The beauty about being willing to give just about anything on TV at least one shot is that, every once in a while, one stumbles upon a gem.

And the first week of the Top 20 of So You Think You Can Dance? was everything it was cracked up to be. That I haven't followed this the past three years is a crime. Sure, I'm easy to please given that I've always been fascinated by American Idol; however, no lie, SYTYCD is not only a quality production, it's high quality entertainment.

The way the first few weeks of the Top 20 works is that each dancer is paired up with somebody else, permanently until we're down to the Top 10. It is possible that couples are split by elimination, but for now, they're fighting for their couples lives.

Everybody at home can choose to judge each dancer in his or her own way, but I tend to look at the overall package. I look at choreography, execution, personality and music. Yes, the choice of song is a big deal to me because it plays a big role in whether I'll be entertained or not.

Furthermore, this show continues to surprise me in terms of the quality of music used for routines. My favorite of the night was the Chelsie Hightower and Mark routine drawn up by Mia Michaels, something to the effect of an interpretation of what it would be like to be at Tim Burton's wedding.

I've never watched a Tim Burton movie, but I know the oddity of what Mia was going for, and it was brilliant. What made it doubly brilliant was the music from Michelle N'degeocello, a song called "Beautiful."

Seriously. Loved this.

A ton of what dance is about is in execution, but emotion plays a huge role, too. And the combination of that song, the choreography, the execution and personality of both Chelsie and Mark -- I thought -- was brilliant. Very romantic but in a sweet way, not a sensual one.

The judges liked them but were really high on Chelsea Traille who along with Thayne earned a spot on Mary Murphy's hot tamale train, the only two to do so all night. They did a cha-cha, and while Chelsea really hit her marks and was crisp, I'm just not feelin' her. Reminded me a bit of LaToya London from Idol. Technically perfect but a bit dry in the personality department.

I know. Throw things at me. If the judges had been forced to declare a favorite for the entire summer competition, it might have been Traille. I'm not sold yet. However, the judges were also very high on Twitch and Kherington Payne, a couple who I think will be a fan favorite for the next five weeks.

Like him. Love her. He's fun. She's cute and fun.

Unfortunately, he's the better dancer, and he really surprised everybody tonight by mastering a broadway routine from Tyce D'Orio. I don't know that the ghost of Gregory Hines was razed, but it was really good.

Will Wingfield got high praise for a tango he did with Jessica although she faltered a bit. The routine was good, and Wingfield -- a Debbie Allen protege -- was particularly on his game. However, I was a tad bored by it.

On the other hand, I absolutely loved the hip-hop routine from Katee and Joshua Allen. It's hard to say that Joshua really stands a chance long-term in this competition, but I think he'll continue to grow on folks. He's already grown on me, and his ability to turn a very average Katee into something more than a white-bred popper was really something else. To be fair, I do think she got criticized by Nigel Lythgoe for doing more a rib slide instead of a legitimate pop early in their interpretation of "No Air" from Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks, but this was another example of an excellent routine combined with personality and emotion.

The gist of the routine was that Joshua had just gotten his orders for Iraq and that she was devastated. While it seems like I'm issuing all the praise to Joshua, I really am pleased for Katee because she, more than anybody else tonight, raised her game from what we had seen in Vegas. We don't get a chance to know too much about these people, but the best I can tell about Joshua and Katee is that they're a couple of good kids.

(Note from Ryan: An hour after I've posted this, I finally found a video of Joshua and Katee online. And I have to give it up to Katee. She was really good. As a couple, this might have been my favorite of the night, at least tied with the Mia Michaels routine from Chelsie and Mark.)

I also liked Napoleon and Tabitha's other hip-hop creation, to the tune of "American Boy," for Raven and Jaime. Nigel wasn't sold on it, particularly that it came first in the programme. However, it was clever, and the choreography was stellar even if the dancing was only above average. In fact, two of the best three routines of the night belonged to Napoleon and Tabitha.

Still, Mia's was my personal favorite.

Speaking of personal favorites, outside of Sheila Kaiser, my other favorite dancer so far this season had been Courtney Galliano, about whom I was judging more on looks than ability, I suppose. She and Gev did not fare well with a pretty generic disco routine, and I suspect they could be our first eliminees.

Truth is, Galliano -- a New York Knicks dancer -- should be just great with the disco. She has that big city, East Coast look, kind of like a young Fran Drescher from back in the day. However, it just wasn't happening.

Her saving grace might be that the masses can most identify with disco. I don't know. I don't really have any finger on the pulse of how SYTYCD fans vote. We'll see.

If I had to predict, which I do, I'd say that Courtney and Gev are gone tomorrow but that Chris should probably watch out, too. If you can recall, he's the guy Nigel said had the personality of a tree.

He didn't tonight, but it was genuinely surprising how good these dancers were, these routines were and this show was. I'm a bigger and bigger fan by the minute.

If you'd like to check out my video recap, you can do so below. Or you can visit me at youtube.com/popcultureryan for regular recaps, rants, etc.