Could the producers of Dancing With the Stars have been more unoriginal? As the opening routine to their brand new season, producers chose to steal a page from So You Think You Can Dance and copy almost everything from the latter shows amazing opening dance routine, from starting in the parking lot, to showing them in front of faux-makeup chairs, right down to the seamless tracking shot of all of their dancers through the studio. Did they want to show homage to a much better dance show (in terms of talent, from whence several Dancing pros have originated), or did they think, just because they have a much larger audience, that no one would notice?
I probably wouldn’t be as upset with this blatant rip-off if Dancing With the Stars‘ version was at least a well-done imitation, but this was a far cry from the brilliant execution of the one on So You Think You Can Dance. It doesn’t matter that the one on Dancing With the Stars was live (causing for several restrictions in camera movement and angle) and the other wasn’t (allowing for additional takes and shots that could seamlessly be edited later), the point is, So You Think You Can Dance had more style, flair, and overall playfulness in their number than Dancing With the Stars could ever hope to achieve. It also speaks volumes to the So You Think You Can Dance technical crew in their execution of the number. Being able to do that so seamlessly is a marvel unto itself. All Dancing With the Stars could muster was a has-been staleness to both the routine and its execution.
The producers of Dancing With The Stars had ample time and opportunity to come up with something fascinating, original and out-of-the-box, but instead chose to poach someone else’s idea (go NappyTabs!). They didn’t even wait a full year to wait until the performance on So You Think You Can Dance had all but disappeared from the minds of the audience (though, I don’t think anyone who has seen it will forget that number for quite a while); they had this up and running less than three months after the original had aired. And this after selecting such a notable cast of celebrities. Such a shame.
You be the judge.
So You Think You Can Dance Season 10 Opening dance number (June 25, 2013)
Dancing With the Stars Season 17 Opening dance number (September 16, 2013)
Chaos breeds Chaos 