“So You Think You Can Dance”
Wednesday 8pm, Thursday 9pm, Fox
Like its singing sibling “American Idol,” the 2008 edition of this dancing competition has been largely disappointing. There have been a few bright notes—that Bollywood number a few weeks ago, some amazing Mia Michaels routines—but the dancers that made the Top 20 were, for the most part, sorely lacking in personality. There are no Benjis or Sabras or Pashas or Dmitris. They’re all so…bland. And the fact that Thayne and his Gayface of Terror made it to the top six guys is seriously distressing. We’re now down to the final four couples, and it’s definitely Will’s or Twitch’s show to lose, given the egregious amount of over-praise the judges have heaped upon them. I’m personally pulling for a Joshua win. That guy can make his body do anything.
“Sordid Lives: The Series”
Wednesday 10pm, LOGO
“Sordid Lives” started as a stage show in 1996 before graduating to an independent film a few years later. Both became gay cult classics, and so it’s fitting that the new TV version of the property should air on gay network LOGO. “Sordid” gives the soap treatment to Southern white trash, and it’s as campy and stereotypical as you’d imagine. However, the cast—many reprising their roles from the film version—is absolutely fantastic. Olivia Newton-John plays a lesbian ex-con country singer. Leslie Jordan, best known as Karen’s wee frienemy on “Will & Grace,” plays an institutionalized Tammy Wynette impersonator. Bonnie Bedelia (remember her from Die Hard?) is a stuck-up mom living in denial over her Hollywood actor son’s homosexuality. And Blanche Devereaux herself, Rue McClanahan, plays the family’s matriarch. The only downgrade is Caroline Rhea subbing for Delta Burke, but you can’t win ’em all.
“Mad Men”
Sunday 10pm, AMC
American Movie Classics’ drama about Madison Avenue ad men in the ’60s surprised everyone by becoming a critical smash in its first season. Now it’s back with some serious cred to its name (including Golden Globes for Best Drama and Best Actor, for obscenely handsome leading man Jon Hamm) and huge expectations. Season 2 spoilers are nearly impossible to come by, but we do know that the show will have zipped forward a couple years in time, And you can expect that Don Draper’s shady past will come back to haunt in new, horrible ways.
