I also wanted to see more of the beer thing, and I kept seeing wine being poured over there at the gastropub, which bugged.

They probably had a hard time keeping up with Padma's consumption.

SYTYCD - Wheeeeeeee!!

That was fun. So first off, love, love the guy from the Russian ballroom couple. I thought the girl was good, but he was phenomenal! I watched him the whole time. Also love the crazy good popper who made it to Vegas last year but didn't make it on the show. I'm glad that he seems to have gotten his butt to class (Hey, Cedric!). I was scared for the weird contortionist/popper from Santa Monica, but once he started dancing he tore it up. He was amazing, amazing. And his dance off with Nigel was comedy gold! Don't know how he'll do in Vegas with all the partnering and whatnot, but he was one of my faves last night.

There were a lot of awww moments last night, too. Victor Kim was dynamite and gave one of the best auditions I've ever seen on the show. And then the little snippet of him in the choreo round was, "Aww. Poor baby. But you really tried." The Asian ballroom couple was adorable, but they really weren't all that special. In particular, the guy was not knocking me out. But poor Asokuh(?) looked like a wrung out dish rag and she still managed to make it through the choreography round. Awwww. Twitch also got a big awwww. I do hope he makes it on the show this year, but I was somewhat underwhelmed by his performance.

And then there were the WTF moments. Pretty much all the contemporary/lyrical dancers last night where unimpressive. The girls were a festival of hair flinging and falling out of even simple double pirouettes. And the first girl who just stood there while the wrong music played and just decided not to say anything? Unfortunate man face, and she seems to be slow on the uptake. The rest were a blur of blonde and cute and not much actual dancing in their dance auditions. And I was also annoyed by the dude who thought his audition should be a piece of performance art. As Nigel and Mia said best, it certainly was an affecting piece but where was the dance in that dance? He seemed to be sailing through the choreography round, so I'm betting that he actually can turn it out. But he also seems like he is going to annoy me. A lot.

The most surprising thing of the night for me was how much I enjoyed Nigel (and how much he seemed to be enjoying himself) and all the rest of the judges. Nigel kept his lecherous tendencies mostly in check (or as much in check as he can). Mia and the Arrogant Italian was hi-larious. Although why they put him through to the choreography round, I'll never know (and Cat's face after his interview? Priceless!) Mary was Mary. Honestly, I've got Mary fatigue from her being a permanent judge. They need to give her a rest.

Overall, a satisfying start to the show. Although seeing all of those golden ticket montages with kids whose auditions we didn't even get to see a second of because we just had to see David (stripped of the "Sex" last night) or frikkin' Golden Inferno just one more time was frustrating. And more Travis Wall!!

see David (stripped of the "Sex" last night) or frikkin' Golden Inferno just one more time was frustrating

Yeah, I was kinda peeved about that. It made me not want to watch a lot of the auditions, so I missed out on some that sounded like they were pretty good. I did catch the Russians, though, and they were phenomenal!

Grubb Street talking Top Chef:

Ozersky: Maybe not. Look how Bourdain gave Spike a free pass this week.

Platt: Bourdain was his usual cool, louche self, but he lacked Don Colicchio's gravitas. The Don wouldn't have been afraid to send the Gorgon off to the glue factory.

Ozersky: Yes, he would have. No man can face the wrath of the Gorgon.

so I missed out on some that sounded like they were pretty good

Eh, really not that many. Out of a two hour show, I only count four auditions (Russian ballroom couple, crazy arms popper, Victor Kim, and contortionist/popper) that were truly outstanding. So, about 10 minutes of wonderful, another 6 or 7 minutes of cute (Twitch et. al.) - maybe 20 minutes that were actually worth watching and all the rest was filler. It's just that I happen to love SYTYCD filler.

I thought Mia's freudian slip was awesome. Classic! And they got it on camera.

I thought Mia's freudian slip was awesome

OMG, that was hysterical.

Mia crying over the visually impaired girl broke me.

LOVED Mia's freudian slip. But it helps that I love Mia to pieces, too. Heh.

Someone somewhere (smonster in LJ maybe?) was saying that a couple people (Shane and...someone else?) are working on another show (I think it might be season 2 of Dance Crew?) and were worried they won't be on SYTYCD as much this year. Thoughts, anyone? I would be v. sad if that's the case. Or maybe it was just that working on Dance Crew meant they weren't around as much for auditions? I could hope that's all...

Auditions are always ridiculously full of crap and filler. I don't quite understand WHY they have to give us year 4 of "Sex". It just pains me. Thank god I could fast forward.

He seemed to be sailing through the choreography round, so I'm betting that he actually can turn it out. But he also seems like he is going to annoy me. A lot.

See, I thought he was very entertaining, in a "I would like to subscribe to your newsletter" kind way...but in a profoundly "you really don't get that this is not the venue for your platform" way also. I'm not sure what the venue for his platform IS, mind you, other than, like, spoken word festivals. Which have a significantly smaller audience than Fox. But.

Now, he could be interesting a in one man show kind of way on stage, where he makes his statement with movement and the spoken word. Each piece could be related through a unifying theme. Heck, he could even bring in other people. It would be something along the way of "Stomp." It's not like there's music in that, is there?

Well, I suppose I meant on TV, really. I'm sure there are lots of hippie arts festivals where he would be super welcome. I go to them. We would dig him. I dig him. I dig SYTYCD. The SYTYCD judges dig him. But...SYTYCD is not his thing.