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Is Dance patronising the audience?

If TEN wants to know why So You Think You Can Dance is shedding viewers it should review all the content that isn't actually dancing.

I happen to think the dancing on So You Think You Can Dance Australia is exhilarating stuff.

The young dancers are terrific with their energy and art, putting celebrity dancers on other shows to shame.

But it’s an endurance test to sit through the rest of the showjust to watch the dance content. It feels like advertorials and verbal padding outweight the actual dance.

If TEN wants to look at one of the reasons why the show is down this year maybe they should be asking if there is too much filler?

On Wednesday night the show pulled a disappointing 767,000. Even in the 18-49 demographic it was beaten by Spicks and Specks, Criminal Minds and Customs. That’s a disaster.

Last night on the results show judge Jason Coleman also layed a big, fat guilt trip on viewers for voting for the wrong 6 dancers.

“…Australia needs to watch these guys with open hearts and open minds and the problem Natalie, I believe is with OPEN. TELEPHONE. LINES,” he said.

“Do not get complacent Australia. These 6 dancers that are standing before us tonight are not the 6 weakest dancers in the competition and they are not the 6 weakest dancers from last night. So please Australia, you’ve done so well in the past. Vote for the dancers. Vote for the routines. We want this to be the best dancer left at the end of the day.

“Now you have given us these 6 dancers so we have to make a decision from these 6 dancers. Australia we are dealing with your decisions here.”

This is patronising stuff.

Shouldn’t we be grateful viewers have engaged enough with the show to pick up the phone, yeah?

These sorts of claims have been tossed around on Australian Idol for years while reality shows continue to profit from telephone voting lines. If TEN is serious about wanting more votes, how about offering it online via a registered email?

Maybe we should just stop voting period and let the judges decide.

If the whole point of the lecture was to ease the pain for the dancers, do me a favour: tell them during the commercial break then maybe the show would finish on time instead of 9:10. Anyway why do we have to come back from yet another commercial break just to watch dancers pulling cards out of a hat to see what routine they will dance next week?

Yes these are harsh claims, because Dance is a show that has brought real dance onto our television screens, been one of several reality shows that celebrates diversity, and epitomises youth when they are too frequently the subject of negative headlines.

But it’s being destroyed from within because it isn’t making enough hard decisions, and it’s being reflected in the figures.

71 Responses

  1. The show is supposed to be about Australia’s Favourite dancer… not best… as the best are probably still out there … a lot of great dancers wouldnt bother to auditon for this show, they are already working in the industry and they certainly wouldnt want to hear an upstart like Jason Coleman or a waffling orange bimbo like Bonnie critiquing them and Matt in the hat is so boring and really Matt… get over the beautiful girls. Honestly I believe it is all about marketing…. marketing Jason Coleman and his own career and dance school and also about giving Bonnie a job away from her ex husband.
    Choreographers are restricted as to the content of their work on this show. They are given strict guidelines that they have to follow to be on it, hence no self respecting choreographer of any repute would want to bastardize their work just to have it shown on SYTYCD. Australia has so many fine choreographers but we are subjected week after week to sub standard works with stupid, inane storylines.. since when does a dance piece has to have a story?
    The only good thing to come from this show is that it has increased young peoples awareness of dance, but thank goodness for taping and fast forward so I can jump over the stupid judging and fillers.
    Please Channel Ten its time for a change. New judges, new choreographers and no choreographical restrictions on them and find a replacement for Nat, she is such a try hard it is uncomfortable to watch. Cat Deeley where are you?

  2. I wholeheartedly agree. As the choreographer of most of the remaining solo routines, and having done some work with the Americans in 2008, the judges should be the judge, and we can all save 50 cents in phone call. Even better, I will be the judge, and save evrybody 50 cents in phone calls by telling you in advance that the winner will be a female. Why, you ask. Because based on tonight’s decision – that risk is the winner. I know how I trained up these people. Women float and men take risks. It’s not about leaping for the crucifix of hope and justice. It’s about continuity with the god that makes us dance.
    Bless us all for trying.

  3. I have to agree with everything you have said David.

    I have heard that they only have both Carriageworks (where the series is filmed) and host Natalie Bassingthwaighte under contract for 3 seasons.

    I cannot stand to watch the full show, I even struggle to watch the recap on the shows website and Then an advertisement for bananas, god awful “choreographer” nacho pop or berocca pops up which compells me to switch off.

    Been frustrating aswell that they have pushed particular dancers down our throats. We will be the judge of who we think has “had the biggest improvement” or “deserves this”. We dont need the judges telling us how great Kieran is. He was in the bottom last week get the hint producers!
    (didnt mean Kieran in particular, just a hypothetical).

    The contestant quality is absolutely rubbish this year. The choreographers are terrible.
    I know choreographers who (due to the poor format for choreography submission) have been overlooked and then Its painful to see the same boring choreography be churned out by the same boring choreographers every week!

    Errrgh! The show just makes my blood boil!

  4. I, too, record and watch the show back. I guess I don’t count as being part of the “viewers” that they’re measuring to rate the success of the show.

    I think you’d be better off looking at how often people are hitting up the catchup tv website to watch the short packages – thank you Channel 10 for giving us a decent way to view your show online!

    I love pretty much all of it – especially seeing the rehersals and costuming – the dancing is super short. The only bit that runs on way too long is the judging.

    Fortunately, the show is pretty consistent in that each dance performance is about 10 minutes after the previous one (10 minutes of judging and ad breaks). So it’s actually really easy to just skip all that and get to the heart of the show.

