It’s now official that Paula Abdul is quiting American Idol. Here’s the tweets that Paula Abdul sent out on Twitter about leaving American Idol:

With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return to #IDOL. I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all..Cont’d…

I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent,but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day1become an international phenomenon.

What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me

It truly has been breathtaking, especially over the past month

I do without any doubt have the BEST fans in the entire world and I love you all

Of course, American Idol’s loss might be So You Think You Can Dance’s gain. Nigel Lythgoe has been making a bunch of overtures to get Paula Abdul to come on So You Think You Can Dance as a judge and/or choreographer. Needless to say, I think Paula’s going to be ok after leaving American Idol.

UPDATE: Fox put out the following official statement:
“Paula Abdul has been an important part of the American Idol family over the last eight seasons and we are saddened that she has decided not to return to the show. While Paula will not be continuing with us, she’s a tremendous talent and we wish her the best.”

I finally was able to find an entire list of music from Superstars of Dance. The search for the music is over (mostly). If there is an iTunes image next to the song, then you can download the song on iTunes. As expected, many of the songs on superstars of dance isn’t available on iTunes.

Opening Ceremonies
Group-Ireland
(Lord of the Dancers)
Ronin Hardiman performing “Planet Ireland”

Solo-U.S.A.
(Robert Muraine)
Ultrablack performing “Rigid”

Solo-Argentina
(Carolina Cerisola)
Susan Joyce performing “Les Gitans”

Duet-Russia
(Pasha & Anya)
Da Silva performing “Indissoluble”

Duet-India
(Nishi & Sangita)
Devdas(original soundtrack) performing “Dola Re Dola”

Solo-Australia
(Sean Robinson)
no music – just tapping a cappella

Solo-China
(Bei Zhen)
Vinci Chan performing “Departure”

Group-S. Africa
(Gumboot Dancers)
Patricia Nyandeni & Todd Twala performing “Usegoli”

Group-Australia
(Australian Dancers)
Lae & Chocolate O’Brian performing “Hands Up”

Solo-Ireland
(Damien O’Kane)
Ronin Hardiman performing “Cry of the Celts”

Solo S. Africa
(Sduduzo Ka-Mbili)
Margaret Singana (Shaka Zulu – original soundtrack) performing “We Are Growing”

Duet-USA
(Eric & Georgia)
V For Vendetta (original soundtrack) performing “Remember, Remember” /”Evey Reborn” /”Knives And Bullets”

Duet-Argentina
(Miriam & Leonardo)
Forever Tango (cast album) performing “La Cumparsita”

Solo-Russia
(Julia Banter)
Everything Is Illuminated (original soundtrack) performing “Little Jonathan/The Wall”

Solo-India
(Amrapali Ambegaokar)
Guru Sandarlal Gangani performing “Computer Thihai & Shivastuti”

Group-China
(Shaolin Monks)
Shaolin Kung Fu Masters performing “Freedom To Move (Shaolin Mix)”

————————-Previous Music Findings———————————————-
I think it’s going to be really hard to compile all the music from the Superstars of Dance since Nigel chose not to display the name of the song like he did on So You Think You Can Dance, but I’m going to do what I can do to find it.

Here’s the music I’ve found from the premiere episode of Superstars of Dance so far.

Eric Luna and Georgia Ambarian (US Duet) danced a cabaret to the song “Evey Reborn” sung by Dario Marianelli from the V for Vendetta motion picture

Nisha and Sangita (Indian Duet) danced Bollywood to the song Dola Re Dola from a movie called Devdas sung by K.K., Kavita Krishnamurthy & Shreya Ghosal

Irish Soloist danced to the song “Celtic Cry” from the Boondock Saints soundtrack

Pasha and Anya (Russian Duet) danced to “Indissoluble” by Perla off the album Vol. 3- La Private Show
Not Available on iTunes (Thanks Leah!)

Indian soloists both had original classical pieces that were probably composed specifically for their performances. (Thanks sarika!)

