Mary Murphy screams her way to stardom

It’s hard to miss Mary Murphy on “So You Think You Can Dance,” especially if you have sensitive eardrums.

Murphy is the star of all the Fox commercials pitching the show, and in every single one of them the former ballroom dance champion and current “SYTYCD” judge is loud. Her screams of approval serve as the show’s anthem, like Simon Cowell’s snark does for "American Idol."

That piercing tone is part of the reason Murphy has become the face of the show, but she’s more than just a novelty act. She looks and acts like someone dreamed up from central casting: knowledgeable, boisterous, unafraid and enthusiastic. She’s just a little bit crazy and always seems on the edge of disaster, and yet can discuss form and technique with the best of the guest choreographers.

That has helped her dance right through the glass ceiling holding back female reality show judges from stardom. More than any other woman, she’s been able to emerge as the biggest star of her show, and is the key factor in its success.

The Dick Vitale of ‘Dance’
“So You Think You Can Dance” sells its judges as the stars, especially early in the season when the dancers are still unfamiliar. There’s not the stable of past superstars to bring back; the only former contestant most viewers still see on TV is Lacey Schwimmer, who's now on rival ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” Murphy, Nigel Lythgoe and host Cat Deeley serve as the lead actors, with the dancers and choreographers the supporting cast.

Murphy didn’t start out as a regular, and it wasn’t until the third season that she got the gig permanently, but now it’s impossible to imagine the show without her.

There’s nothing unique about Lythgoe; the “cranky judge with a British accent” thing has been done to death already. Deeley is fine as the host, but nobody’s tuning in just to check out her latest outfit. The third judge each week is a crapshoot; sometimes viewers get the effusive Debbie Allen or Adam Shankman, other times it's Toni Basil looking and sounding as if she’s heading to a funeral.

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Murphy is a unique package. She’s like nobody else on reality television, and her closest match may be noted college basketball commentator Dick Vitale. She has passion that overflows into her commentary, and her empathy for the competitors is Paula Abdul-esque, but she also brings keen eye for the technical merits of each dance. One minute she’s going over the Xs and Os of a particular routine, and the next she’s yelling and screaming with delight at a particular performance.

That ability to be both an outsized personality and a sober critic is the key attribute that separates her from the rest of her peers in the reality television landscape, Most are one or the other, either knowledgeable but understated (Carrie Ann Inaba) or exciting but irrelevant (Paula Abdul).

The best in the business
Women on reality TV judging podiums often serve as foils to the men on the panel, or co-stars at best. Abdul and Kara DioGuardi exist to react to Cowell on “American Idol.” Sharon Osbourne usually has something to say on “America’s Got Talent,” but David Hasselhoff has the name. Inaba has Murphy’s critical eye, but isn’t as much of an extrovert.

Of course, being as extroverted as Murphy is a high bar to clear. Let’s be honest, part of Murphy’s appeal is that she sometimes seems to be taking some of Abdul’s rumored medications. When she loves someone, she LOVES them, and the all-caps does no justice to the volume that comes out of her pipes. When Fox highlighted her in the “So You Think” ads that blanketed the last few weeks of “American Idol” coverage, they weren’t promoting her insightful comments on technique, but that patented Murphy yell that breaks windows miles away.

Unlike Abdul, however, she comes across as being genuine. She has her catchphrases that she loves to break out, like the whole "hot tamale train" thing, but it never sounds like she's scripted her feedback in advance based on the rehearsals. When she comments on dancers, she sounds as enthusiastic as if she were seeing them for the first time.

Moreover, she always has something useful to tell the dancers. She’ll notice when they are out of synch or when their technique is lacking, and provides actual feedback on how to improve. That's practically unheard of on these kind of shows, and is particularly important on a show like “Dance.” It’s not like a singing competition, where it’s easy to tell the good from the average from the mediocre. Very few of the millions in the viewing audience have any idea about things like dancers keeping their lines, and nobody has the chops to argue with Murphy’s criticisms.

It’s hard to turn Murphy off even with the mute button, but it’s also hard not to take her seriously. Love her or hate her, she’s the best female reality show judge in the business.

Craig Berman is a writer in Washington, D.C.

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