LOS ANGELES - When a winner is crowned tonight on the season finale of "So You Think You Can Dance," he or she may celebrate by leaping into the air, executing a triple flip with a French twist, all while peeling a banana. But even that stunt would pale in comparison to the series' most jaw-dropping spectacle: Mary Murphy's shriek.
I'm certain there are fans of the show who tune in every week to discover who has the fanciest footwork, but I'm equally convinced there's a legion of us out there who watch only to see if Murphy's voice, which sounds like Katharine Hepburn raised on Mississippi moonshine, will finally shatter the camera lenses and cause dogs nationwide to commit mass hara-kiri.
Entertainment Weekly recently hauled a decibel meter to the "Dance" set and measured Murphy's lung power, concluding that she's louder than the sound of a jet plane leaving the runway. Executive producer and fellow judge Nigel Lythgoe, no wallflower himself, jokes that he always seats Murphy on the side of his deaf ear.
He understands that she's a polarizing figure -- and that's just the way he likes it.
There are "too many bland people on television," he said, "so having somebody you really like or really hate is important."
Murphy, a former ballroom-dance champ from Ohio, says there's a method to her madness.
"I don't go around screaming every single day, but for dancers, I've always had enthusiasm," said Murphy, who has been with the show from the onset, but became a permanent judge last season.
"Everybody has their method of teaching," Murphy said. That was always mine. I would be jumping up and down like a 'Saturday Night Live' skit during a lesson, even with professional dancers. It cracks them up; it gives them a second or two of relief."
