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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: July 19, 2006
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: So You Think You Can Dance, “Top 10 Perform” (Season 2, Episode 16)
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: The relative failure of So You Think You Can Dance‘s first season is sometimes a bit overstated. Sure, it wasn’t hosted by Cat Deeley yet, so how could it have been worth anything at all? And it generated precious little word-of-mouth, even among those who were into reality TV or dancing or both. But it was actually not a bad season of TV. That said, the creative leap between seasons 1 and 2 of the show should not be underestimated. The season 2 cast was unbelievably talented, and the ultimate rivalry between swing dancer Benji Schwimmer and contemporary dancer Travis Wall was incredibly captivating.
More importantly, though, season 2 was the first time that individual dance routines became watercooler sensations. Mia Michaels won the show’s first Emmy award* for her choreography of the “bench routine,” to Celine Dion’s “Calling You.” Travis and ballroom specialist Heidi teamed up for one of the show’s earliest examples of the miraculous emerging from the show’s alchemy of star choreographers, intense pressure, and a truncated rehearsal window. It was glorious.
*Michaels shared the Emmy with fellow SYTYCD choreographer Wade Robson, whose zombie-themed winning group routine was performed on the results show the very next night. Quite a week!
[You can watch current-season episodes of So You Think You Can Dance on Hulu]
Joe Reid (@joereid) is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. You can find him leaving flowers for Mrs. Landingham at the corner of 18th and Potomac.
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