‘Superstars of Dance’ a dud? Not in the ratings
Argentine tango:
My little corner of the Post-Dispatch features department had just been discussing the bizarre creation that is NBC’s “Superstars of Dance” when I got a ratings email from the Hollywood Reporter noting that the Sunday night debut had done well in its time period, with 10.4 million viewers. It will be interesting to see whether people stick with it for the second installment tonight. Our big problem with it started with the concept, which ranks dancers from eight countries against one another. How do you compare, say, Indian dancers to Irish cloggers? It’s apples and oranges. We also thought much of the dancing was weak, especially from the Americans, although we agreed that the Argentinians’ tango was a highlight. I did enjoy the judging, which mimics the Olympics, but admit I fast-forwarded through much of the show because I found it either tedious or embarrassing. Anybody who watched: What did you think?
I watched it Sunday night as a curiosity and recorded my regular scripted shows. I found it wildly uneven, and the judging quite odd. In the Olympics, all judges vote and they throw out the high and low scores. Here, the judge from the performers’ country is not allowed to vote on their performance. I’m mystified by the definition of “dance” as some of the performances are only gymnastic in nature.
Is the USA “popper” guy the same one from last season’s “So You Think You Can Dance??” I’m watching right now (Monday) only because there is no other original programming available other than The Bachelor, which I haven’t watched since the first season.
In a few minutes I’ll be turning to “True Beauty,” only because I refuse to watch “Mamma’s Boys.” OK, and because I was never one of the cool kids in high school and I have a heightened sense of schadenfreude about the show.