OK, so the really important summer television is over. The finale of So You Think You Can Dance? is finished and I’ll admit to being a little surprised at the results. I had assumed the winner would be Lacey or Neil, so imagine my surprise. A damn happy surprise, seeing Danny and Sabra as the final two finalists. The finale competitive show (not the final final show) also brought out a whole lot of stuff I’ve been writing about for the past two months. Namely, anxiety about masculinity and the strange place of dance in mass cultural consumption.
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It happens every five years since I can remember. It’s time to remember The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, to reflect “as a culture” on its significance, and learn again that it is the best and most important album ever. Now it is forty years. Thanks to Jody Rosen at Slate.com for changing that a bit with a nice write up. I have a few thoughts… Read the rest of this entry »
The strange life of the dancer…
Tryouts this week on So You Think You Can Dance?: Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta. The tryout phase of So You Think…?, like American Idol’s version of the same, is quirky simply because they are both clearly filling time and trying to lure in viewers. You’d hope – maybe even think – that viewers would be drawn into the show by the sheer physical craziness of dance. People can do unbelievable things with their bodies. Seriously. But the producers have taken the now familiar and depressing route in recruiting viewers: humiliation. Read the rest of this entry »
American Idol exhausts me. The sheer number of months it takes to get to finalists – or even a group of finalists who seem like legitimate singers – takes it out of me. I don’t lack enthusiasm; American Idol is one of my favorite television shows, and I love television. It is just that American Idol is comprised of mostly crass careerists (star-wannabes) and too many stylized, faked voices. This is exactly why I welcome the replacement of American Idol with Nigel‘s other show: So You Think You Can Dance? So You Think…? is just a superior show, on all accounts. And much more interesting to watch and think about. Read the rest of this entry »