If you know the other songs I’ve missed, please leave a comment and I’ll update the list of music.

Superstar of Dance Dancers
Irish Step Dancers (Ireland Group) – Incredible to watch. Having a bunch of beautiful girls didn’t hurt either. The guy in the front that was kind of running around wasn’t very good, but it was fun to watch.

Robert Muraine (US Solo) – Robert had performed a couple times on So You Think You Can Dance. I still love Robert and he does some incredibly things. I think he had a really poor song choice and the camera angles didn’t do what he did justice. However, I could watch him dance over and over again. Check out some of his better stuff from So You Think You Can Dance.

Carolina Cerisola (Argentina Solo) – I’m sure that Argentina has a better solo dancer than this person. She wasn’t horrible and she got better once the music picked up. However, she definitely wasn’t a superstar. Carolina could have also left the hat out of the routine completely.

Anya Garnis and Pasha Kovalev (Russian Ballroom Duet) – Another set of dancers from So You Think You Can Dance. They should have stuck to their audition for So You Think You Can Dance. This one had way too much foreplay and not enough action. The song was horrible and it wasn’t nearly as good as I’ve seen them do. Whoever choreographed this number was horrible. Pasha and Anya are so much better than this. Russia should be disappointed and should ask Karina Smirnoff to come on the show, but I’m pretty sure Dancing with the Stars won’t be giving her up anytime soon.

Nishi Munshi & Sangita Sanyal (Indian Bollywood Duet) – An interesting Bollywood Duet with 2 very beautiful girls. Something seemed just off. I think maybe the song was too fast and so they didn’t have a chance to complete all the various moves. Of course, maybe I’m just not as familiar with Bollywood and so I needed more time to enjoy the moves.

Sean Robinson (Australian Tap Dancer) – What the heck was he wearing? The problem with tap dancing is that we’ve all seen tap dancing. In fact, most of us have even seen some great tap dancers. Unfortunately, he’s probably not even as good as those other tap dancers we’ve seen.

Bei Zheng (China Ribbon Dance) – Much better than I thought it would be. I guess I was just a little disappointed, because ribbon dancing is much cooler when there’s a whole crowd of people doing a ribbon dance in well synchronized patterns. Bei did represent China well.

Gumboot (South Africa Group Dance) – Definitely not the most impressive dancing I’ve ever seen, but I enjoyed watching it thoroughly and couldn’t stop watching. I think the fact that it was pretty unique made it fun to watch and very entertaining.

Contemporary Dancers (Australia Group Dance) – Some interesting material. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t get over the knee pads. Why have those annoying looking black knee pads. Just looked odd and annoying. A bunch of really great dancers on the floor. Would have just liked to see a little better choreography.

Damien O’Kane (Ireland Solo) – Pretty good. I much prefer Irish step dance in a large group. Also, I would have preferred seeing a girl do the solo, but that might just be because I’m male. I’m surprised the judges scored him so high. Didn’t deserve that high of a score.

Sduduzo Ka-Mbili (South Africa Solo) – A zulu dance? I like the name of the dance. The guy was very flexible. However, it just felt like an odd mix of cheerleading, contemporary and the lawnmower move some high school students might do. A lot of energy coming out of that man.

Georgia Ambarian & Eric Luna (US Duet) – Some absolutely jaw dropping lifts. I once saw the US Amateur Cabaret Championships and it was one of the most thrilling performances I’d ever seen. This wasn’t quite up to that level, but still should have been scored higher than they were scored. 7, really?

Miriam Larici & Leonardo Barrionuevo (Argentina Duet) – Honestly, is this the best Argentinean Tango they could find? Maybe I’m just used to the US version (if that exists), but I was rather disappointed with what can really be an incredibly sexy and wonderful dance to watch. I will admit that the section at the end where they were doing all sorts of quick kicks was pretty nice, but otherwise it felt really flat.

