I'm Calling You Out: SYTYCD Editors. Again.

So, I know there’s a lot of outrage in the SYTYCD community right now. Oodles of backlash is rising up from the shock elimination of Natalie Reid and other dramas. And while I was sad-ish to see Natalie go, I have a much much bigger problem right now with SYTYCD. Namely, that they need a whole new crew of editors that know how to pay off their audience. Editors, for the second straight season, I’m Calling You Out

Last season, I wrote a post where I called out the editors for overediting the dances to within inches of losing watchability. The editing destroyed all flow of the dance, focused on only one dancer, or some other gaping problem. It was really ruining the season, but they kind of got it together by the end of last season. So it was really disheartening to me this week when I realized that they were having the exact same problem with the beginning of season 5, in a way. See, this season so far, they aren’t ruining the flow of dance, but rather, as we have been talking about so frequently in light of Vegas, the narrative flow of the show.

And one need look no farther than the gaping holes in Vegas week to see this problem unfold. I’m not talking about judging oversight or anything like that, I’m talking about literal holes in information for viewers. As I said all week in my recaps, where in the hell was Kelsea Taylor? Or African Dancer Geo Smith? Or Memphis Juker Marica Flaka? Or Contemporary ladies Anna Dunn and Arielle Taylor? How about our Guerra Sisters? Anyone know Tapper Peter Sabasino’s fate? Did Kellen Stancil dance with an umbrella again?

See, we don’t know. Because, despite these people all being deserving enough to have their entire audition solo shown during auditions, they apparently didn’t merit a single mention (at least by name) during Vegas week. Sure, Peter or Arielle could be seen in the background of shots, but they, and, frankly, us, the people who watched their auditions, don’t deserve any mention of their fates? That’s not cool.

Also, what in the hell did Amanda Kerby, Travis Prokop, or Peter Sabasino do to merit video packages from home if they were either only mentioned by first name when they were cut, summarily dismissed within the first five minutes of the show, or NOT MENTIONED AT ALL? I can kind of understand it in Travis’ case, given what his video package from home entailed and how it fits with Nigel’s message of men can dance too. But really, did we need to see Amanda Kerby’s home life and her dad’s disability if she was just gonna get cut in Vegas with little mention of it? Or have dinner with the Sabasino family if he was never to be seen again? No, we didn’t. This isn’t to say that seeing their audition solos was pointless, it’s actually the opposite. I was glad to see their solos, but I wanted to actually know what happened to them.

So, really, from a continuity standpoint, the show has been dreadful this season. I get why there are certain dancers in the top 20 who we have yet to see anything from (Abe Who?), either because the judges are hoping that they will go gently into that good night, or they want us surprised when they burst out of the gate and knock our jaws to the floor. But what is the point of showing us a complete audition solo, arguably the way viewers are supposed to first invest in a dancer, if we never hear from these people again. I’m not saying that the editors should only show the solos of our top 20, I just wish we could have seen some of these people pop up in Vegas, even if only to see them get cut. In past seasons, they’ve had this problem, but I never questioned it, because (correct me if I’m wrong here folks), we saw more audition episodes. With a greater number of shown auditioners, it’s inevitable that there will be dancers shown getting through and never being heard from again. With this season though, I feel like we only had a limited number of audition cities. And, by not telling us what happened to this fairly small number of people who earned mention from their auditions, you just have angry viewers, who will continually wonder what in the hell happened to Kelsea Taylor.