I’ve tried to watch American Idol and hated it, because it’s based on a music industry (by which I mean a machine to manufacture pure shit) that panders to the very lowest common denominator. It processes, exploits, and features digital trickery to synthesize a homogenized slurry that has become the depressing norm of popular music, easily covering the embarrassing and painful mistakes of the talentless fame seeking retards who end up on the show. Undoubtedly it has uncovered a few nuggets of talent (Kelly Clarkson A++) I am also undoubtedly hypercritical because I am a trained musician.

I’ve been watching So You Think You Can Dance this season after friends and favorite podcasts shared lots of fun and catty commentary over the past few seasons. At the very least I figured I could ogle hot boys, but it’s a really fun show overall. I am not a dancer, so I’m relatively blind to the mistakes that are probably being made (and making trained dancers alternately cringe, laugh, and gasp in horror.) But I can enjoy the performance value of this, and know that while there might be some editing, the nature of smoke and mirrors in physical media is minimized here. These kids are working their asses off every week, stretching their technique and style into delightful, athletic, and hot entertainment.

Anyway… my real point was tonight’s performance by Neil and Lacie, performing Mia Michaels’ choreography of a very personal story: A very joyful reunion with her late father in heaven.

I cried. Mia cried. Mary (one of the judges) cried. Lots of people in the tv audience cried. It was freaking beautiful, awesome and powerful.

I don’t know if I could or would have cried over a performance like this if my grandmother hadn’t recently died (or both of my cats, or my cousin’s preternaturally smart and charming golden retriever). But I did experience those things, and thought of all of them while watching the piece, and it was A Good Thing.

Thanks Mia, (and, shockingly, thank you Fox) for a moving piece of television.