Jun 09 2009
Some Think They Can Sing, Others Think They Can Dance
The top 20 finalists of FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance begin competing Wednesday night. (picture courtesy of FOX/Mike Ruiz)
American Idol may have ended its eighth season a few weeks back, but another FOX talent competition has its top 20 lined up and prepared to dance for their lives this summer.
Currently in its fifth season, So You Think You Can Dance- created by Idol masterminds Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe- functions similarly to Idol. Dancers deemed good enough make it to the Vegas round (equivalent to Idol’s Hollywood round), and from there, judges narrow the pool down to a top 20 (10 males, 10 females).
However, unlike Idol, for the first half of the competition, viewers vote on couples rather than individuals. Once the competition reaches the top 10, dancers randomly choose both their partners and style of dance from a hat, in addition to performing a solo. For viewers, it then becomes about voting for the individual dancer, rather than a pair.
Filling the Ryan Seacrest role on SYTYCDis British model and radio and television personality Cat Deeley. Serving as regular judges are co-creator and executive producer Lythgoe and ballroom dance champ sand choreographer Mary Murphy. Thanks to her quirky personality, enthusiastic screaming with excitement and constant giggling, Murphy has become nearly as notorious a panelist as Idol’s Paula Abdul. Regular guest judges include choreographers Mia Michaels, Adam Shankman, Debbie Allen and Lil’ C.
Airing during the lower viewership months of summer, SYTYCD’s audience understandably is nowhere near the level of American Idol. And while its audience isn’t as large as it initially was in its inaugural season in 2005, it continues to attract a loyal following- last week, the series finished at Nos. 9 and 17, with Wednesday’s installment luring 8.9 million viewers and Thursday’s top 20 reveal drawing 8.2 million. Even better, the series ranked fourth and fifth among viewers aged 18-49, with 4.5 million and 4.1 million, respectively.
SYTYCD will have a shot at garnering even higher ratings later in the year, as it takes a cue from ABC’s Dancing With the Stars: The series’ sixth season will commence in the fall, marking the first time it has had two seasons air in the same year.
Keeping to the present time, however, until NBC’s American’s Got Talent premieres June 23, it’s all about SYTYCD. AGT has ranked as summer’s most-watched original program the last three years, but unless there’s a U.S. equivalent of a Susan Boyle, maybe SYTYCD will challenge for the title it held in its first season. If not, Mary Murphy undoubtedly will have even more to squeal about.
