Technology Slice Blog

Live to Dance Premiere - “Live to Dance,” Paula Abdul’s big return to television (well, unless you count that odd Bravo reality show) premiered tonight on CBS — and the show had more in common with “American Idol” than one of its former judges. Episode one was set up much like the annual “Idol” auditions shows — there were screaming crowds, clueless rejects and a Seacrest-esque emcee (Andrew Gunsberg, who actually used to host “Australian Idol”). So yeah, it’s a bit of a ripoff — but it seems like it has the potential to be a fun one. The best thing about the show is the variety — there are soloists and enormous groups, preteens and senior citizens, break dancers and ballerinas. Strangely enough, broadness is also the biggest thing working against it; the wide range of acts makes the show’s standards feel sort of random and the judges’ criticisms are often vague. The other judges, by the way, are choreographer Travis Payne and Pussycat Dolls “founding member” Kimberly Wyatt (hey, we...