Summer Obsession: SYTYCD

For years, one of my favorite parts of summer has been the chance to catch the delightful dance competition So You Think You Can Dance, often shortened to SYTYCD, and their ever-changing, personality-filled contestants. This year is no different, even if the formula has changed slightly by cutting the dancers in half and adding all-stars. Although I think the producers' hearts were in the right place, I'm not sure it was the best of decisions. I love my all-stars (I have watched every season), but the other contestants shone a little less (less time to get to know them too) plus the all-stars barely talk.

I'm happy with Adam Shankman being a regular judge (love him!), but I miss the rotating guest judges and I'm not that impressed with Mia every week (her love for José and mistrust of Kent irks me - mostly her love of José). I am glad Mary is no longer here, but sometimes I do miss her enthusiastic praise.

This year, it has been the year of the boys. Taking out the top twenty and putting in a top eleven (with six boys and five girls), left the dancers at the tweenage girls' mercy and the girls mostly lost. It was sad to see, but I have to admit that my favorites were boys too. Pretty much all of them. But the only one I truly dislike this season is also male (José, who probably wouldn't have made it to the top ten in a regular season - personality without talent for other styles can only take you so far).

My favorite? Alex Wong. HANDS DOWN. Amazing dancer. Heartbreaking that he left all too soon because of an injury. (Also, what is up with all the injuries this season? They obviously need to change something - three weeks in a row!)

Second favorite? Kent Boyd. So effing cute. I can barely handle it. He is just full of "aw shucks" good looks and boy is he talented. Really. And he's grown so much as a dancer!

Lauren (and Ashley) warmed their way to my heart too. And I did mention I love all the boys other than José. And I thought Lexie left too soon. And probably Maria.

With those left, I might choose Robert to be my favorite to win. Or Lauren. IT'S SO HARD TO CHOOSE! They're all so lovely (except José). Here's to hoping Billy is well enough to continue on tomorrow! (I also adore Billy. And Adé Cheké.)

Apologies for the un-uniform picture sizes. Lack of images (and the amount of time to fix images) is the number one reason I post so sporadically.

Anyway, with So You Think You Can Dance and America's Next Dance Crew, I have no idea why anyone would watch Dancing with the Stars. Why suffer through badly danced, simple routines when you can watch quality dancing with complex choreography is beyond my comprehension.

All photos were taken from fox.com/dance