  5. I love the dancing. I love the dancers. I love the judging. I hate everything else. It takes too long and feels forced. I always record the show and fast forward through everything except the dancing and the judging. This means that I don’t watch it live. Which means I don’t see the advertisements. Channel 10, if you wish to keep advertisers for this programme, pay attention to all these comments. It’s a little bit of a Catch 22 for you but surely the last thing you want to do is kill the goose that laid the golden egg…

  6. Killer argument from James there: SYTYCD is such a force for moral decay that any 14yr olds who watch will fall in love with the medium of dance then be inevitably drawn into a life of unemployment and/or stripping for money in Kings Cross. That’s case closed for me.

    ps apologies if my spelling and punctuation make this hard to read, mines typing are not such goods.

  7. Haven’t watched it this year due entirely to timeslot. It is a Sunday/Monday show. Does the management at Ten have the first clue about television?

  8. i sick of shows that are aimed at 14 year old who look at this and say “it will be sooo cool when we can go to clubs and dance like that”….ooooh, dare to dream. I sooo wanna be an dancer and…be unemployed or be down in King Cross at the local stripper joint.

  9. Those judges are so obsessed with themselves. It is all about ‘them’. Their remarks about the dancers are so off the planet it was painful. I don’t watch the show but I channel surfed and watched that young upstart crap on, it made me sick. Not watching that show again.

  10. Agree, and they keep adding more fillers..Now on the eliminaion night we have to see Jason call each dancer down and talk and say playback before last dance.. Really! Please stop that.. This is other than not good tv viewing, make the viewer feel ackward as you watch.

  11. I agree with 100% of the observations made here. Everybody has been spot-on pinpointing the show’s problems.

    Jason is my favourite judge as he is so knowledgeable and a nice person who is not brutal or nasty to the contestants. That said, he can sound very patronising, particularly with the references to “our world”, as though dancing is a closed community. He’s not the only commentator who does this – several rugby league commentators refer to it as “our game” and I cringe at that as well. It’s just a stupid, elitist way to refer to something. I honestly don’t think they realise how patronising it sounds.

    With only 7 couples left, there is no way in hell this week’s show should be two hours long. Considering each dance routine lasts approx. 2 minutes, that is only approx. 15 minutes of contestant dance content. If each couple does two routines that is only 30 minutes contestant content. Outrageous padding – no wonder viewers are voting with their remotes.

    @Jenny – indeed, I agree with you, there is no necessity at all for four judges. Again, needless padding, we do not need four opinions on a two minute dance routine. Also, I think it absolutely crucial that the show be put back to its original Sunday/Monday timeslot. That’s a no-brainer.

  12. I totally agree that the padding has to be stopped. It’s painful to watch and because of it I can hardly watch shows like Dance, Idol and Biggest Loser anymore. Hell, just the reality genre itself is becoming unwatchable to me because of this!
    For the performance show, it should be 60 mins, 90 mins max. They can achieve this by having a 90 second intro clip before the dancers start, and then giving the judges 60 seconds each to give their opinions. And hell, there’d probably be more time for the dancers to do longer routines!

    I’ve given up on Dance this year. It is just physically painful to watch.

  13. Here’s an idea for TEN, try and get a young skewing show that won’t flop completely. Supernatural comes to mind.

    Possibly start showing do a 2 hour comedy block, like

    The Simpsons (new episodes)
    Cleveland
    Modern Family
    The Office

    all new episodes….

  14. I agree with Rachel, and it also annoys me when Jason says ‘our world’ and ‘for all those viewers at home who don’t know dancing’. He seems to say it a lot; once is barely okay whereas more than once is being condescending. He also tends to say “Good job” A LOT.

    I have to say he’s my favourite judge because he seems to know what he’s talking about and he’s a straight shooter, but his demeanour is a little overbearing at times. I have met him twice and once upset him no end by opining that I preferred the US version. That’s just my opinion and he took great offence.

    And the padding definitely needs to be stopped. Next week it’s still listed as a 2-hour show, even though there are only 14 dancers left; that’s ridiculous indeed especially as they fill up the time with extra long VTs and even performances by professionals (like this week’s Sydney Dance Company). For time wasting, we’re not as bad as the US, but our market is only small enough to have something like the Canadian version, where the results show is only 30 minutes long (20 minus the ads).

  15. the title should be changed to is jason coleman patrionising australia. the guy has one of the biggest ego’s in the whole of australia, his outfit says it all. He thinks he is so much better than everyone else.

  16. @Jenny “2. Also I really don’t like it when Jason introduces the “dance for your life segment – he just sounds so patronising and like he is the “master” asking his slaves to dance for him”

    That’s hilarious and so true!

    As many have said, it’s just not needed. NatBas intro and that’s it.

  17. Ah! Finally I get to vent on this years SYTYCD… I really don’t like the changes they have made to the shows formatting this year. There is too much emphasis on the judges this year, and it seems that Jason Coleman has said to the producers, “hey, I want a lot more air time, yeah?”. There is no need for the opening shot of the judges walking out onto stage with their own individual introductions. This has been coverered succinctly in the past with a brief (I use that loosely) greet by NatBas.

    Also, the dance for your life is now just a Jason Coleman showpiece. There is no need for him to call down the contestant, then spend the next 30 seconds saying “be calm, quiet please, hit it hard gorgeous etc etc”. It was just fine having the dancer waiting in position for a quick intro by NatBas and then getting on with it.

    Oh, and the conveniently placed banana stickers on the mirrors and the dancer just happening to be eating a banana at the time of filming…

    Anywho…

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