To end the first season, we had a thrilling last minute decision about a political career, and a passionate declaration of love.  In the end of the second, we had the struggle for control of a firm, the dissolution of a marriage, and a passionate, torrid elevator ride.  To end season three, we had a fake lawsuit, an awkward meeting in a lobby, and the riveting, fateful choice of pizza or no pizza.

(Oh, alright, alright, the Kalinda plotline was insanely intense and awesome and I’m stomping on the ground about not having more of that.)

If  – as has been reported – The Good Wife is built on a five season plan, and if you look at the five seasons as a work week, then wow, was that hump day.  You know what I’m saying.  The one you have to get through to get to the other side.

Castle Review: “Always”

E: Hey there!  I know we’ve been less dependable on the Castle front lately, but there’s no way we weren’t going to comment on this one.  Now that, my friends, is how you end a season. Best ever episode of the whole “Beckett’s Mom” mythology, that’s for sure.

C: Really? You think so? Because I kind of feel like it was identical to every other Beckett’s Mom episode – I mean really, beat for beat – except for the last three minutes. I imagine those three minutes are why you liked it better…

May Movie Preview 2012

E:  So what if it’s 50 degrees out here in Massachusetts?  According to Hollywood, this weekend is the start of summer.  That’s right – it’s blockbuster season, folks!  If you like spectacle, you’re going to like this month. And if you like comic books and larger than life characters, you’re going to like it a lot.  You’re going to like this whole summer.