I know August is a big reality-TV finale month, and sometimes it's hard to keep track of it all, what with So You Think You Can Dance wrapping up last night and the America's Best Dance Crew 2 finale in just six days, etc. But for those of you who missed the big announcement this past Monday: Melissa Lawson won season 6 of Nashville Star.

So naturally, the NStar camp is in rush-release panic mode right now. Melissa barely had time to accept congratulation kisses from her five kids or brush the celebratory confetti out of her hair before she was whisked offstage on finale night and into a press-filled interrogation room (see my interview blog here); her coronation single "What If It All Goes Right?" was the number-one iTunes country track by the following morning; as I type this, she's probably on a plane to Beijing right now to sing at the Olympics; and the Nashville Star package tour with Melissa and the rest of the top four (Gabe Garcia, Shawn Mayer, and Coffey) kicks off next month.

Much like the burning questions "Will a plus-size girl ever win on America's Next Top Model?" and "Will a rocker ever win on American Idol?," the question "Will a breakdancer ever win on So You Think You Can Dance?" is a matter I've often pondered.

It never seemed like a b-boy (or b-girl) had a chance on SYTYCD--they were always great in their own specialty genre, sure, but whenever they had to pick up choreography or, say, do a Viennese waltz, they just fell apart. (This season's Robert Muraine, winner of tonight's finale faceoff with Philip Chbeeb, is a perfect example: He got so discouraged and exasperated during this season's audition rounds, he quit against the judges' wishes.)

Well, zaftig Whitney just won ANTM this year, and of course rocker boy David Cook triumphed on AmIdol too. So maybe, I thought, 2008 would be Twitch or Josh's year, too.

But still, I never really imagined it would come down to two b-boys in the SYTYCD finale. Especially over Katee!

Yes, tonight SYTYCD

Last night, the black-haired bad girl with a heart of gold, the woman who left the love of her life back in small-town Iowa to pursue her Nashville dream, the woman who was in the bottom two so many times she probably thought she never had a chance of winning...well, she didn't win, but she did make it all the way to third place on Nashville Star.

Shawn may not have been the frontrunner on this show, but she is a major undiscovered talent, so I don't think this is the last we've heard from her. Because in a tour bus interview, caught on camera just an hour or so before the finale taping, Nashville Star judge and Shawn mentor Jeffrey Steele indicated that he'd still be supporting his protégé's career long after the NStar cameras stop rolling.

And Jeffrey wasn't shy about taking some credit for her success, after Shawn "fired" her original mentor John Rich:

And just moments after the finale taping, Shawn met with me and some other enquiring-minded press types to discuss her reaction

When I first arrived in Nashville yesterday for the Nashville Star finale taping, I had a hunch that Gabe Garcia was going to win. I figured this car parked in front of my hotel, the Opryland, was some sort of sign:

But oh well, so much for omens. Because last night at the Acuff Theater, Gabe Garcia came in second, losing out to equally worthy contender Melissa Lawson. However, the Texican from the little town of Lytle may still be the man to bridge the country and Latino markets in a way that John Rich's hapless handpicked Gone Country protégé, Julio Iglesias Jr., could not.

In this backstage interview, caught on camera just an hour or so before the finale taping, Nashville Star judge and Gabe mentor Jewel explained why the timing just may be ideal for Gabe to launch his country career:

And just moments after the finale taping, Gabe--a true gentleman till the very end--met with me and some other enquiring-minded press types to discuss his reaction to the results and his plans for