Territorial Bloggings

TAR:12

• It’d probably be uncouth for me to observe that Kate & Pat got eliminated in the land of dikes… so let’s just say that the lesbians landed last in the land of levees…
• Ron & Christina emerged from the first episode as potential fan favorites. After episode two, only Christina remained as a favorite, while her control freak father was such an unrelenting pain in the ass that there’s not even a plausible way that it could be blamed on “editing”. Example: She found both marked bikes. All he did was bitch about things & contribute being a debilitating negative presence. And at the roadblock he couldn’t even bring himself to keep quiet when asked nicely & repeatedly. Christina’s a nice, smart, & sensible young woman – the type that any father would proud of; Ron, however, seems bound & determined to keep a cultural stereotype alive. It’s kind of hard to believe that he was a salesman. Unless he was a bad one. That could be believable.
• The Goths & The Sisters emerged as teams that I’m liking. The Goths because they just seem to be a great combination of supportive, nice, and just plain funny/entertaining. The sisters because they seem like they’re pretty nice and, well, I mean, just look at them…
• There’s a whole bunch of teams that I just don’t care all that much about one way or the other (pretty much all of the (non-Goth) “dating” teams, even though the girls are kinda cute), while there are two or three that could elevate to a more active level of annoyance/dislike — Nicolas & Donald just have an edge about them (beyond Donald’s getting down to his skivvies in the mud), the LA Blondes are just a bit too superficial for my tastes (although they did have a surprising toughness last night, even in the face of no facials), and Azaria really does seem like he could emerge as a younger version of Ron with how he sometimes treats Hendekea.
• In all, though, the best part of episode two is that the love letter got returned to sender!

The Next Great American Band

• I was neither shocked nor disappointed with the eliminations of The Muggs & Rocket. Dicko was dead-on accurate in observing that both bands fell victim to “death by lead singer,” The Muggs because they desperately need one who can sing to the level of their musicianship, and Rocket because their lead singer needs to take being a vocalist more seriously.
• I think that Tres Bien and Light of Doom should be the next bands eliminated, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Denver & The Mile High Orchestra found themselves gone next time.
• I think that Sixwire will win.
• I think that Franklin Bridge could win.
• I think that The Clark Brothers should win.

Survivor

• I’m glad that Jean-Robert’s delusional trip through the Orient is over…
• Folks like Courtney are usually only seen on The History Channel (concentration camps) or Discovery Health Channel (anorexics)…
• Amanda is setting herself up to be the clear & most deserving choice to win the whole shebang, as Todd looks to be making more enemies on the jury…
• James is emerging as a Rupert-esqe fan favorite. Despite his rough edges, there is something quite endearing & entertaining about him…
• I think that the dominant/power alliance will hold together long enough to ensure that either Peih-Gee or Erik will get the boot this week…

Question for a Monday: Why is it that contemplating realitytv is easier & more appealing than doing so with actual, you know, reality?

-ghp

The latest offering from the American Idol brain trust — The Next Great American Band — ain’t all that bad.

Compared to its siblings, it’s different in certain ways & similar in others. Overall, however, I’d say that it bears a closer resemblance to AI than to SYTYCD. That’s not bad & it’s not good; rather, it just *is*.

I liked that the first two “rounds” were handled differently, in that the “open auditions” were done via DVD submissions, which served as the fodder for producers to winnow things down to the 60 bands that were flown out to the Nevada desert for the equivalent of AI’s Hollywood & SYTYCD’s Vegas phases. The producers erred on the side of brevity for this first installment, and I think it was an overall good choice. Hewing too closely to the formula that requires lots of “train wreck” auditions might’ve been just a bit too much for this initial installment. The two hour premier left me wanting a little bit more, instead of feeling fatigued & abused by the parade of delusion & ineptitude.

The host (the New Zealand version of Seacrest) is ok. He’s no Cat Deely, but he’s ok.

The judges are right out of the AI playbook, except that Sheila E is so far & away better than Paula that it’s not even funny, and Johnny Rzeznick does a more credible job in the Dawg role than the caricature that Randy has become. Dicko’s Aussie spin on Simon’s “bad/mean” slot isn’t bad, but I can’t help but be distracted by the fact that he looks & sounds to me like Darrell Hammond playing a role in an SNL sketch.

The top 12 bands represent a reasonably diverse cross section of the musical spectrum. It’s nice to see genres as diverse as big band swing, bluegrass, gospel-tinged heritage, Philly-funk, new-wave/punk, 70′s hard rock, 60′s Brit-pop, speed/heavy metal, and country-pop. It’s not cookie-cutter in any way — I mean, come on, who would’ve thought that there’d be two bands that feature the mandolin?!? Cool!

My personal favorites at this point are the Clark Brothers (the trio of brothers who are sons of a traveling tent revivalist) and their gospel-tinged heritage music, The Muggs with their Detroit 70′s hard rock (in a serious Ted Nugent, Stranglehold-era vibe), Sixwire with their very slick country-pop sound, and Rocket because I’m a sucker for their neo new-wave/punk, Go Go’s type of sound.

I think that Franklin Bridge could also go a long way, and it’s quite possible that they could work their way into my favs list, as they are really, really good with their whole Philly power-funk sound.

None of the rest of the bands are really grabbing me all that much. Light of Doom could be interesting, if only to see how their speed metal sound will develop. They’re also interesting because they’ve got such strong musicianship for a bunch of 12 & 13 year-olds. Musically, they really do do justice to their metal genre; unfortunately, their vocals & overall presentation (keep your shirts on!) hold them back.

It’s not the best of shows — it strikes me as more of a Summer realitytv offering — but it’s certainly not the worst show out there. And that, is good enough to keep me watching.

-ghp