So I watched a lot of Dancing With the Stars to prepare for my Sunday column about the Bristol Palin voting controversy ….

And I have to say, the dancing on that show is terrible. Like, REALLY terrible.

When I originally wrote my column, I described Bristol as “clearly awful” and Brandy as “clearly less awful.” My editor, a big-time DWTS fan, had to set me straight, explaining that Brandy is actually a really good dancer — within the context of the show.

I kept arguing, but she insisted.

The problem, we decided, is that I’m a big-time So You Think You Can Dance fan. And that apparently makes me a reality TV dance show snob.

SYTYCD has none of the campy fun of DWTS. It’s basically American Dance Idol. Except … you don’t have to have any training to get on Idol. The kids who show up at SYTYCD may be nobodies, but they’re nobodies who’ve spent their whole lives in training. And they are INSANELY GOOD.

SYTYCD is all about dance.

Like they won’t shut up about the power of dance, and the necessity of dance, and they’re constantly making each other cry with their own dance-world exquisiteness.

After watching these guys dance, watching Bristol or Brandy — or even Jennifer Grey — is painful.