New York Daily News - New York, NY, USA - Reality competitions are only as good as the judges who preside over them. The "American Idol" panel, the gold standard of the genre, proves that the right combination of critiques can add professional insight, comic relief or a verbal jab (much to the delight of the audience). So how do the folks of Fox's summer series "So You Think You Can Dance" measure up to the "Idol" ideal?

THE BRITS
Simon Cowell vs. Nigel Lythgoe

Similarities:  Snarky Simon is known as tough but fair, and contestants respect him because of his experience in the music industry. Likewise, Nasty Nigel has tremendous experience in

BuddyTV - USA - At the recent FOX press tour, American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe admitted that he and other producers made mistakes with American Idol last season.  The biggest regret, in Lythgoe's mind, was the amount of time spent featuring celebrity guests, rather than getting to know the individual contestants.  Nigel Lythgoe, who along with his Idol duties is the head judge and executive producer of So You Think You Can Dance, a show that he says Idol can learn from.  Here are a few of his remarks.

On the overuse of celebrity mentors:

''We realized we made mistakes on Idol last season. We