Live To Dance, the new reality talent competition which premiered last night (4th January 2011) saw Paula Abdul make her long-awaited television comeback as a celebrity judge. More than a year after she famously left Fox's American Idol, the 48-year-old returned to screens to critique the thousands of dance hopefuls.
The CBS show sees Abdul joined by choreographer TRAVIS PAYNE and former Pussycat Dolls star Kimberly Wyatt on the judging panel, and during the first show the audience witnessed everyone from kids to grandmas looking to live their dancing dream. However, earlier reviews of the show have been lukewarm, with US Magazine noting, "Viewers tuning in for Abdul's signature kooky critiques were out of luck on Live to Dance, as the judge's garden variety 'dream big' banter lacked a much-needed bite". Abdul told a tiny hip-hop dancer that she wanted to "pinch his cheeks" and advised a young female dancer to "ditch the Tammy Faye makeup", but refused to be overly critical to the hopefuls.
The competition awards a prize of $500,000 to the lucky winner, and places no limit on age, a concept that People Magazine described as "both liberating and rather demented". The show is based on the UK reality dance contest, 'Got To Dance'.