Oh Paula

Tonight I watched a few minutes of the new reality show/dance competition called "Live to Dance." Paula Abdul is a judge and two other cheesy people, one of whom is said to have been Michael Jackson's choreographer.

I don't know who decided to put Paula back on the air but it is like a little gift for us for the new year. Did you ever watch her reality show on Bravo, "Hey, Paula"? If you ever had any question from watching her behavior on American Idol as to whether she was a wackjob, the Bravo program but any doubts to rest. Not surprisingly, the show was only on one short season, probably because she figured out that instead of being a showcase for her it only served as a great big spotlight on her craziness. My theory is that her craziness is derived in large part from the fact that she NEVER SLEEPS coupled with the pain pills she takes from an injury incurred years ago. And, she's a narcissist.

Anyway, she seemed sedated on Live to Dance - bleary eyed and mostly coherent but barely holding it together. she did manage to bleat out some of her usual Idol nonsense like " You... are. a gift. from heaven." and that's about it. For all we know, she may still think she's on Idol.

The show itself is blatant claptrap designed to tug at the lowest common denominator heartstrings - to wit, the 90 year old tap dancing grandma who could barely move her feet but was heartwarming - if you get the thumbs up (a gold star) from at least two out of three judges you get to move forward in the competition. Of course there was no way she was going to move forward in the competition, and therefore no reason for her to be shown at all, and predictably she got two thumbs down (red stars) from the two no-name judges, but not from Paula. she got to be the angel who gave the old lady a gold star and got to mumble something about her dancing to live and living to dance, blah blah.

The other performance I watched was a group of young New Jerseyites who had some bizarre routine involving ghosts and a mausoleum, but it was performed to a Michael Jackson song, therefore the MJ choreographer got to get all choked up and talk about his 'close personal friend, Michael Jackson.' I have a feeling he uses that phrase a lot.

I think I'll watch next week.