I agree with the author here about Mia Michaels. I think that Mia chooses and picks on one person each season. In Season 5, Mia picked on Brandon Bryant quite a bit. She even went as far to tell Brandon that she didn't like him or his arrogance. I feel bad for Adechike and that he almost doesn't have a chance. I just wish Mia would back down and not so aggressively single individuals out. I think he is good but the constant belittling by Mia has got to be incredibly hard for Adechike every week.

Oh, where to start with THIS bullshit?!
*Alex being injured. GAH! The worst news possible at this stage in the season. I look forward to seeing Alex more than any other dancer this season (not counting the all-stars), and the fact that he may be going home due to injury just KILLS me. He's unquestionably Top 4 caliber this season, and going out this early would be a crime.

I do think there's a difference between his and Ashleigh's situations: by the time Ashleigh was injured elims were strictly based on viewer votes, not the judges' decisions. I can understand Nigel's fears that a popular but injured dancer like Alex could somehow make it through entire weeks of the competition without even taking the stage should he be allowed to remain in the competition. That's not fair. Wasn't fair when Ashleigh slid by either, but it's even more egregious this early in the competition. But god, I hope he's cleared to dance as of tomorrow. That would be a gigantic loss for this season, and for us viewers.

*I think the judges finally "got" Lauren tonight, and I was thrilled to see it. I've liked her from the beginning but the judges have been weirdly cool toward her up until now. I think this is actually a perfect point in the competition for her to start ascending, especially if Alex does get the injury cut. She's the only other person left who comes close to having the skills and personality to beat Kent at this point. And I'm kind of sick of Kent, despite his generally very good performances tonight.

*I finally got Ashley tonight. I still think she's dull as toast, but man she impressed me in that hip-hop number. I did find that she broke character a couple times, but her movements were shockingly hard and precise. A real wow moment for me. I don't think I paid any attention to Dominic in that routine whatsoever.

*Why WASN'T Katee one of the original all-stars? She is so incredible. I adore Allison, and I'm glad we have someone from one of the early seasons, but if Katee filled in for the rest of the season I wouldn't complain in the least.

*I did not love Robert's jazz routine, at all. Frankly I thought it was a mess. I'm not sure if the moves inside the box were supposed to be synched, but they weren't close. Outside the box he more than struggled with the lifts -- he bobbled one nearly completely and barely held on to another. This was a case of too much concept and not enough meat, and I feel like the choreographer really failed the dancers, because both Robert and Kathryn were committed to those characters. But it was a mess for me. I actually enjoyed his quickstep more, even though I know it had technical issues. I've been perplexed by his Bottom 3 appearances thus far (he's a great dancer, a goofball, and hot as hell), but I think he deserves to be there this week just based on dancing.

*Billy was great in his Broadway routine, and the only thing worth watching in the Afro-jazz one. However, I realized his issue: he's an amazing dancer, but he is not a star. He would be incredible in an ensemble setting as a soloist, but he does not have the personal charisma it takes to win this show. Nice kid. Amazing dancer. Bland personality. Ultimately forgettable, even with those beautiful movements.

*I will concede that AdeChike didn't dance his best tonight -- that first number with Courtney was too light on the actual movement (and whoever dressed Courtney for that routine should be punched immediately; that dress made her look thick) and too heavy on attitude, while his second number was a little manic and not quite the style he was given. However, given that the judges were WAY too rough on him in both routines, and the egregious comments made during the Bollywood piece especially, I hope he's safe. He was done a real disservice by Nigel and Mia tonight in particular, and he deserves as much of a free pass as Alex in some ways.

*And then there's Jose. He must be awfully clean given the tongue bathing those judges give him every week. Tonight I actually saw some of that personality they keep talking about, so that was nice. I'm sure he's a sweet kid. But this isn't "So You Think You Can Be a Swell Guy." This is "So You Think You Can Dance," and Jose cannot. That was proven tonight. Lauren danced 90 percent of that first routine. After a few initial hip hop-adjacent moves Jose mostly just stood there and caught her occasionally. Nigel praised him on pointing his toes and not letting Lauren fall. Is that the standard we're setting now? (Apparently not; AdeChike was told pointedly a few minutes later that they expect more from their dancers.) Mia spouted some bullshit about how he fully connected with Lauren and was in love with her. No he wasn't. His eyes were as vacant as can be. There was no passion there. And I'm surprised that Mia in particular would be so off the mark on that regard. His second number -- close to his actual style -- was lazy, sloppy, and weak. The kid just doesn't have the chops for this show.

