They're dancing for their lives every Thursday night

I DON’T  like Thursdays," Cat Deeley says — because, as the host of the summer’s most­watched reality-competition program,  So You Think You Can Dance,  today’s the day she has to assign at least one wannabe dancer to obscurity.

Ever since reality-TV competitions added separate results shows -- a relatively recent development, and thanks largely to American Idol -- program producers and their hosts have had to come up with new ways to stretch a 30-second reveal into an hour-long show, with varying degrees of success.

Dance's solution -- adopted this past season by Dancing with the Stars -- is to have the lowest vote-getters perform a last-minute dance, in the hopes that the judges will find it in their hearts to spare them.

It's a clever twist because it gives viewers a reason to watch a show that might otherwise seem as pointless as watching an hour-long program to announce the lottery winners. There's also the heightened drama of watching semi-desperate fame-seekers dance for their lives, and what's reality TV good for if not heightened drama?

Adding to the drama is the recent death of Michael Jackson, who, as Dance judge and executive-producer Nigel Lythgoe reminded viewers last week, changed the face of dance and provided inspiration for countless dancers and musicians around the world.

Another reason to watch: The weekly performance by a different, often unannounced professional dance troupe or solo artist. Unlike American Idol, where anyone can tell good singing from bad -- well, almost anyone -- dance is more technical. The pro dancers show those of us who know nothing about dance just how high the bar is, literally and figuratively, for the dancers who remain.

None of this makes it any easier for Deeley -- "To say goodbye to one of them every Thursday is just a nightmare," Deeley said in a recent teleconference call -- but at least the results show is no longer a nightmare to watch. The added dancing, both the dance-off and the pro exhibition, makes the hour go by a little faster. (CTV/Fox, 8 p.m.)

-- Canwest News Service

3 to see today

Fighting in hockey -- bad. Right? That seems to be the underlying theme, anyway, in tonight's Bones rerun from January. A father and son find a frozen body in a pond while ice-fishing, and Booth (David Boreanaz) is fingered as the prime suspect after it turns out he had a fight with the deceased in a recent hockey game. Which begs an obvious, if unanswered question: Didn't anyone bother to check the ice after the game? Just asking. (Global/Fox, 7 p.m.)

There are petty crimes, and then there are so-called crimes of the century. Mega Heist is a two-hour Discovery Channel look at some of the world's most daring, and daunting casino and diamond heists. Think of it as a kind of Ocean's Eleven for the documentary crowd. (Discovery, 7 p.m.)

Bittersweet and fondly remembered: The warm, elegiac -- if awkwardly titled -- TCM special The Wonderful World of Oz: 50 Years of Magic looks back at the gorgeous and hopelessly optimistic movie classic The Wizard of Oz, complete with anecdotes from Liza Minnelli about how her mom, Judy Garland, loved to tell tall tales about the Munchkins' reputation for ribaldry. They don't make 'em like this anymore. (TCM, 6 p.m.)

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 2, 2009 E8