Julia Bantner (Russia Solo) – Seemed like a very russian style, a russian song and a russian look. I enjoyed her dancing a lot and wish that all of the dances would have been as good as hers. Too bad the judges didn’t like it at all. I’d love to hear why the judges scored what they did.

Amrapali Ambegaokar (India Solo) – Incredibly impressive. Could be my favorite dance of the night. A great display of dance from India and an even better example of the types of dances that should have been brought to the show. The bells around her ankles made the spins even more interesting and fun to watch.

Shaolin Monks (China Group) – A stunning performance and a great way to end the show. Some people might say Kung Fu wasn’t dancing, but it was indeed great dancing. All of it except for the little spear stunt at the end. I enjoyed it thoroughly and they certainly deserved the high score they got. The kids were really fun to watch too.

Check out the final Master Scoreboard for each country (not that they really mean anything):
Argentina 123
Ireland 123
China 117
Australia 114
Russia 114
United States 114
India 113
South Africa 112

Hosts
Michael Flately should stick to dancing and stop the judging. He just added nothing to the show. Susie Castillo was surprisingly good. The biggest problem for her is that there wasn’t any rhyme or reason to when we’d see her and when we wouldn’t. I hated that they didn’t have continuity in that regard.

Judges
Honestly, what’s the point in showing the judges. They pretty much say nothing. If they aren’t saying anything, then showing them revealing the scores is incredibly boring TV.

Also, Did China know how to speak English? maybe that’s why he only ever gave a score of 8. It’s the only score he knew how to say. Sad, because there are so many Chinese that speak English better than most Americans. Ok, so he scored a few other things, but it was just embarrassing.

See you tomorrow night. Let’s hope it’s a little better than tonight. It wasn’t horrible tonight, but I expected more from Nigel.

In about an hour I’ll be sitting down to enjoy the premier of Superstars of Dance. I really can’t wait to see what Nigel Lythgoe has planned since leaving American Idol. The previews have looked amazing and I love the work that Nigel Lythgoe has done on So You Think You Can Dance, so I’m excited to see what he’s going to do with the broadening of what we consider dance.

Check out this video of the Superstars of Dance hosts, Michael Flatley and Susie Castillo, and Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe explains a little bit more about what I’ll see on Superstars of Dance.

I love the idea that there’s really 4 competitions going on at once. Basically Superstars of Dance brings together dancers from 8 countries each doing a solo, duet, and group dance. Each category of dance competes against each other and then each country competes against each other in the overall score.

Let’s hope that Nigel does a good job covering the scores of the various dancers. Otherwise, following 4 competitions will just be confusing and not very good television.

Here’s a nice set of video interviews with the various Superstars of Dance contestants:

As always, I’ll be doing my best to compile a list of the various music used on Superstars of Dance. I have a feeling that it will be difficult to compile, but I’ll do the best I can. If you’re from one of the 8 countries and know the music from your country that was used on Superstars of Dance, then let me know and I’ll add it to my Superstars of Dance music.

Check out this brief interview of Nigel Lythgoe where he talks about his new project. Nigel describes his new dance show as basically a dance Olympics with dancers from all over the world and judges from all over the world also. Judges would only get to score those dancers that weren’t from their country. Sounds like it could be really interesting or really lame depending on how well the show is produced. Plus, I hope Nigel spends enough time telling the back stories of the dancers since that’s just as interesting or more interesting than the judges talking about the scores. He’s mentioned something similar on So You Think You Can Dance before and I hope he sticks with that thought.

Check out the interview:
Read more…

The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony will be awarded on Sunday, September 21st 8/7c. on ABC.

