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Two more dancers were released last night from So You Think You Can Dance. Last week, there were three couples in the bottom three that kept falling there week after week. The four dancers that remained are right back there again, and it’s not surprising that yet another of them was set loose. No matter how great you were at auditions, and no matter how great your solos are, if you can’t be exciting week after week in your competitive dances with your partner, then it’s just not going to work for you.

The first couple to land in the bottom three were Kourtni Lind and Matt Dorame, and of course it wasn’t exactly a surprise. They’d made several appearances there already, and the judges weren’t very pleased with either of their routines. Tabitha is shocked to to keep seeing Kourtni in this spot after the auditions, and Napoleon admits to having the same hopes for Matt. Yet, they’re not connecting, and that’s why they’re in this spot.

New to the bottom three were Courtney Galiano and Gev Manoukian. While they didn’t seem to dance anything “badly” on performance night, they just weren’t as impressive as the top four couples. The judges had thought she was strong on one dance, and he the other. When Nigel Lythgoe was asked why he thought they were making their first appearance in the bottom three couples, he joked maybe America doesn’t like little dancers, keeping that odd, crabby feeling he had from the night before.

The final couple to the bottom three were no strangers to the position, although in all of their previous times, their visits to the bottom three had been with different partners. After Comfort and Thayne Jasperson were voted out last week, it forced them into a new partnership this week that had surprisingly more chemistry than they had with their original partners. However, here they are again. Mary Murphy only wants them to know what huge assets they are to the show. While Comfort has showed huge growth on the show, Thayne is a sure thing and always there 100%. She felt he really stood out in the group number a few mintues before.

As if to prove that being on So You Think You Can Dance has nothing to do with how great of a dancer you are, a special guest to this night’s show was Robert Muraine. He had auditioned this season, and after being crowned the best popper to ever grace their stage, he easily made it to Las Vegas. There, he surprised everyone by voluntarily leaving. After working with the choreographers for the first time, Robert faced the judges and told them he was quitting, thinking he wouldn’t be able to do it. The judges implored him to stay, but his mind was made up.

Muraine took the stage on results night this week, showing us what we’re missing out on from his resignation. Some comments were made back and forth between him, Cat Deeley and Nigel, leaving us with the thought that this guy wants another shot. I have to give the guy credit here for the growth to be able to say I was wrong to leave, and I’d like another chance. Is it possible he thought just by getting to Vegas before he would be seen by enough people that would hire him and his career would take off, but after that didn’t happen he came back with his tail between is legs? Regardless, he deserves something, as he’s just that amazing.

The only solos from the bottom six performers tonight that were amazing were from the two that were new to the spot. Courtney was very impressive, but it really broke down to not much more than spins and leaps. Gev seemed to be pulling off the epitome of “dancing for his life.” The other four should be old pros at it by now, and the only one that stood out some was Thayne, and that’s because you could see the growth in his performance, as it wasn’t just straight contemporary. He seemed to have now stuck a little funk in it, something he seems to have picked up along the way.

Nigel addressed all of the bottom six, telling them that through seven seasons of American Idol and four seasons of this show, the results nights are always tough, but he doesn’t think he ever really cared as much about losing people as he does this season. He has never shirked the responsibility of elimination or been frightened of it, but he’s looking forward to the time in a few weeks when we’ll take over the responsibility from him. While we understand what he’s saying, as overall the talent this season is amazing, it certainly doesn’t seem to flow with his attitude this week so far.

Nigel’s eliminations are swift tonight, and perhaps this is his way of pulling off the bandaid on a difficult season. He tells the three girls it was not a unanimous decision. Courtney has always risen to the occasion, no matter what has been asked of her by choreographers, so she’s staying. They have watched Comfort grow, and while they all thought she did a really good job this week, she didn’t get his vote, but got the others. She is staying, and Kourtni is leaving.

As for the guys, it’s the first time they have seen Gev do his thing, and they were delighted. He’s obviously staying. Matt and Thayne are in this same spot each week, and this time they’re in agreement that while Matt came in at a really high level, he never progressed further. He’s going home.

Regardless, Comfort and Thayne don’t seem destined for many more weeks in the competition. If we keep putting them in the bottom three, once we also decide who will leave each week, I can’t see things improving for them. Courtney and Gev both did really well this week, but in a field that started out very crowded with great dancers that were indistinguishable, there is a divide that seems to be increasing each week. Unfortunately, they’re on the wrong end of it.

