‘So You Think You Can Dance’ is back, now with Matthew Morrison
As Matthew Morrison returns to weekly television, and to Fox, he’s filled with a different kind of glee.
The actor widely known as high school “Glee” club adviser “Mr. Schue” launched his career in such stage musicals as “Hairspray” and “South Pacific,” so he knows the importance of dance. Thus, he’s excited about being one of the new judges – along with JoJo Siwa, joining returnee Stephen “tWitch” Boss – on “So You Think You Can Dance,” which starts its 17th Fox season Wednesday, May 18 (after two years off because of the coronavirus pandemic). Cat Deeley is back as the program’s host.
“I’m just excited to be someone who can be there to encourage (the dancers) and help them see their potential and their greatness,” says the friendly Morrison, who did a similar stint as a judge on the competition “The Greatest Dancer” in England. “To be perfectly frank, I went there and
did that show because I knew no one in America would see it ... but I had the best time doing it, and I just wanted more of it.”
Morrison appreciates how seriously “So You Think You Can Dance” fans take the show because “I’m one of them. I think what
I love about it is that you watch these people work so hard. You feel their commitment to their art, and especially with the pandemic, I’m so excited to see what that means with their having been out of the dance studio for a couple of years. They may have sacrificed some of their technique, so I think this will
be a completely different kind of season.”
While musing that he’s “the elder statesman on the panel” – which has been revised to see the exits of series co-creator Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and others from previous years – Morrison notes that he knows “what it is to be a performer, the pressures and the expectations. I’m there as more of a teammate to these people. I don’t really connect with the word ‘judge,’ so I’m just hoping to help and elevate and evolve these
talents.”
8 p.m.on L M N M ovie: A B aby at Any C ost
Sensing that the surrogate mother they engaged to carry their child is becoming too closely bonded to the infant,a couple tries to distance themselves from the woman.Undaunted,however,the sly surrogate secretly begins administering poison to the new mother,rendering the latter too ill to care for the child and thus ensuring the couple keeps her around.Ultimately, of course,she’s hoping the wife will die,clearing the way for the surrogate to replace her in this 2022 thriller.
8 p.m.on SHOW C ouples Therapy
Noted psychologist Dr.Orna Guralnik returns to her office in Brooklyn,N.Y.,where she welcomes four new couples to begin work on some of their most intimate issues as Season 3 of this docuseries opens.In the premiere,Will and Ping have discovered that being in an open relationship poses some unexpected challenges,while Molly wonders whether her marriage to Josh can survive their emotional “scar tissue.”
9 p.m.on WM PT WETA G reat Performances
PBS kicks off a three- week “Broadway’s Best” event with a 2021 West End production of Cole Porter’s classic musical “Anything Goes,” with Sutton Foster reprising the role of Reno Sweeney,for which she won a Tony Award in 2011 on Broadway.Directed by Tony- winning choreographer Kathleen Marshall,this London staging also features yet another Tony winner,Robert Lindsay (“Me and My Girl”),and PBS fan favorite Felicity Kendal (“Good Neighbors”). Porter’s score includes such classics as “You’re the Top,” “I Get a Kick Out of You” and the title song.
11 p.m.on HB O A B lack L ady Sketch Show
Among the sketches in the Season 3 finale,Ally hosts a birthday bonfire that her guests are sure to remember,while a group of day campers try to embrace the great outdoors.In another segment,Octavia teaches a workout class that is top secret.Robin Thede,Ashley Nicole Black, Gabrielle Dennis and Skye Townsend star.