Screens: MTV
If you have eyes, or a soul, or a huge gap between your ability to dance and your appreciation for the talents of others, then you've probably felt an emptiness in your life these past three years since Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew got cancelled. I KNOW I HAVE. So you can imagine how my heart leapt last week when, during Catfish, MTV ran a promo for America's Best Dance Crew: Road To The VMAs. IT'S BAAAAAAAACK.
That's the good news. The bad news is that it's back in kind of a gimmicky format. First, it stars five of the past seven season-winning crews -- Poreotix (Season 5) and JabbaWockeeZ (Season 1) decided to sit this one out -- plus Kinjaz, new to the show but apparently formed on a foundation of former JabbaWockeeZ members. Second, it has a hard out: the winning crew will perform on the 2015 VMAs, for which the RJPABDC:RTTVMA finale will serve as lead-in. Not enough!!!!!!!1!!!!!1!
That said, any amount of RJPABDC is welcome after the dance desert I've been living in, IF YOU CAN CALL THAT LIVING. ("But So You Think You Can Dance!" I don't care to see just two people dancing some interpretative bullshit about someone's bipolar mom. TWO'S NOT A CREW. "Dancing With The Stars, though!" I'll pretend I didn't hear that.) My early pick to win it all is Super Crew, because I like that they keep it to b-boy basics and make me actually question how gravity works.
I also wouldn't be mad if We Are Heroes took the title, because the world needs more all-female crews.
All things considered, it's probably a good thing JabbaWockeeZ didn't come back: my heart almost exploded when I saw them live in Las Vegas in 2010 -- the sole reason I went to Vegas, in fact. And while there's no way Vogue Evolution would have been in contention for this eighth all-star season because they lost to We Are Heroes in Season 4, if we're talking about RJPABDC, I am required by the tenets of my faith to remind you of their Bollywood number, and then watch it ten times in a row, here it is byeeeeeeeeee
America's Best Dance Crew: Road To The VMAs airs Wednesdays at 11 PM ET on MTV.