It’s been two weeks since we last saw each other, but the mini-hiatus is over and I’m back with another recap of So You Think You Can Dance! Tonight’s show will be a tribute to still-alive-but-does-this-mean-she’s-dying-or-what choreographer Mia Michaels, and four more dancers will be destined to a life of county fair appearances and emotional overeating. Hurray!

Mother Nature Cat introduces the guest judges: two dudes “all the way from Britain” (nevermind that of the four judges and host, only Mary is American) who call themselves the Ballet Boyz. That’s Boyz with a Z, yo! We be straight ballin’ up in this joint! Check out these hardcore muthafuckas!

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Bust out your Hitler ‘staches everybody, because it’s time for So You Think You Can Dance!

Our androgynous and possibly anti-Semitic Top 16 opened the show with some inspiration from Charlie Chaplin, an Umbrella from Cherbourg, and those cutesy black & white photos of a little boy giving the little girl a flower and the flower is colored in pastels and all the girls in the dorms had at least one of those pictures on the wall because OMG I’m totes into photography, you guys!

Ahem. It’s interested to note that with everyone dressed nearly identically, the only two dancers that stood out to me as being recognizable were Amelia and Cyrus. Fan favorites, perhaps?

Joining tonight’s “judging” panel (let’s face it, they use that word pretty loosely) is the freaking gorgeous Christina Applegate. Have you guys been watching her on Up All Night? She costars with Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph, for Peter Paul and Mary’s sake! It’s easily one of my favorites from the latest batch of sitcoms that came out this year. And who can forget her brilliant recurring character as Jen Aniston’s sister on Friends? Man, I’m so glad that show hasn’t been cancelled. (shhh, I’m very fragile).

OK- I’m back on my meds and ready to get my dance on. Or rather, ready for these kids to get *their* dance on while *I* sit on my couch and polish off the rest of this pint of Haagan Dazs… but let’s not split hairs.

The first dance of the show features Tiffany & George. It resembles an Ambien dream sponsored by Planned Parenthood, Romper Room, and Nickelodeon. Napoleon and Tabitha choreographed this babysitting dance based on their own impending real life nightmare bundle of joy. It’s art imitating life, y’all!

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Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the creepiest SYTYCD-er of them all?

We know we’re in for a cool show when this is the first thing on stage. It’s exactly what you would expect if Marilyn Manson, Michael Jackson (circa Thriller), and choreographers Tabitha & Napoleon engaged in some frisky Eyes Wide Shut style copulation. There’s even a gratuitous phallus!

Tonight’s judges are Nigel, Mary (who had her shit together last week but looks like her dress is by Hefty tonight), and Adam Shankman. We’re reminded of the weird new format- the bottom dancers have already been chosen by last week’s votes, but that won’t be revealed until the end. Then, the judges will “save” one guy and one girl, leaving 4 dancers to pack their leotards and go.

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Heather here, with your recap of the first live show of So You Think You Can Dance: Season 9. A frenetic Mad Men-esque themed opening dance kicks things off this week. The guest judge is Kenny “I Created Zac Efron” Ortega, director of the High School Musical trilogy, Newsies, and best of all, Hocus Pocus! Cat explains that two guys & two girls will be voted off this week, and each of the 20 dancers will be given nine seconds to rattle off interesting facts about themselves and/or freeze on the spot, saying nothing more than “ummm, ummmm, um— argh!”

We’re off with a samba, danced by Witney & Chehon.- Mary puts Witney on the Hot Tamale Train, Kenny compares her to “Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, only hotter,” and Chehon is responsible for the first nip slip of the season.

Tiffany & George are next with a sensual, romantic dance by Sonya Tayeh. Sonya wanted them to melt like butter, and they certainly did. Things get awkward when Kenny tells us the piece brought him “back to his youth”, and praised the pair by telling them “they spilled it.” We can only assume he’s reminded of his own sexual encounters with… tapioca pudding? Read More | Comments

Full recap of this week’s episode of SYTYCD to come tomorrow, but first, an announcement!

Studies* have shown that 42.6% of the fun in watching reality competition shows is trying to pick the eventual winner. This year, Pop My Culture is proud to further reward your brain’s pleasure centers with So You Think You Can Predict!

There are two ways to claw and scratch your way to the top of the Pop My Culture heap. The show will eliminate one guy and one girl from each week of competition. Then, for the first time in the show’s history, it will bestow the honor of America’s Favorite Dancer to the top male AND female performer. You, dear reader/listener/person who got lost looking for cat videos on the internet, get points from correctly predicting each week’s bottom two, with bonus points awarded for picking the season winners. Admit it: you’re doing it anyway, so you might as well earn something for it! Protip- this philosophy also applies to supermarket reward cards and making sex tapes.  After the season finale, the So You Think You Can Predict Prize of the Century** will be presented to the victor/victoria.

Entering the dance battledome couldn’t be easier! (Actually, it could, but then we would be overrun with rapid chimpanzees and faceless corpses and our insurance company frowns up that.) Post your predictions in the comments section of each week’s SYTYCD recap on popmyculturepodcast.com. Points will be given for correctly naming the dancers who are eliminated on the following show (with partial credit for picking someone who is in the bottom three but is not sent home). You can earn bonus points for correctly predicting the overall season’s winners. Change your answer as often as you want, but only the most recent guesses count, and the earlier you choose your favorites, the bigger the bonus point jackpot.

Are you ready to piqué a winner?

Onward, to the hot tamale train!

-Heather

(*my arbitrary estimations)

(** pending, but will be more awesome than a gaggle of Gryffindors)

Hello PMC fans- this is Heather AKA @HeatherRecently on Twitter (remember me?) welcoming you all back to the recap marathon that is SYTYCD! Can you believe it’s been a year since our TVs have bestowed upon us the joy of Lady Gaga’s flying footwear, Lil C’s lexicon, and Cat Deeley’s cavalcade of costumes? With the auditions and Vegas’ hell week behind us (so long, exorcist man; thanks for coming, alien spaceship girl; back to the studio, dancers whose 15 minutes of fame were reduced to a half-second clip in a brief montage), it’s time to meet this season’s competitors.

Cat, who is herself stunning, struts out in a dress that appears to be inspired by the vomit & glitter-covered floor of a gay bar. Resident judges Mary “I Hope The Hot Tamale Train Is Hauling A Shipment Of Vicodin” Murphy and Nigel “Britain’s Age Of Consent is 16” Lythgoe are joined by actress Zooey Deschanel, but only barely. Zooey is disappointingly bland throughout the show and brings none of the quirk and adorkability she is known for.

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