Mini Pop Blurb-Paula Abdul's Live To Dance Debuts - The Cultute of Pop, DVD, Movie, TV, Pop Culture Review

Mini Pop Blurb-Paula Abdul's Live To Dance Debuts

Posted: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 15:58:06 PST

Watch your backs Inaba, Goodman and Bruno...there's an old sherriff (back) in town. Yep, after two years away and around 10,000 television promos, America's favorite talent judge is back to spread her sunshine and good cheer, wanting everybody to Live To Dance!

Or as I dubbed it midway thru last night, America's Got Dancers.

Now, settle down "Team Forever Your Girl" before you prematurely assume this is gonna be a negative review; it's not....Well, not completely. Unlike most critics who Live To Nitpick, I happen to admire and respect Paula Abdul. She seems to be the real deal in and out the spotlight, genuinely caring, nurturing and smarter than people give her credit for....unless she has a little too much Robitussin before a series of satellite press interviews.

Just kidding, Paula; it's the Bill Murray in me.

Joking aside, let's cut to the chase. Did I like the show? For the most part, yes. Pacing was good, the back stories mostly involving with some great finds along the way (particularly the senior couple who metamorphosed into dancing machines with vintage James Brown providing the soundtrack)...Unfortunately, such moments were in short supply at times with too much attention spent on acts that didn't make it to the "short list"...and if they weren't good enough to begin with, why waste even the equivalent of a sound bite on them? Put such stuff like that on the web which will drive up net traffic for the Live To Dance site while also keeping your episode time down to an hour...

....speaking of which, this two hour premiere was extremely draining past the first 60 minutes. Truth be told, I felt like some guy named Cowell who'd been thru a day of auditions and similarly cranky when I realised, another hour? Bloody 'ell!

While I'm in cranky mode, do we really need another loud foreign host in the center ring for one of these shows? Geez, I'm still hearing Vernon Kay from ABC's God forsaken Skating With The Stars in my sleep. Thankfully, Andrew Gunsberg (Australian Idol) isn't as hard on the ears (and okay, I'll 'fess.. he grew on me...just a tweeny bit).

Judge wise? Travis Payne and Kimberly Wyatt are no Simon and Randy...and that leads to another discrepancy: Where's the conflict? Hey, I don't wanna see knock down, drag out, haunting piano chord accompanied walk out montages a'la Paula and Cowell from the Idol days of yore, but from what I saw last night, there was nada in the way of internal discussions/disagreements throughout the evening which equals...

(quotation fingers) BOR-RING....

C'mon! Gloves off, you guys...Man (and woman) up! (because there were a couple of acts you guys should have kept in...and better yet, reevaluated and fought for...like those former Solid Gold dancers who still have it goin' on to this writer).

Picky nits cast aside, the acts that do impress combined with Abdul's charm make Live To Dance a potential viewing habit with me, but in easy to digest sixty minute packages. As weeks roll along and the cream of the crop get whittled down leading to the live broadcasts, I'm pretty confident it'll be appointment television...much like some show called American Idol  used to be.

For now Seacrest, you're being downsized to the DVR.

-Jeffrey Rosado

Jeffrey Rosado is a pop culture historian, writer and performer

Follow Jeff On Twitter: @marquee_man