In the new reality competition series Come Dance With Me, accomplished dancers ranging in age from 9-14 are brought on stage to compete for a grand prize of $100,000. But they have to invite one of their parents, none of whom are trained dancers, to dance with them.
COME DANCE WITH ME: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A paunchy, middle-aged dad with tattoos says, “I have been dragged here to come dance with my lovely daughter and make TV magic.”
The Gist: The twelve sets of contestants rehearse their routine with a choreographer; the preparation is so intense that the parent dance partner needs to take a leave from their day jobs. Then, after host Philip Lawrence shows the audience a clip package introducing the audience to a team, that team performs. Judges Jenna Dewan, Dexter Mayfield and Tricia Miranda give their critiques and score each team on a scale of 1 to 10.
The two teams with the lowest scores are up for elimination, and will participate in a “Showout”, where it’s kid vs. kid and parent vs. parent. Then the judges figure out which team to save and which goes home.
Dance styles in the first episode vary, from a mother and son doing a paso doble to a few pairs doing hip hop styles to some more contemporary modern dance moves.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Come Dance With Me is Dancing With The Stars if the professionals were kids and the stars were less-than-graceful middle-aged parents.
Our Take: The selling point of Come Dance With Me is the idea that these kid dancers are going to dance on national TV with their biggest fans: Their parents. The moments of bonding while the pairs rehearse, the introductory clip package where the kids profess their admiration for their parents and vice versa, even the lines where the kids say their 40-year-old parents are “ancient,” all melt your heart.
The dances themselves are various degrees of entertaining. Let’s face it: Some parents just move better than others, and it’s pretty obvious which parents — mostly mothers — also had dance training when they were young. But the routines smartly took a parent’s skills into account; even people who barely moved, like Limp Bizkit drummer John Otto, had moments with their kids that made us see just how nicely the two of them bonded over the experience.
Casting was refreshingly diverse, in everything except one category: It seemed that all of these contestants came from opposite-sex, two-parent couples. We’re not sure if that was luck of the draw or something consciously decided by the producers, but it would have been nice to see some contestants coming from other types of families.
As for the judges: There seemed to be a bit of an adjustment in the scoring as the first episode went along, with the first acts getting higher scores than later acts, despite the fact that those later acts seemed like they did a better job. Dewan is the den mother judge, always lathering praise and giving technical notes with a velvet glove; her scores never seem to match the praise she gives, though. Mayfield is the showier one (see below) and Miranda is the “tough love” judge, but everyone’s critiques are doled out with lots and lots of praise.
That’s just fine, to be honest; we’re not here to see the judges be jerks to kids and their parents. It’s more than enough entertainment to see these families get closer through this process than anything else. One thing we do wish, though; that the initial pool of contestants be cut in half; slogging through 12 families in a two-hour time slot becomes a bit of a repetitive drag after a while.
What Age Group Is This For?: This is definitely a family-friendly show, airing on Friday nights so kids can stay up and watch with no school the next day. Kids of all ages with any interest in dance should enjoy it.
Parting Shot: After the “Showout”, we find out who’s eliminated. Then we see scenes from the following week’s episode, which has a pop music theme.
Sleeper Star: Dexter Mayfield has a great signature move; if he loves a pair, he whips out his fan and yells, “SOMEBODY CAME TO DANCE!”. We also give the show’s music coordinators credit for scoring rights to the original recordings of the songs the contestants used; it might help that LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell are among the show’s executive producers (one pair even used “Mama Said Knock You Out” for their song).
Most Pilot-y Line: Otto says to the camera, “My band is never gonna let me live this down.” He’s probably right, but we respect him a lot more for going on this show than anything Fred Durst has done since Limp Bizkit’s late ’90s peak period.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Come Dance With Me does a good job at keeping the focus on the contestants and how the contest has brought family members closer together. It’s that heart that will sustain viewers’ interest through the various rounds of the competition.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Come Dance With Me’ On CBS, A Dance Competition Where Accomplished Kids Dance With Their Non-Dancing Parents appeared first on Decider.