Photos Courtesy of fox.com/dance

For more information on So You Think You Can Dance, see SirLinksalot: So You Think You Can Dance , and for a recap of Wednesday night’s performances, see So You Think You Can Dance .

I saw on TiVo last night that we were once again getting two hours of The Bachelorette, just as we had all season, leaving that final hour or programming to The Mole. What I didn’t know was that it was one hour of elimination to the final 2 and another of The Men Tell All, so when I flipped it on, I saw Jeremy already sitting with the rejected/dejected men that had already been eliminated. I realized then I had missed a show somewhere along the the way. After thinking I had forgotten to watch last week or something, I flipped through and realized that the first hour had been the away dates and the last elimination. The shock of who was voted out was already ruined, but thankfully, TiVo caught it all.

Stopping in my tracks, I returned to the first episode shown last night before I ruined anything else for myself. I’m still trying to figure out just where this gal Deanna is going with this. I’ll think I have it figured out, then she’ll surprise me again. We know she does not want a Brad repeat, and that’s what led to her surprise elimination of Graham last week. But why did she get rid of the other frontrunner, Jeremy?

Even Chris Harrison pointed out to Deanna last night in The Men Tell All that she had eliminated the two early frontrunners on the show. She didn’t really seem to have an answer to this, other than to say after her away dates with Jesse and Jason, she realized that she was falling in love with them, and not Jason. I’d believe that, except for the fact that I know next week when she chooses one of the guys, she’ll tell the other she realized she was only in love with the one guy. It happens every season whether it’s Bachelor or Bachelorette, unless your name is Brad. Read more

Even twenty years later, we’re still enamored with them, and curious enough to tune in. The 2 Coreys, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, were quite the anomaly back then, and while separately they were good young actors, together, they presented something that was exciting. Twenty years and way too many troubles later, with neither at a place in their career similar to their teens, they’re attempting a comeback … together.

Feldman and Haim both reached their peak of stardom in their teens. Feldman had been in acting since he was three, but Haim was late to the party, with his mom signing him up for acting lessons to overcome his shyness. Yet, he was receiving raves for his appearances. No one ever knew which Corey you were talking about, and they soon became synonymous with each other. They started appearing in films together, in the process, creating a tight bond. They started off with Lost Boys, and moved on to License to Drive and Dream a Little Dream.

It started out as grumbling, and soon got too loud to ignore. These boys were great talents, but had worked themselves up quite a drug habit. While it was Haim that was in the news for his drug use more often, Feldman was known to abuse it himself. They continued in some joint ventures here and there, but it would never amount up to the success they once had together. Read more

Results night on So You Think You Can Dance was just more of the same this week all around. Familiar costumes, familiar people, familiar styles. Chelsea Traille and Thayne Jasperson were told their costumes last week were like that of a “clown,” and now we see what looks like the same ones on all the dancers tonight in the opening number.

It’s also the same type of jazz/contemporary we keep seeing with the black/white, dark eyes, long gazes into the camera, and every other thing you can think of that brings you back to Thriller. Perhaps the economy is hitting everyone, including the wardrobe department here, as first we had Courtney Galiano wearing one half of a dress, and Katee Shean wearing the other, and now we have what seems to be recylced costumes.

The bottom three couples are also people we have seen before in this position before. Chelsea and Thayne are the first to land there, but aren’t surprised after Nigel Lythgoe told them last night to get their solos ready. Mary admits they’ve had a tough go of it and had to deal with the quickstep this week. Okay, yeah, I get that, but there’s something more wrong here than them just having a hard time with this ballroom dance. Chelsea had hips on fire in the first week of the competiton, but since then she isn’t that impressive, and her partner seems worse.

Comfort and Chris Jarosz fall to the bottom three again as well, and just like with Chelsea and Thayne, no one seems surprised. Adam Shankman urges them to realize they have to invest so much more than just technique and dancing. They have to throw everything into it that they can. The judges have liked Comfort from the beginning, so maybe it would do them well to cut Chris and get her a new partner, to see how she fairs there. He’s been told since the beginning he has the personality of a tree.

