Dancing with the Stars Plans Michael Jackson Tribute

This summer, So You Think You Can Dance producer Nigel Lythgoe had this awesome Michael Jackson-dance-tribute episode of the Fox hit planned. He even had Paula Abdul putting it together ... until Team MJ nixed it at the last minute.

Whether it was Sony or the [Jackson] family estate, SYTYCD could not get the music cleared legally, as they must to use it on the show. Which is too bad.

Well, Dancing With the Stars will be putting on its own show dedicated to the late King of Pop. The special Jackson tribute will air this Tuesday, October 20.

All Season 9 DWTS pros - including Mark Ballas, Cheryl Burke, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Tony Dovolani, Chelsie Hightower, Derek Hough, Kym Johnson, Lacey Schwimmer, Jonathan Roberts, Edyta Sliwinska and Karina Smirnoff - are on board.

The late Michael Jackson will be honored on Dancing with the Stars.

That's cool and all, except for the fact that So You Think You Can Dance would have done a better job. DWTS' higher ratings probably persuaded Jackson's reps to green light it, but the late music icon himself would probably disapprove.

If he were alive, he'd be hiring his backup dancers out of the younger, hipper SYTYCD troupe (like winner Jeanine Mason) before the DWTS pros in a second.

DWTS' professionals are talented, but lack the unique, eclectic styles and wow factor that has consistently made SYTYCD one of the most fun shows on TV.

We hope we're proven wrong and Dancing With the Stars knocks it out of the park. But it seems like So You Think You Can Dance and its better production/direction, and more appropriate talent, should have been the pick to honor MJ.

Let's put it this way: Which show's cast would do the best job paying homage to Jackson's "Bad" video, for example? We rest our case.