Fox announced that the third season of So You Think You Can Dance, the network's American Idol-like search for America's top dancer, will premiere Thursday, May 24 at 8PM ET/PT.

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Joining So You Think You Can Dance in Fox's summer reality programming lineup will be the third season of Hell's Kitchen, which will premiere on Monday, June 25, and Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg's new On The Lot reality series, which will receive an Idol-fueled launch on Wednesday, May 16. 

So You Think You Can Dance and Hell's Kitchen's second seasons both delivered solid ratings last summer, prompting Fox to announced that it had renewed both series for third seasons in July.

Similar to last season, So You Think You Can Dance's third season will follow an Idol-like broadcast schedule (little surprise given both shows air on the same network and Dance was created by American Idol executive producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and Lythgoe serves as one of Dance's judges).  Following its May 24 premiere and a special two-hour episode on Wednesday, May 30 at 8PM ET/PT -- both of which will feature audition episodes --  So You Think You Can Dance will settle into a twice-weekly schedule in which performance shows will air on Wednesdays at 8PM ET/PT and results shows will air in the same time period on Thursdays.

So You Think You Can Dance first premiered as one of three new reality series that Fox launched in the summer of 2005, along with Hell's Kitchen and the short-lived The Princes Of Malibu.  Despite its summer ratings success, Fox -- unlike what ABC has done with Dancing with the Stars -- has thus far decided against attempting to make So You Think You Can Dance a part of its fall or winter schedule.

Fox also announced that Cat Deeley -- who took over the So You Think You Can Dance hosting duties from Lauren Sanchez after the series first season -- will reurn to host the show's third season.  Fox will hold casting calls for the third season of So You Think You Can Dance throughout March and April in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
Christopher Rocchio is an entertainment reporter for Reality TV World and has covered the reality TV genre for several years.