Paula Abdul’s “Live To Dance” – Did You Watch?

Did you watch the debut of Paula Abdul’s new dance show Live to Dance?

It wasn’t as dire as I thought it would be.  It started off with major heartstring-pulling–crying parents, adorable kids, and cute old people. Ugh.  Thankfully, by the time the 1st hour was over, the show got down to business.  There was a ton of dancing packed into the two-hour premiere, which combined auditions in Los Angeles and New York.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much going on that was particularly memorable.

Live to Dance borrows much from other reality shows. It’s basically America’s Got Talent for dancing, but without malice. That means, no trainwrecks to laugh at. What’s left isn’t truly terrible.

But it’s not take-your-breath-away great like the best dancing on So You Think You Can Dance, either. The talent is middling–not enough to hold my interest over several weeks. I can’t see myself caring about any of these folks.

The judges–they call themselves experts–including Paula, Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt, and Michael Jackson choreographer, Travis Payne, are surprisingly NOT afraid to say no to even the most darling child or grandma.

But despite letting down the hopefuls gently–unlike that Simon Cowell fella–the tears still flowed. I was not expecting to see so many rejected kids crying their eyes out.

One uncomfortable segment had a choreographer, who had met Paula years ago as an aspiring 12 year old dancer, bring her dance troupe to audition.  Weirdly, years ago, the young dancer scored backstage passes to a Paula concert after a car plowed into her dance studio, injuring the girl pretty badly. After the judges unanimously reject her dance troupe’s mediocre performance,   Paula is taken backstage for an awkward hug with the choreographer, whom Paula didn’t remember, at all.  Wouldn’t exactly call that good TV.

Although it was cool to see crazy ole’ Paula back on my TV (She threatened to squeeze one young dancer’s face. Heh.) I’m probably going to follow this show casually.  After tonight, Live to Dance will air on Wednesdays at 8 for the next few weeks.  On January 19, it will run against the Idol premiere. At that point, I’ll stop watching. And I suspect I won’t be alone.

How about you?

About mj santilli 34833 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!