Reaction: So You Think You Can Dance - Top 20 Perform

So You Think You Can Dance season 6 has been filled with trepidation from the start. I’ve recapped the last two seasons gladly. But the show has been a summer program, great and yet still a filler show. So going into its first fall premiere So You Think You Can Dance had a lot to prove to long time fans, and those returning to their regularly scheduled programming. To be honest it was a rocky start, and I only caught two full episodes of the auditions.

Now that the season proper has begun, all my worries have been washed away. It’s still the same great show, and even more importantly SYTYCD deserves this prime slot. If I’m being candid about my thoughts on the first competition episode of the season, nothing mesmerized me to the degree of a “No Air” routine.

Not having seen them and gotten attached the leaving of Billy due to illness and the other chick getting hurt had no affect. I think her name is Noelle, but unless she can perform next week I don’t feel too bad not catching her name.

Two names I did catch, and love, were Cat and Travis. Possibly the two best things about SYTYCD this season. Cat is absolutely the most charming host of a competition show on television, and she stole my heart with a corny Short Circuit reference this evening. Travis is quite simply the best thing to happen to this show since he was a competitor.

Jakob is mind bogglingly good. Russel has the potential to be this season’s Joshua. In one dance Karen has become the sexiest woman to appear on the SYTYCD stage. Brandon shouldn’t have been there, but circumstances brought him to the competition stage. And they paired Nathan with Molly, making a couple that looks like two high school kids at the prom…except they’re good dancers.

People may be up in arms that the competition and elimination will be in the same show while the World Series gets under way. And that fans won’t be voting. But this is no different than previous seasons, except we don’t have to wait a day for the results. The judges have always eliminated the first ten dancers before fans got to voting. Speaking of eliminated, Brandon and Ariana got the axe this evening.