Kourtni Lind and Matt Dorame are the last couple in the bottom three. Nigel tells Kourtni she was sensational through the audtiions, and stood out in the top five girls, but she’s been in the bottom three too long and needs to do more to match the personality of the other female dancers. He’d like Matt to immerse himself more into the roles, just as if he was an actor. If he were Michael Caine it would be okay to play it the same way every time, but he’s not. He’s just always Matt. That’s kind of cruel, but true.

Nigel had the most obvious message for everyone just before the eliminations. He wants them to see that if they have each been here two or three times, than America is telling them something. If they end up staying, they have to figure out what we want, otherwise they’ll be next to go home. Again, very obvious, and if they aren’t getting it yet, I’m guessing they won’t.

The three girls are called up first, and while Nigel usually calls up one person, tells them they’re staying, then gets rid of the the other two after going over the negative aspects of each, tonight, he calls Chelsea up first, and cuts her, straight out. While I notice it every week, I never say anything. With this being her last time on the stage. I have to mention it. She has the most beautiful eyes. They’re huge and just pull you in. She also has the most perfect hairstyle to frame her face and eyes. She is absolutely beautiful, but it just wasn’t enough for us.

Matt is called up first of the three guys, so we figure Nigel will do the same thing as he did with Chelsea and cut him once he says, “sorry,” but instead, he tells him he’s sorry he hits on him every week (I really don’t think he meant it “that” way), but his solo was brilliant. He can sit down. Chris is called up and told it’s the end of the line for him, and this means Thayne and Comfort will now be partnering with each other next week.

I get why Chris is leaving, as he’s just missing something each week, but the problem is that Chelsea, I think, only appears in the bottom three because of a weak partner, yet he stays. It seems a little unfair. Comfort is somewhat strong and was brought down every week by Chris, but I don’t see Thayne now working for her either. This means it will be the same ole same ole for them next week. They’ll end up dancing for their lives once again, and like Nigel said, they’ll be next to leave.

Photos Courtesy of fox.com/dance

For more information on So You Think You Can Dance, see SirLinksalot: So You Think You Can Dance , and for a recap of Wednesday night’s performances, see So You Think You Can Dance .

There are two types of people in this world, people that enjoy laughing at others falling, and those who definitely don’t enjoy it. The new game show Wipeout was obvious created with those that enjoy it, and while I’m not normally one of those people, I just couldn’t help but laugh at this.

The closest I could describe Wipeout would be to say it’s like an adults version of the old Nickelodeon show Double Dare, yet without the quiz part of the show, and mud instead of slime. Reaching back in the annals of TV, it’s also very similar to the old Almost Anything Goes that was also on ABC.

The goal, I don’t think, is for people to win this show, but for us to laugh at people trying to win this show. A group of twenty-four people race through an obstacle course that is designed for them to “wipe out,” falling hard in the water or the mud while trying to jump onto big rubber balls, stacks of thick mats, and walking over a thin platform while being “sucker punched” by robotic arms. The design seems to not be to make it difficult for them, but make it easier for us to laugh. The top twelve finishers move on through more elimination rounds until only the final four are left to compete through one last obstacle course.

The host, Jill Wagner, laughs at the contestants, and the two commentators, John Anderson and John Henson, have the best jokes. I’m not sure what was more funny, the contestants falling and wiping out, or the hilarious jokes from these two. There were lots of jokes about the big rubber balls, as well as the contestants, as they would freeze the replay and point out a dancing contestants “jazz hands,” and talked of a 6′9 contestant being 11′3″, 18′13″, and later Sasquatch.

But our favorite joke of the two Johns was the one that made us rewind and play it over and over. The two Johns exclaimed a karate expert that was a little effeminate “wears a rainbow belt and attends the Bob Fosse dojo.” I should add we’re a family of martial artists. That was funny, and something I can’t wait to share with my fellow tae kwon do instructors tomorrow.

I think Wipeout has what it takes for a great summer series. It’s light-hearted enough to keep us entertained without any heavy drama for the rest of the summer. If we missed a week, it wouldn’t matter, but I don’t think anyone would want to miss this.

Photos Courtesy of abc.com

It’s always difficult on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, once they get to the at-home dates. To meet someone else’s family is such a big thing, and to see what it’s like to be in their environment. This time around, two of the guys raised the stakes to make it just that much bigger and that much more difficult of a decision.

