Welcome to Pure So You Think You Can Dance

I’ve been calling for Mary Murphy to dial it down as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance for a few years now. Everyone that reads this blog knows how I feel. I’m glad to see that my feelings abour Mary Murphy are shared by the New York Post in this article. Granted, they’re a little more politically correct in how they say it, but the feeling is there. The final section of the article summarizes Mary Murphy’s problems quite well:

Murphy certainly has the knowledge and the experience to be a sharp judge on the show, particularly of the ballroom-style dances, which are her forte.

But for every thoughtful comment about the flow and quality of a dancer’s movement, Murphy gives us one like: “Achoo! I’m allergic to down feathers, what can I say. But I wasn’t allergic to that routine!”

If this were Murphy’s only flaw, we could chalk it up to “hearty enthusiasm” and call it a day. Alas, it is not so.

She also has a nasty penchant for reaffirming her own statements, as in, “What you are selling there, I am buying, yes I am!”

And when she isn’t struggling to move her Botox-tempered eyebrows, she may very well turn on the waterworks and sob over a dance that touched her.

During auditions, she bawled over contemporary dancer Brandon Bryant’s performance, saying, “If you don’t make it to the Top 20, I think I’ll just die this year.” (Sniff, sob.)

Bryant made it. Our ears are not so lucky.

It’s too bad that her cringe-worthy antics cause many to hit the mute button whenever it’s her turn to critique a dance.

Credit to @bookwomanblue for pointing me to this article.

Nigel just sent out the following tweet: “I hear I’m taking a beating on the web due to my comments regarding same sex ballroom I thought I was the most accepting of it on the panel?”

I talked about this in my SYTYCD 2009 Premiere thoughts post, but I have a feeling that we’re going to hear a lot more about this. I expect that Nigel and Fox will probably come out with some sort of formal apology as well.

It will be interesting to see the fallout from this. I’ve already seen references to Miss California and asking for Perez Hilton to comment on it.

One of my wonderful Twitter followers linked me to the news (which also broke on Twitter) that Shane Sparks was going to be back on So You Think You Can Dance 2009 (Season 5). The news came from a tweet sent my Nigel Lythgoe. Here’s an image of the tweet Nigel sent about Shane Sparks back on SYTYCD 5:

This is really great news for So You Think You Can Dance fans. Shane was really missed last season. I’m glad that Nigel and company figured out a way to bring Shane Sparks back for So You Think You Can Dance 2009. Woot!! I can’t wait to see what new dance routines Shane has up his sleeves. Is there any doubt that So You Think You Can Dance season 5 is going to be awesome?

As a side note, you can follow all the updates on the Pure TV Network twitter account.

I’ve previously talked about the new SYTYCD 5 dances that we can hope to see on So You Think You Can Dance 2009. I also have suggested some new SYTYCD 5 music that they could consider using on So You Think You Can Dance 2009.

The question now is who could be the new judges on So You Think You Can Dance 5.

I wish I could say that Mary Murphy was going to be gone and replaced by someone else. However, I’ve read that her and Nigel will be back for another season.

The first person to top my list of judges on So You Think You Can Dance 2009 is Kenny Ortega. Not only is he the mastermind behind the choreography on High School musical, but he really knows what he is talking about. He has a great way of describing what people are doing well and not doing so well.

I’d love to see Luther Brown make an appearance on So You Think You Can Dance US. I don’t want him there every week, but I enjoyed his feedback on So You Think You Can Dance Canada.

I’d also love to see almost any of the judges from So You Think You Can Dance Australia. Those judges were raw and interesting. Much more so than the SYTYCD US judges.

I don’t want to see any of the supposed “judges” who were on Superstars of Dance. They were a joke and shouldn’t be on television again.

I’d love to have Benji Schwimmer back as a judge, but I hear he might be on So You Think You Can Dance Canada as a full time judge. Dmitry, Chelsie, and Lacey are busing on Dancing with the Stars. How about bringing the too quickly discarded Allison Holker as a judge? That would be really neat.

I just hope that SYTYCD US isn’t submitted to the lame and rather arrogant Blake McGrath as a judge. His choreography is cool, but not as a judge.

Oh yeah, I still think that So You Think You Can Dance should bring in a fan of the show to be a guest judge on one of the shows. Possibly someone who knows the show and has followed it quite extensively. Someone who knows how to write about the show and share impressions of the show. I might know someone who runs a blog called Pure So You Think You Can Dance that would be willing to do it *wink* *wink*

Who would you like to see as new judges on So You Think You Can Dance?

I just read an interview with Shane Sparks on Zap2It where he’s asked if he’s going to be back on the next season of So You Think You Can Dance. Here’s the question and Shane Spark’s response:

Now that this season is happening separately from when So You Think You Can Dance is airing, are you gonna be able to do some work with them this season?
We’re working on it right now, trying to get me in more this season, get me on camera for some of the show.

Judging?
Yeah.

It’s unfortunate that Shane won’t be doing choreography for the show. I’d much rather have him doing choreography than judging, but if he’s able to replace Mary Murphy at the judges table, then I’ll be happy.

Mary Murphy has long been acclaimed the Queen of Scream. While the dancers certainly love to hear her scream since that means she liked their performance, many of the shows fans have often complained about her screaming. So, let’s hear your opinions on the infamous Mary Murphy.

Also, feel free to rant, complain and/or compliment Mary Murphy in the comments.