And that is why I would like to nominate Cat Deeley for the "Saying What Everyone At Home Is Thinking" Award, for calling out the judges for the RIDICULOUS double standard they applied to AdeChike's Bollywood tonight vs. the one they put on Jose two weeks ago. AdeChike was far from perfect, but at least he DANCED. At least he threw himself into the routine and showed off some serious athleticism. Jose, in his number, tried in vain to keep up and mostly looked lost or drunk. And yet the judges just LOVED him for it. Mia's response tonight, that Jose can get away with sucking because he's a sweetheart while AdeChike can't because he can actually dance, is so offensive to BOTH of those young men. An apology is seriously in order.

If Nigel is sincere about this show being about a process, a journey for these kids to become better dancers, then they are failing Jose miserably, because he's NOT improving. And he won't, because they don't give him any criticism, despite him being consistently the weakest dancer of the bunch. Apparently he's too sweet to apply expectations to. FUCK THAT. Do your jobs, judges. You guys are way off your game this season, and you are making me kind of hate this show right now. I've seen some bullshit judging on reality shows before -- I have watched every goddamn episode of "Top Model"! -- but the panel this season on "Dance" is really taking the cake for absurd, pointless, biased, and off-the-mark critiquing.

The wheels are coming off the wagon, children. Please stop the ride and secure them before we have a total disaster on our hands.

Eric - good point about Ashleigh (I actually forgot that it was the voters who put her through -- boo!) Still not a fan of her though.

Also, you're totally dead on about Cat (can I vote for her tonight?) and the judges owing Jose & AdeChicke apologies. It's like we left the kids at home to their own devices and they're all cracked-out on sugar. The judges are straight-up out of control!

Mia went too far with the " I JUST WANT ALEX BACK. I MISS HIM! I MISS HIM!" She may as well have told AdeChike, "DUDE GET OFF THE STAGE, I HATE YOU!" What is it with her. I wish she would be a FAIR judge and spread the HATE equally. She should also stop salivating over Jose. Can't she get arrested for that? He's a bit too young for her isn't he?

BRING MARY & DEBBIE BACK,NO OFFENSE ,BUT NIA IS A BIAS BULLY!i LIKE JOSE TOO , BUT,COMON,ADECHIKI (DANCE LOOKED AFRICAN)WHAT R U ASSUMING!HIS TECHS WERE NOT THE BEST,BUT,BETTER,THAN JOSE'S.JOSE U R ADORABLE,BUT,DON'T ACCEPT HER HIPOCRITIT PRAISES, THERE UNJUST!

Just a quick comment to the JUDGES.......you claim to be giving the "dancers" advice to assist them in their "growing" process. However, what you are doing is alienating the viewers with your RUDE and sometimes HATEFUL statements (MIA).....

Cat should get a medal, and it was pretty obvious that the crowd agreed with her. Mia's response was appalling. I do not understand how everyone BUT the judges can see how biased and unfair their commentary has been. I can accept there being different expectations based on where the dancers are coming from, but at some point you have to move past "Gosh, you're charming" and give some constructive criticism. AdeChike's face told the story; he looked pissed, and rightfully so. Trying hard and coming up close should get you more praise than bombing terribly while smiling.

I don't get how the judging has become so much less... useful with the addition of a woman widely regarded to be harsh and brash, but it has. I also miss Mary.

I too agree with the author. Please please get Mia Michaels off the judging table. I don't think AdeChike was as bad as Mia said. I truely believe she just doesn't like him.....I really think Mia is a racist...

Mia should bite her tongue or just keep her mouth shut. AdeChike did much better on the ballewood dance than what Jose did. Yes he is sweet but he is not a good dancer not even in his own style. That boy has not been challenged enough really this season is very boring.

I never miss a show, but am seriously disappointed this year..not by the dancers, but by the judges and their double standard of comments and judging. I would like to see Mia..even when she was 20 have the energy and ability that Adechike has. She comes across as a racist as well in my opinion. The comments should be constructive and not destructive, as I deem them.

Eric, I couldn't have said it better myself. The judges are a little too blatantly open about their biases toward the contestants. If this bull crap doesn't stop, I'm not going to watch the show anymore. Kudos to Cat for pointing out that bull shit that Mia and Nigel were spitting, in regards to Adechike, Jose and the Bollywood routine.

Also, how is it okay for Nigel to practically beg voters to vote for Robert, then tear Adechike apart and claim that he was not taking their criticism well!

Finally, I was so happy to see Katee back, I almost fell out of my seat. She was one of my favorite dancers.

