News

Let's dance.

As any fool can see, there's plenty to worry about: Investment banks collapsing, weasel politicians peddling their wares, foods being withdrawn from stores because people have died from eating them, trains crashing, planes crashing and a new study of 6,500 executives says 35 per cent of them would choose their BlackBerry over their spouse.

What are you gonna do? Well, as that guru on matters of heartache - one Bryan Ferry - informed us, "Dance away the heartache/ Dance away the tears." Oh, indeed. The man who called himself a slave to love and is as melancholy as all get-out, concluded, "Let the strobe light up them all/ I close my eyes and dance till dawn." Wise words, you'll agree. When times are bad and you're feeling wan, a bit of dancing is the only cure.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada (CTV, 8 p.m.) arrived last week with considerable hoopla and, by heavens, it did not disappoint. The show is an international franchise, of course, with a set format: judges, dancers, voting. Could a Canadian version be better than the usual thing? Yep. There were some astonishing moves, manoeuvres, turns and locomotions going on at the first audition shows, taped in Toronna, Vancouver and Halifax.

The U.S. version, which was a hit again this past summer on Fox and here on CTV, is enjoyable, but already it seems a tad too slick and fussily show-business. The contestants are familiar with the template and, while there were outstanding performers and memorable moments, the sheen of American glitz meant that the show looked like one long variation on the Broadway musical A Chorus Line.

Mind you, So You Think You Can Dance is still a better bet for pure entertainment than American Idol or Canadian Idol. On those, the singers and the songs tend toward blandness. On So You Think You Can Dance, there's real variation - all sorts of genres, styles and forms are attempted.

So it was with the first Canadian shows last week. The variety and level of sophistication, not to mention originality, were remarkable. There were very few contestants who could be dismissed as hopeless or deluded. Some, including a kid named Graeme from Oakville, Ont., were breathtaking. The judging also was pretty entertaining. Mary Murphy, imported from the U.S. version for some episodes, was downright hysterical at times. She declared to one contestant, in an astonishing squeal, "You are fire, you are strength, you are woman." Not a Bryan Ferry lyric, obviously, but memorable.

The show continues tonight with auditions in Calgary and Montreal. It's fine entertainment. By the way, host Leah Miller informs me that, yes, she is perfectly capable of doing the Watusi (official instructions: "The dancer, knees slightly bent, is almost stationary, although may advance forward and back by one or two small rhythmic paces. The arms, with palms flat in line, are held almost straight, alternately flail up and down in the vertical. The head is kept in line with the upper torso but may bob slightly to accentuate the arm-flailing"), though she has yet to prove it to me.

'Til Death (Fox, 9 p.m.) is back, and if your taste runs to really old-fashioned sitcoms, it's for you. One of the few sitcoms still filmed mostly on a soundstage in front of an audience, it has hoary old jokes and stock characters. Newlyweds Jeff and Steph move in next door to Eddie (Brad Garrett from Everybody Loves Raymond) and Joy (Joely Fisher), who have been married for than 20 years. As the show has evolved, which isn't much, the focus is on the bickering between Eddie and Joy. He's put-upon, she's snippety, but they love each other. There you go, life as it is lived on U.S. network TV.

Check local listings.

Also airing tonight

The National: Your Turn with Jack Layton (CBC Newsworld, 7 p.m.; CBC, 10 p.m.) is the first of a series of election specials. You e-mail questions. Pastor Mansbridge puts the questions to Layton - who says he is applying for Stephen Harper's job. I dunno. His hair is all wrong, for a start.

The Royal Family (ABC, 9 p.m.) is a repeat of the ratings hit for ABC. The special chronicles a year in the lives of members of the Royal Family, and Barbara Walters hosts. She starts thus: "This is Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II has reigned for 55 years, and her family for centuries. This is called the grand entrance, which tourists can pay to see on guided visits. But thanks to an exclusive arrangement with British filmmakers, we'll go well beyond the public areas of this palace tonight, into the private spaces and lives of the Royal Family. ... No one in the general public has ever gotten as close as you will tonight." It's not true, but watching Walters trying not to look awed is amusing.

The Riches (Showcase, 10 p.m.) is good even when it wanders into farce. It's still about a family of con artists trying to steal the American Dream. Tonight, Wayne (Eddie Izzard) tries to save the real-estate deal that will make him a multimillionaire. J.D.