Jeremy bonded with Deanna early on, as while she has lost her mother, he has lost both parents. Once he invited her inside his home you could just feel it in the air. You could feel the emptiness that was reaching out for hopefulness. While Jeremy showed pictures of his beautiful mother, he then went one step further, showing Deanna the entry he had written in his journal about how he felt when his mom died. His brothers and sister-in-law were so protective meeting Deanna, and you just knew it was because of all that they have gone through together. They were like a group of survivors, and Deanna just seemed to be one of them. Read more

As I expected, even with the great field of dancers that we have on So You Think You Can Dance, things are getting clearer on who the favorites are and who is just going to keep on appearing in the bottom three, but who it is falling in the bottom three is a little surprising, although I don’t necessarily disagree.

The first couple to land in the bottom three tonight is Chelsea Traille and Thayne Jasperson. Mia somewhat rudely tells them that she isn’t shocked they’re there, and she’s sure they aren’t shocked either. I agree, but the way she went about this is odd, just like many of her critiques last night. She said then that he was a little dumpy. Mary and Nigel weren’t any more impressed, but at least they didn’t tell him he was dumpy. Read more

For those of us that know we have talent, yet can’t sing or dance, there’s another talent-based reality show contest out there, America’s Got Talent. There are ventrioquists, jugglers, musicians, animal acts, and nearly everything else you can imagine. Not that they don’t have singers and dancers, as they do, but it’s just not as limiting.

Like the other competitions, there are three judges deciding if they can move on to the semi-finals in Las Vegas. We have the quintessential British judge, Piers Morgan, as well as a bonus Brit who also is the recommended female judge, Sharon Osbourne, and required American perfromer, David Hasselhoff. Instead of just a flat out vote, they can also act as if they’re on The Gong Show, and hit a buzzer. A buzzer from each of the three judges sends the contestant home. If the contestant survives, then the judges vote, and a majority of two votes either send them home or to Las Vegas.

On the first night of auditions, coming from New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, we had a variety of memorable perfromances, some that made it, some that didn’t.

Mary Bly is an 80 year old tap dancer. She bribed her father into letting her take tap dancing lessons in order to do better in school. She taps her way out onto the stage, this tiny old loady, full of life. As Jerry worries that she’s dancing too close to the edge of the stage, both David and Piers X her out. They call her lovely and sweet, and David tells her it just isn’t enough to sustain her past today. The crowd chants her name, or maybe they’re chanting for Jerry Springer, and she shuffles off to Buffalo right off the stage. She was incredibly charming.

Kaitlyn Maher, 4 years old, claims her favorite thing to do is sing, and she’s been doing it since she was just 1. She’s absolutely adorable, and when Sharon asks if she’s from New York, she corrects her, saying she’s from America. At first she just seems okay, but the longer she goes on, you forget she’s just 4. As the judges point out later, she remembered all the words and stayed in tune the whole way through. I don’t know why, but something about her singing Somewhere Out There got me emotional by the end. As Sharon has tears in her eyes, they send her to Las Vegas, and Kaitlyn runs off the stage and into her daddy’s arms, as he tells her he’s proud of her.

Jonathon Burkin, 17, had a famliar story but an unfamilar talent … for a guy. He’s been made fun of all his life while going through this quest to fulfill his dream of being a … baton twirler. Tonight he doesxq the most amazing routine with flaming baton to Charlie Daniels music yet. David, not one to mince words, tells him he can tell all those kids at school to shove it, because he has talent. He was simply amazing, and I hope a camera crew follows him into school as he tells those kids to shove it. But the guy that I will remember the most, and will remember all the way to fine semi-finals and beyond, as I’m sure he’ll be standing at the end, is Neal E. Boyd. He grew up the child of a single mother and recognizes the sacrifices she made for him. He fell in love with opera after his brother brought home a 3 Tenors CD as homework. He has such an emotional moment in this audition, I think this might be all he needs, but I do hope he makes it through. There’s no way he won’t as the entire audiece and Sharon and David are giving him a standing O. He doesn’t even get to finish the song because of his emotions and the crowd’s reaction. They all recognize his dream, as well as his warmth, sincerity, electricity, and passion. He cries after, and this is truly his nirvana. He just proved everything he came her to do and overcame something he needed to.

I’ll remember all these people that made it through when I see them again in Las Vegas, but it will be Neal I won’t be able to get out of my mind until then.Photo courtesy of nbc.co

For more information on America’s Got Talent, see SirLinksalot: America’s Got Talent.

