Mertseger

Really? On this show? I've been watching since S1, and while it has happened on occasion, it's been pretty rare. We may have gotten consistent critiques on the season when Mia was a permanent judge, but she was HATED for it.

Hey , as she said herself said about one of the couples, she did not fail to disappoint. How frigging strong is Hannahlei esp. her core? I spoke an involuntary "Shit!" when she raised her torso off the floor from supine.

The show received 5 Emmy nominations today. The usual 4 choreo noms for Mandy, Travis, Christopher and Al with the Late Show getting the only other nod in the category. No nominations for DTWS or WoD. SYTYCD also nabbed one for lighting this year. Congratulations! (But no love for Cat this year, sigh.)

Hannahlei Cabanilla

Sadly, yes. No one seems to understand that Mary is a great judge despite and not because of her various shticks.

Hello, old friends. The show should consist of nothing but Twitch dance battles from now on.

We certainly know that FOX was already in talks with Nigel for next season, and so the Cat sign-off is a good sign. I'm suspecting that the show is delivering sufficient social media buzz in a desirable (i.e. young) demographic in addition to the Emmys, and those things may be enough despite the ratings. The Emmys alone have been enough in prior seasons. The return of the tour is also a good sign. Plus, the lighting department had an outstanding season I do wish they'd test a Nigelless panel for once - I actually do appreciate what he does for the show, and he has toned down the Uncle Pervy quite a bit this season. But if the show is going to be a true television perennial it will have to do so at some point without him anchoring the panel. I'm not sure it's a sacrifice he's ready for, but they should try at least an episode or two of the live show or two without him next summer. I do hope we see more Mia in future seasons. Mandy is great, and I like Travis. But Mia comes with a philosophy, and I like that philosophy. I think she gets dancers to a more direct and authentic communication of emotion. The more dancers that get exposed to that through the show the better as far as I'm concerned. And I think she educates the audience as well. She's not perfect, and she can easily strike people as pretentious, but she along with Wade still set the bar for this show. I was certainly happy with Americer's choices tonight. I was hoping for Koine like many of you, but Lex is certainly a worthy winner.

My take is different here: I think it's almost certain that the show runners knew of the relationship, but that they chose not to exploit it. Usually, the PA's at most reality shows go over the stories that the contestants are willing to share. I also expect that the show would have been asking repeatedly to check if Lex and Taylor were willing to share. If that's the case, good on the show for respecting the couple's wishes. But who knows. Also, good on Nigel for toning down the Uncle Pervy this season. I've thought every season since the ill-favored venture into the Fall network line-up in season six would be the last. For all its faults, it's still the best dance show on TV, and so I hope it remains a summer-time perennial. And, for all their faults, Nigel and Mary are still good judges of dance when they deign to do so. If only we could clutch Misty back from the dark side that was WoD.

La Danse of the Lunch Ladies and the Theatre Crew Guys Playing Minecraft was a fantastic opening. I do think the lighting department should be back in the Emmy nods next year. And congrats to the show for its return to dominance in the choreo category. I'm hopelessly praying that the Kiki and Lex voters will cancel each other out, and that Koine will sneak in there for the win. The Mandy and Elizabeth routine for Koine and Marko recalled the the Katee and Twitch door routine by Mia which is high praise, indeed. I am, however, throwing a couple of votes to Taylor purely for Keone and Mari's choreography. I rage quit World of Dance when they lost to the Les Twins in that shambles of an episode and shan't return. We still need a Mia and Wade face-off episode though Keona and Mari are rapidly rising in my all-time rankings.

Huh, I actually liked a Tasty Oreo routine for the first time in fourteen seasons. Sean's quartet was what Travis' Strange Fruit was aiming for but missed.

What I really wanted to see was the choreography of the camera operator on Taylor and Robert's routine: he or she ran over a full circle around the two on the samba roll and then was entirely out of sight on the next cut to a shot of the entire stage - I suspect they dove behind one of the large panels. I think the intention of doing Strange Fruit was good, but it certainly had its problems as noted earlier in the thread. I'm glad Travis tried to address the topic, but I don't think he got there. Further, I don't think the final cut to modern attire worked at all particularly since doing so breaks the illusion that these previously filmed segments are part of the live show. The solos have always been vestigial on this show (at least we no longer suffer the count-down clock), but I have much preferred to spend that time on group routines - maybe trios sans All Stars? Lex is almost certainly the best technical dancer here, but I'm voting for Koine.

Sean's routine for Koine and Marko should be put up for an Emmy choreo nod next year. The lighting department is knocking it out of the park so far this year. Vanessa is obviously gorgeous, but her outfit was Cat Season 2 and Season 3 levels of terrible styling. Cat should, on the other hand, have kept the headdress for the rest of the show - she looked great as a 14' disco amazon. Do they always swap the audience behind her on the Balcony of Power?

The prodigal Wade has returned. Squee!!!! Now, if only we could have a showdown episode featuring only new routines of his and Mia's. I may be the lone Kaylee fan, but I loved their routine. I do hope that she and and Cyrus get to do ballroom...with Kaylee as the lead. That was another Emmy-worthy bit of lighting on Stacy's routine, and the final shot of Wade's routine. The show is back. Certainly, it was the best first-performance episode in years.

For all the cheese and dubious format decisions, World of Dance at least gave us that Keonie and Mari routine. Utterly brilliant.

For all his faults, Nigel is pretty good about keeping his word. Plus, if the production team had not locked in booking the steppers in the intervening months, his statements would have never made the final edit. And so it's pretty certain (barring some catastrophe on the dancers' end) that we'll see them. I'm looking forward to it too.