What I loved about SYTYCD was the fair critiques that actually helped the dancers improve. This season with Mia Michaels has seen a mean spirited way of judging. I believe she attacks someones character instead of their dancing and she picks who she likes based on her own odd set of criteria. She has also managed to make a racial or ethnic comment to every dancer of color this season. Is she racist, perhaps or maybe she is just very threatened by ethnic dancers. Shenkman is giving very wishy washy reviews and we could really do without him. Where is Mary? She was always so generous and honest. This was a great show and now not so much. The show is trailing downward fast. Bring back Mary and Debbie and lets see some great dancing and great judging!

I agree with the above comments on Mia being rude and hurtful in her comments toward
Adechike. I vote for him every week . I love his form , agility and dancing. He has this
masculine strength which translates to chemistry for me. She needs to back off . I also
love Ashley . Another strong agile dancer.

They went too far... My feedback concerns the judges' over-the-top, outrageous critique of Adechike's second song performance. I experienced the evaluation as pretentious bombast besotted with strident ignorance feigning legitimacy. Bollywood is not Bharata Natyam! Poor Nigel was clearly out of his depth, with his sycophants in tow, when he declared the dance to be that which it was not. The song chosen utilized African drums --most notably the djembe as its main instrument, a superlative additive in recent years. Bollywood is a non-classical, choreographed freestyle Indian dance form emerging with interest in the US. Wednesday night the judges betrayed their ignorance of the dance, the song and equally important, the performer!! They should view dance segments of a few Bollywood films several times to possibly achieve some semblance of enlightenment and then replay Adechike's performance clip to redress their respective inadequacies in public preferably on the next airing of the show.

Adechike's performance was stellar. He artfully remained in synch and motion with the music and his dance partner/instructor. His dance ability and skills emerged very cleanly even when the tempo transitioned into double time or quick time movement. Awesome!!! Unlike Mia who said she "didn't talk to the choreographer" (huh???), I surmised the intent and objective without having such a discussion and was all the more enthralled with Adechike's performance, which was excellent given this was his first time with the dance style. My final thought... the judges should recuse themselves for their blatant, pathetic incomprehensible disdain, angst and reckless, feckless subjectivity; Cat deserves a commendation for truth and parity in the moment of needless strife; and Adechike should get a public apology for having endured the pure unadulterated tripe passing as professional criticism and a huge kudos for remaining stoic and not hypocritically animated during the acceptance of tasteless, rude rejection under fire. Definitely bring Mary/Debbie back; and relieve two of the judges from further disservice. Regrettably, Nigel is permanent. Thank you for providing space to vent.

I really don't think this is an issue of racism on Nigel and Mia's parts. Throughout this show's history both of them have championed many, many dancers of color. This is a case of favoritism to an extreme degree, and I simply don't understand why.

We have had so many hip-hop dancers on this show who have struggled with choreography and the various dance styles, and none of them -- NONE -- have been treated with the level of deference that Jose has. I think back to Dominick, Hoq, Legacy, even Jamile from Season 1, and all of them were held to the same standards as the rest of the dancers in their seasons. This time, Jose basically just has to show up and "try" and he's praised, while dancers with much more ability who are clearly doing everything they can (AdeChike specifically) are getting torn down, sometimes brutally.

And ultimately that's what's pissing people off, I think. Not Jose himself -- he seems like a nice kid -- but the fact that his skill level is so low compared to the other dancers that the judges continue to treat him with kid gloves, while walloping the rest of the group. That's not fair, and I don't understand why it continues to happen.

But I suspect that last night Jose's gravy train might have dried up. We know that Nigel reads the blogs, and there's no way he and Mia aren't going to get the message that their behavior last night really pissed people off. Don't be surprised if AdeChike gets more or less a free pass tonight even if he's in the bottom (I doubt he will due to the sympathy vote), and also don't be surprised if next week the pendulum swings the other way and Jose gets grilled by the judges.

Spot-on, Eric. If Nigel reads the blogs from last night (and you're right, it seems like he pays attention to that stuff), we could definitely see an apology from him (and hopefully Mia too) about their double-standards. And you're right, it's not racism, it's just a double standard. A heinous and blatant one, but a double standard nonetheless.

The Web chatter about last night's show suggests that Jose's free ride may be coming to an abrupt halt and that Cat Deely is being widely regarded as a hero. I even read a few blogs that suggested she get an Emmy (hah!).

In the meantime, I'm chanting and blessing myself with SYTYCD holy water in the hopes that Alex will be cleared to dance next week.