Here are a few of the nominations:

Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program

American Idol
Ryan Seacrest, Host

Dancing With The Stars
Tom Bergeron, Host

Deal Or No Deal
Howie Mandel, Host

Project Runway
Heidi Klum, Host

Survivor
Jeff Probst, Host

Outstanding Choreography

Dancing With The Stars • Routine: Mambo / ‘Para Los Rumberos’
Julianne Hough, Choreographer

High School Musical 2 • Routines: ‘What Time Is It?’, ‘Fabulous’, ‘Work This Out’, ‘I Don’t Dance’, ‘You Are the Music In Me’, ‘For One’
Kenny Ortega, Choreographer
Charles Klapow, Choreographer
Bonnie Story, Choreographer

So You Think You Can Dance • Routine: Hummingbird and Flower / ‘The Chairman’s Waltz’
Wade Robson, Choreographer

So You Think You Can Dance • Routine: Transformers / ‘Fuego’
Shane Sparks, Choreographer

So You Think You Can Dance • Routine: Table / ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’
Mandy Moore, Choreographer

Outstanding Cinematography For Reality Programming

Carrier • Rites Of Passage

Project Runway • En Garde!

Survivor • Just Don’t Eat The Apple

The Amazing Race • Honestly, They Have Witch Powers Or Something

Top Chef • Finale (Part 1)

Outstanding Reality-competition Program

American Idol

Dancing With The Stars

Project Runway

The Amazing Race

Top Chef

Outstanding Reality Program

Antiques Roadshow

Dirty Jobs

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

Jeanne Kazumi Petrone, Produced By
Intervention

Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List

Get the complete list of nominations Emmy Nominations

The Fox Reality Channel ‘Really Awards’ honors all of the outrageous moments and personalities that Reality TV has produced over the past year.

You have the opportunity to vote online for the“Most Memorable Reality Performer”, the rest of the awards will be chosen by Fox staff.

Voting is open to everyone until September 23rd, 11:59:59pm Pacific Time Zone.

Hurry here to register and cast your vote. Also take a minute to check out the Really Awards videos from previous years.

Fox Reality Channel Really Awards 2008 will be shown on the Fox Reality Channel, October 11th 2008. If you do not have the Fox Reality Channel, you can watch the full show and other behind the scenes clips at foxreality.

If you watch So You Think You Can Dance, you may remember Season 2 winner Benji Schwimmer. Here’s his silly performance at the 2007 Really Awards.

I just read a report that Nigel is leaving American Idol to focus on SYTYCD and a new venture with Simon Fuller. Here’s a quote from Nigel:

Due to the huge success of ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ my summer will be taken up by travels to South Africa, Australia and Canada to work on local versions of the show. I will step back from my day-to-day producing work on ‘American Idol’ and will be devoting my time to a new venture with Simon Fuller. I have very much enjoyed my personal and professional relationship with Simon. He is without doubt, a man of vision, and I look forward to partnering with him on new and exciting challenges in all forms of entertainment.

I wonder what Nigel’s new venture with Simon Fuller is. The trips around the world to see various dancing would be an amazing experience.

Yesterday my wife told me that there was nothing to watch on TV, because all the TV shows that we liked were ending their seasons. I retorted that So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Got Talent would be starting up soon. Today I went online to check when season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance would start. Unfortunately, I was a little off on my dates. They are planning the Two Hour Season Premiere, Thursday May 22 8/7c. Farther away than I thought it would be. Oh well, we’ll find something to do in the mean time.

Looks like America’s Got Talent is even farther away “NBC has announced America’s Got Talent’s third season will premiere with a two-hour broadcast on Tuesday, June 24 at 9PM ET/PT.”

A few other summer season premiers:
Last Comic Standing’s sixth season will premiere Thursday, May 22 at 9:30PM ET/PT
Nashville Star’s sixth season will debut Monday, June 9 at 9:30PM ET/PT – I’m so glad that this is on NBC now and off of cable. I really love this show and with NBC resources it should be that much better.
Celebrity Circus will premiere Wednesday, June 11 at 9PM ET/PT – I don’t know much details about this, but the title sounds pretty interesting.
The Baby Borrowers will debut Wednesday, June 25 at 8PM ET/PT – Tell you what, I won’t let you borrow my babies, you can just have them.

I also read that The Amazing Race 13 is filming. I can’t wait!