NBC's Superstars of Dance: Everything That's Wrong With It

And I'm not going to even consider how incredibly bad Michael Flatley Lord of the Dance is as a host.

Okay, just a little bit. He's awful. And I don't really mean full of awe. It's more like aw as in "Aw, look at him trying to host a TV show." Of course, the copy he's being given doesn't help. I would bet you this isn't a WGA show and that some producer with a pen is playing writer on this.

For hiring Flatley at the expense of having a host that could help boost the drama, Craig Pletsis at NBC should be canned. I don't care if Flatley is a dancer or not, he's not a TV personality.

But more than that, I watched parts of the first episode from Sunday (which you can see in it's entirety at Hulu if, for example, you think you've been bad and need to be punished) and big parts of the show just don't work for me.

First off, a competition that pits nation against nation, how ingenious! How'd they ever figure out that scheme? Seriously, with all the ridonkulous amount of nationalism going on these days do we need another country v. country contest? Don't we have three wars going on in the Mideast?

Secondly, they put on a soloist and then a group and then a duo and ... and how are you supposed to compare the performances and assess the judging? And even in the different styles of dance that these contestants are doing, it's like comparing apples and octopi (you know, plural for octopus).

Next, I've been listening to the voices of the dancing contestants and they don't quite sound like they come from the countries that they say they're from. I think some or maybe all of them are Americans of foreign birth or origin. Isn't that strange for a show that declares to pit country versus country in competition?

So, I don't know what to make of it except to tell you not to waste your time.