TVSquad

(S04E14) Tonight's "jidges" included the return to the panel of Mia Michaels. In a reversal of Kristin's thinking last week, I'm actually disappointed to see Michaels joining Nigel and Mary on the dais this week for two reasons. First, I think she does some amazingly bizarre things with the dancers and I find myself always incredibly curious and mesmerized by her choreography, even if there are those times where I don't get it. But even more importantly, I hate hate HATE her as a judge. She's completely subjective and criticizes the most nonsensical things.

And then tonight she completely surprised me by being generally pretty solid before derailing again to the point I wanted to throttle. But still she can't help but get all ethereal and bizarre leaving confusion in their wake. How do you learn and grow from a comment like "I wanted more movement"? And how do you respond to what was said to Will (which I'll get to later)? Overall, the night wasn't as strong as prior episodes, but there were still some gems among all that rough.

(S04E08) Two down and seventeen more to go until we find "America's Favorite Dancer" for the summer of 2008. Have you found your favorite yet? I'm narrowing it down, but it's a bit early yet to be picking favorites and there are still a ton of dancers left, as the lo-o-o-ong intro sequence showed us. Nigel and Mary were joined this week on the judge's panel by contemporary madwoman Mia Michaels (of the inspired "Tim Burton wedding" piece last week). And her hair was shockingly bleached very blonde.

I think I prefer Michaels choreographing than judging. She focuses almost too much on her own interpretations of the emotions in the pieces rather than what the dancers had to bring. I think she's insane and brilliant in choreography, but maybe a bit too "out there" for really constructive criticism.

(S03E06) Finally, the waiting is over. There are no more interruptions by bad dancers or mothers that want to yell at Nigel. Now we get to the real competition. And the really interesting part of that competition comes as we get to see what happens when the luck of the draw forces dancers out of their comfort zone. Being able to spin on your head is great, but not much use if you have to waltz. Much like the years of classical ballet don't mean quite as much when you land the hip-hop number. It's what makes the show so fun.

Dan Karatay joined Nigel and Mary at the judges table this week. They had a lot to get to as the final twenty paired off to do ten different numbers. There were some surprising moments, some great performances, and a couple that could have been better. More on each of the couples after the jump.