Expect another major format change when So You Think You Can Dance returns this May — only this time, it’s not good news (like the return of the All-Stars), and Nigel Lythgoe didn’t really have a choice.
The show’s executive producer announced on Twitter earlier today that Fox has cancelled the show’s results shows, meaning SYTYCD will only air once a week, rather than twice, this summer.
“Fox have cancelled the results show so I will have to change the format of SYTYCD,” he tweeted. “At least we have another season at the end of May.”
This isn’t the first time SYTYCD has gone without results shows: the first two weeks of season 6 — which aired in the fall, and thus conflicted with Fox’s broadcasts of the World Series — featured no results shows. The Top 20 performed their routines, then the judges picked the bottom four who will dance for their lives the same night, before choose two to send home.
The idea of the judges sending dancers home is also not new to the show — the past two seasons saw them do just that, but our votes still determined who’s on the bottom.
With no results show on season 9, I can imagine two possibilities. Either the bottom four dancers and the final elimination all fall in the judges’ hands, much like in season 6. (So much for choosing America’s Favorite Dancer.) Or the performance shows will go as usual, only we’ll have a week to vote, and the bottom two will be eliminated at the start of the following week’s show.
I’m sure Nigel and SYTYCD‘s other producers can think of a way around this new setback, but I’m still dismayed for a few things. For one, it seems we won’t be able to see the dancers do solos — no more of awesomeness like this from Melanie Moore last season. Also, we won’t get to see the other wonderful dancers that get the spotlight on the results shows. (Can’t care less for the musical acts, frankly.)
Finally, if season 9 doesn’t work, the show itself might be cancelled — SYTYCD‘s ratings have been declining over the past few seasons, never mind a pretty good following.
So, fellow dance fans, what do you think will the new format be, now that SYTYCD is down to one show a week? Do you agree with the decision to cut the show down by one show?
(Image courtesy of Fox)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