What a great opportunity this was to watch something as a family. AFI named off in a three hour television special the ten best films in ten different genres, such as animation, sci-fi, and sports films. We had a lot of fun together disagreeing with the choices and trying to predict what movies we thought would be on the lists coming up.

We were all drawn in with the first category, the ten best animated films. It just grabbed us as we watched all these favorite movies we enjoyed watching together, such as Finding Nemo, which we saw one year on the last day of school one year, and Lion King, my son’s first Disney movie on VHS which we watched over and over and over. We all had guesses on which film would be number one, and it was my daughter who guessed right with Snow White.

We didn’t just try to figure out which films would rate on these lists; we also tried to figure out what the other genres would be. Some of them were expected, such as Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Westerns, some of them were an unexpected delight such as Sports, Gangster, and Epic, and still others were a complete puzzlement, such as Courtroom Drama. Why wasn’t that combined with Mystery? While there were some great films here, such as 12 Angry Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, and A Few Good Men, it just seemed they were grasping at straws to create this category. Why not Musicals?

The one category where we disagreed with most of the AFI’s choices would be Sports films. When I saw Cuba Gooding, Jr. hosting this spot, I tried to think of what great sports film he was in, and could only come up with Jerry Maguire. I thought I must be missing one, as it’s not really a sports film, but more a sports agent film, sure enough, it showed up as #10. I thought of some great football and baseball films I would want to see included. Remember the Titans is a classic in our family, and I don’t think there’s a better sports film ever made than Brian’s Song. Yet it was curiously missing, along with my favorite baseball film, A League of Their Own.

I can’t argue with the #1 Sports film, Raging Bull, and certainly not with #2, Rocky. I found while we were watching this countdown that my 15 year old son had never seen this. How could he have missed out on seeing perhaps the best underdog sports hero film of all time? He loves Rudy, and if he loves that, he’ll certainly love this, which is why I added it to my blockbuster.com queue shortly after I discovered this. He made a great suggestion, too, to put all the top films that we haven’t seen on our queue.

The best surprise of the night was the choice of host for the top 10 Epic category. Could there be a better host of this than Kirk Douglas, star of Spartacus? Douglas’ speech is slurred after a 1996 stroke, but he looked great, and at 91 is still going strong. Also great to see was Michael J. Fox, talking about many films, and representing Back to the Future, which appeared on the ten best fantasy films. His Parkinson’s was visible, but like Douglas it didn’t matter. It was just great to see him.

Of the films in the #1 spot in each of the ten genres, Snow White, The Wizard of Oz, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Raging Bull, The Searchers, The Godfather, Vertigo, City Lights, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lawrence of Arabia, I’m a little ashamed to say I’ve only seen three of them in their entirety. I just might have to follow up on my son’s suggestion and rent them, yet some are so old, I’m not sure if they’ll be available on DVD. Regardless, it’s a goal. But first, Rocky.

At some point, they just need to make it stop. Honestly … just make it stop. Every time they have a special of any sort on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, something other than one of their regular shows, they trot out their only truly successfully happy couple, Trista and Ryan Sutter, after twelve seasons of The Bachelor and three of The Bachelorette.

Sure, there are a couple other pairs that are still together, but it’s hard for me to count them seriously. Byron Velvick and Mary Delgado got engaged ouright the finale of the fourth season of The Bachelor in 2004, and the wedding is supposedly finally happening this year. However, they appeared on the special After the Final Rose episode of The Bachelor last fall when Brad Womack rejected Deanna Pappas for the second time, and Byron joked with the audience behind Mary’s head, making it appear he would never marry her. It can’t be coincidental that a few days later she was arrested for domestic abuse after punching him in the mouth. Successful? Nah.

The only other couple still together is Matt Grant and Shayne Lamas, but for me it’s hard to count them as well, as their season just got over with. It hasn’t had time to fizzle yet. Of The Bachelor couples other than them and Byron and Mary, seasons one, two, and five broke up after several months, and were joined by couples that broke up after a few years, broke up after the show aired, and broke up as the Bachelor then pursued the woman he rejected in the finale, and later ended it with her as well. On The Bachelorette, other than Trista and Ryan, the other one couple ended it after several months, and in the other season, The Bachelorette chose her man, but then rejected his offer for engagement. Not a great track record here. Read more