I just loved your comment Eric. I think this is the worst season ever. Mia has really taken this show in a dreadful direction. Her comments are degrading. I agree that if the show stays on this show, we won't see dancers that get better. With the constant googlie eyes Jose gets, he has no idea how to get better, because all he receives is praise or comments about how great his heart, his smile or spirit is...as if Adechike doesn't have heart, is dancing his ass off. Then to make matters worse, I'm sure it's disheartening to be the only African American dancer in the top 10, that alone is alot of pressure. You don't see that many African American dancers doing contemporary dance, heck I personally don't know one at all. I think Mia should think before she speaks. I think Adam needs to get off his behind and stop trying to be the middle man, he tends to try and agree with both of them at the same time, he is lacking a backbone.
Nigel is inconsistent, he says one thing one minute and another the next. They aren't helping these talented young artists, if they don't get their egos and attitudes out the way. Just on technicality, let the audience judge on personality. Tell me what I didn't see, not was is apparantly a bias towards Jose. And what really appalled me was when Mia said she really missed Alex right now, hard. I just shook my head and I cried for Adechike, especially when I saw how that comment affected Alex who seemed disturbed by it.

After this next episode, I will be calling it quits. I have to see if the fans pulling for Adechike will make the difference and speak loud and clear for Nigel who obviously wants viewers to vote for who he wants to see. If something doesn't change, I'm through with the pony show.

And I'm seriously hoping that Mia retires again, real soon. Bring back Mary and her screaming. I couldn't stand the screaming, but I can digest that rather than a judge with no heart or compassion who lacks tact, respect and a love for the art of dance. She is truly conveying that she doesn't care about the art form as much as she use to, because the distaste, the hint of racism or perhaps the dislike for Adechike is practically oozing out of her pores.

And hooray for Cat Deeley for speaking on behalf of the viewers last night. She deserves an emmy for that. Thank you Cat.

In case anyone wanted to do a story on last night episode or just join in. They have started a SYTYCD fan page campaign to get rid of Mia Michaels on Facebook. There is also one to bring back Mary. In case anyone was interested.

I am so happy that there appears to be a significant fall out over Mia's hateful ways. My wife is a big fan of the show, and I join her in watching it every week. I have been astonished at some of the things Mia have been able to get away with. Thank God that Mary was there to defend Brandon a few seasons ago from Mary's bitter, unfounded criticism, as Cat was there to defend Adechike'. The dancers should never be allowed to fall victim to Mia's hateful, bitter, and yes, racist ways. I have never seen Mia demonstrate such a high level of negativity to white contestants, only non whites. This lends legitimacy to the racism argument. Mia go channel your hatred and bitterness into your choreography or whatever other means in which you can channel it. You are not fit to judge dancers making an honest effort to perform the choreography given them on SYTYCD.

I'm not a dancer but I love watching. I have never left a comment on a blog in my life, but after last night's show I feel compelled to have my say. First, Cat Deeley is my hero! Her "devil's advocate" comment was right on target. All of the dancers are amazing, there is not a hair's bit of difference in them. Some have better nights than others, but that's about it. My issue is with the judges. All they really have to do at this point is nit -pick because that is their job, but the blatant favoritism is so unfair. Mia is a joke. The "I didn't see fire in your eyes" was just plain ridiculous. She needs to be replaced or people will soon stop watching. The dancers deserve better, and so do the viewers. Good luck to each of them, they are all marvelous.

AdeChikeu I am in total support of you. Mia was insensitive but you know what she did you a favor. keep your head up, take the criticism and come back next week and kill them with your dance and remember, be you...And Mia, you miss Alex but guess what I guess you will have to wait until next season to be with him. last night your comment about you miss Alex was totally inappropriat when you should have been judging AdeChike. very unprofessional I must say and that little apology speech you made smells like BS...I really believe you did it not becuse you wanted to but because of all the negativity around what you said....You are great at what you do Mia but your judgement sucks!!!!

I think Mia is very biased. She can't even say Mala's name properly, called her Marla. Bring back good old Mary Murphy.

I agree with Eric. Mia is not being racist, just extremely biased. Also, when Debbie is on the show she is just as biased as Mia is but no one seems to mention that....It isn't fair how these judges seem to pick their favories (jose...) and let them get away with just trying. It's ridiculous. I don't think Mia needs to go, but they sure need to bring back rotating judges to get a fresh perspective on the dancers. Hats off to Cat!

@HayHay, agreed!

I know this is a little bit off topic, but I am thinking of moving to Rochester and can someone tell me where I should go online to see rental apartments there. I want to find a website that the property description is fully explained and that the rent can be sorted from high to low price. I know craiglist doesn’t allow this sorting by rent feature.

So, can I have some suggestions as to where can I go online to find rental apartments in Rochester? Thanks.