‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Results: Melissa Down!

Thursday night’s “So You Think You Can Dance” results show opened with the top six dancing to “Send In The Clowns,” but the song proved to be most meaningful to 29-year-old ballerina Melissa Sandvig and contemporary dancer Ade Obayomi, who the ones eliminated from the competition by the end of the tense hour.

Here’s where I rant.

As adorable and likeable as the guy is, Broadway-loving Evan does not deserve to advance to the finals. Sorry, Evan fans! He has failed to live up to his promise week to week, even when dancing in his genre. The fact that the judges have started to inexplicably pimp him (after bashing him throughout the first half of the season) makes me resent his presence even more. Evan’s got a massive number of fans who think he can do no wrong (how else to explain his staying power?), which scares me. To think that he could beat out a well-rounded, spectacular dancer like Brandon or Kayla? Hell to the no!

As far as the ladies go, I’m still not over Janette’s elimination from last week. (I know, I need therapy.) I was almost as sad to see Melissa go this week. She was this season’s real underdog, and her arc on the show proved that you can teach an old dog new tricks. (She also has a sparkling personality and drop-dead gorgeous looks, which didn’t hurt.)

When I look at the two eliminated contestants, I think about all the memorable routines they’ve danced this season: “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Age of Aquarius,” “Breast Cancer” and Ade’s gravity-defying flips. Now compare that track record with Evan, whose highlights can be whittled down to maybe one or two solos and a killer story about his brother from the audition episodes. Gah!

Okay, enough ranting. Let’s dish about the rest of the hour…

Aside from the results, Thursday night’s “So You Think You Can Dance” brought back last season’s dancers to perform the four Emmy-nominated routines. What a treat to see last year’s faves return! Will now has dreads, Joshua shaved his head, Katee is smokin’ hot and Jessica was better than I remembered. For me, the biggest disappointment was watching Chelsea and Mark reprise one of my fave SYTYCD routines, “Bleeding Love.” Having committed the dance to memory by watching it online about 5,000 times since last summer, I was distracted by any and every miniscule alteration. To me, the two dancers just weren’t “down in the floor” enough. When they performed in competition last year, they glided from move to move. Thursday night, it looked more like they were bopping around.

The highlight of the show, however, was from “America’s Best Dance Crew” superstars the Jabbawockeez! Their razor-sharp “Freak A Zoid” routine was a stellar example of why “So You Think You Can Dance” needs to do a better job casting hip-hop dancers next season.

What did you think? Did the correct two go home? And do you think Ade’s leaked nude photos (which were not mentioned during the broadcast) were a factor in his elimination this week? And who do you think is the one to beat going into next week’s finals?

The Truth About the Feds’ Decision to Suspend Cash for Clunkers?

The federal government has put the Cash for Clunkers (a.k.a. C.A.R.S. program) on hold. Supposedly, they’ve run out of money. The MSM is all abuzz with talk of extending the program, allocating more funds and the bummer of a congressional recess (no action ’til after Labor Day). But there’s talk that the number of clunkers hitting car dealers’ lots or the logjam on getting paid isn’t the real reason for putting Cash for Clunkers on hold. Do the math. The program is good for about 200k to 250k rigs, depending on the average rebate qualification. No way there were that many clunkers traded in over the six days since the program went live (official D.O.T. stats after the jump). The real story is that C.A.R.S. over-stimulated the market for new cars (even without a clunker trade); dealers are running out of new vehicles to sell. Or, more to the point, cars that consumers want to buy.

The car manufacturers took a summer holiday; the inventory on the ground is getting too thin (even for Chrysler and GM). Good news for the manufacturers: demand is outstripping supply by a wide margin. Bad news for the manufacturers: demand is outstripping supply by a wide margin.

Will the market still be there when the C4C program restarts, or will the feds create enmity amongst frustrated car buyers? And what of the tens of millions spent by carmakers and dealers advertising the program? How do you put an ad campaign on hold? Foot meet .45. [thanks to Ken Elias for the heads-up]

UPDATE: Automotive News [sub] claims “conflicting reports” on the reason for the moratorium. The news org reports that “U.S. officials had surveyed automakers Thursday about the advisability of a moratorium on the program, said Alex Fedorek, a spokesman for Kia Motors America.”

Official press release:

OFFICIAL D.O.T. CARS PROGRAM STATISTICS

At July 29, 2009 (4:00 PM)

Dealer Registrations:

Number Submitted                                                                                 23,005

Number Approved                                                                                 19,328

Dealer Transactions:

Number Submitted                                                                                 22,782

Dollars Submitted                                                                                  $95.9M

Hotline Contacts:

Latest day (July 28)                                                                                56,430

Cumulative (July 3-July 25)                                                                 98,481

Website Visits:

Latest day (July 28)                                                                              652,380

Cumulative (June 22-July 28)                                                            5,735,202

Cash For Clunkers Qualifying Cars

The Cash For Clunkers Program initiated by Congress this year is a great step in rebooting the auto industry and maybe even our economy. However, after spending 96 million dollars in less than a week buying back “clunkers” the government might be reluctant in continuing this program.

Originally, the Cash For Clunkers program was allotted $1 Billion dollars to buy back gas guzzling autos that averaged less than 23 miles per gallon. Each person would then be given a $4,500 credit when purchasing a new car after trading in their “clunker.”

Many consumers have complained about the tedious process that doubles the paperwork and stiffens negotiations when buying a car not like car rental. Granted most are getting more than what their car’s blue book is worth, it definitely comes at a cost. The government is currently rethinking the entire program and even contemplating suspending it indefinitely.