A Study in Character
- March 24
I bowl a couple of nights a week at my alley in New
Jersey. We have all sorts of personalities there. You
could probably guess the types if I start mentioning
them the ultra-competitive one, the league joker, the
booze hound, the spoilsport who takes the game a little
too seriously, etc. Regardless of the types, they are
all likeable people who you wouldnt mind hanging out
with when they arent at the alley. Heck, you could
probably even root for them if you were watching them on
television.
And those same personalities are what makes or breaks
a television show. We talk about these things all the
time, but its painfully true any game or reality show
is only as good as the people who play them. For example
- Jason Block (eager game show fanboy) who only got to
$125,000 on Millionaire, got millions of more viewers to
show up than John Carpenter, who was the first person to
get to a million - and most people even knew that he was
going to get there - but didnt get the ratings because
Carpenter had the personality of a wet mop. Sure Ken
Jennings wasnt Mr. Personality, but he had that
clean-cut wholesome family happy image that people
related to on Jeopardy. Part of the reason why The Price
is Right is the juggernaut that it is because the
producers consistently do an excellent job of picking
the leapers and the screamers to come on down.
Now lets look at the Primetime Programming. During the
first week of Deal or No Deal, I called the producers
out on bringing out the contestants family only during
the time of their big decision and exploiting them on
the moment. Thankfully, they have changed their tune and
have made it much more of a This is Your Life homage,
as the contestants family and lives are unraveled piece
by piece while the contestant goes through the game.
Its no longer a case of someone playing the game its
now a case of putting the contestants essence in front
of us. The disassembling of Texas Cowboy Brett Sloan,
from The Dont Mess With Texas theme to them bringing
down his wife on an airplane and seeing Brett hug her
was classic television creation at its finest and is
one of the reasons why Deal Or No Deal has moved from
competitive television programming to Time Slot
Powerhouse.
Of course, wed be remiss if we dont talk about the
show that makes this into an art form American Idol.
You know the 12 finalists right off the bat, and each
one has a story to tell. What amazes me the most about
the show is that all 58 finalists for the past 5
incarnations of Idol have all had reasons why you would
want to vote for them (yes, even Scott Savol), and the
ratings confirm that you are not voting for the person
as well as the voice.
That brings us to why 2 specific shows either did not
work or will not work. The first one is King of Vegas,
which I actually wanted to see succeed. I was miserably
disappointed when I realized after 3 shows that this
wasnt going to be a contest where we got to see the
strategies of people gambling. This was more of a
situation where we saw people making betting moves that
would be laughed at at most casinos but getting lucky
while turning the essence of the show into a shouting
match between 4-5 people. Unfortunately, we saw those
same 4-5 people get all the way to the end, which made
pining to listening to 675 hours of people singing Wayne
Newton songs in a William Hung style preferable to
watching the final episode.
Then theres Unan1mous. I am actually intrigued not only
by the concept, but by the fact that JD Roth is the man
behind the production of the show. Unfortunately, thats
where the fun ended for me, as I saw nine conniving,
unlikable people vie for $1.5 million. We know that
these people will do anything to win, including lie
about testicular cancer and do activities that in the
real world would be considered harassment. And when
theres no one to root for, thats when you stop caring,
and when you stop caring, thats when you change the
channel to Flavor of Love (shudder) of anything else
that happens to be on at Wednesday at 9:30 pm, because
Id rather watch that than 9 people who I wouldnt mind
seeing trapped in the bunker until the next presidential
election.
Though Survivor is also of the cut-throat ilk, at least
there are people that you can root for, and the best
seasons have come thanks to a variety of colorful
characters. Its also about the gameplay, as there is a
game to be played, and its more than just lie, cheat,
steal and be deceptive. Unfortunately, thats all we get
in Unan1mous, and that may be all we will get, which in
itself is a shame. Yes, the gameplay is important, but
the people that carry said gameplay are equally as
important, because that (and the editing that defines
them) is what separates something like Survivor from
something like Unan1mous. And as much as I hate to say
this, even wanting to watch Kellie over anyone else in
Unan1mous just solidifies the point completely.
As we are the only site
to correctly select Kevin Covais home, will we be
getting any props?
Probably not. Oh well.
Lets see if we can make it 3 straight weeks that we can
get the right bootee.
But first, a genre run-down
Lets quickly look at who is where, genre-wise
R&B Mandisa, Lisa, Paris
Country Kellie. Bucky, Taylor
Rock Chris
Male Pop Elliott, Ace
Female Pop Katharine
We start with
Its
weird to say this, but your best move would have been to
put on a ghastly performance. I dont know if
telegraphing to your fans that you were in danger would
have been enough though everything that you didnt
want to see happen last week did, and it resulted in
your exodus from the show. You get kudos for making it
as far as you did, but with all of the talent that this
season has, the 11th spot seems like a right fit for
you.
Now lets see who else has a nice fit
All
I have to say is that there is really only one safe
person this week, and its you. With Kevin (a pop
person) disappearing, that means more votes that you can
steal and a bigger cushion for you. Like I told Chris
last week, this could be a very good time for you to get
out of your comfort zone and try something daring
especially because the juggernaut Chris now has some
chinks in his armor.
I
dont know who to blame for the lack of giving Live
credit for the version of the song you performed. If
its you, then that was a very bone-headed move, but if
it was the editing, then they deserve to be smacked
around, as alienating that audience is going to cause
you to take a hit. If the past is any indication on the
media weakening the Idols chances, I dont think its
going to be huge, but it is something that you should be
concerned enough to address on Tuesday if the Idol
producers dont do it for you. Also ALWAYS credit
whomever style you are using it not only absolves you
of messes like this, but you reciting your knowledge
could help you score more votes down the line.
I
would usually put you in the safe category, but once
again, there are too many R&B singers. One more good
performance from you will probably send Lisa home and
then you can relax for the next month but be prepared
to deliver, because its too dangerous for you to play
it safe now.
Like
Mandisa in the R&B section, you are probably the leading
vote getter in the country section. I would stick you up
as safe also
except that like R&B, there are 3 singers
in the genre (Bucky and Kellie being the other 2) and
that should make you a little uneasy. What should also
make you uneasy is that you did not impress this past
week. Another limp effort could propel Kellie over you,
and since Buckys fans know that they have to vote for
him
or else
that would put you at the bottom of the
pecking order, and thats not a good place to be.
You
won the battle between you and Lisa last week with
flying colors. One more solid effort should eliminate
her, but you cant take Tuesday off. Theres a famous
phrase that I like which is, "When youre in a
competition and you can put your opponent away, dont
play with your food, because if youre not too careful,
you then become the food." A good performance and you
can stick the fork in Lisa. A performance that Lisa
outsings you at could wind up with you being adorned
with garnish.
The
Shucks act is wearing thin on the East Coast, but like
it or not, I dont see you in the Bottom Three because
of that. Youre also on a roll and this week for you is
critical. A great performance can edge you in front of
Taylor and can eliminate Bucky. A lousy effort can have
Bucky (whos fans are on alert) jump over you and put
your existence on the show in peril.
See
those comments to Paris and Kellie? They apply to you
too, but unlike them, you have a sterling opportunity to
move into the top pop spot and derail Chris. That being
said, you are in a dangerous spot. Youre not in the
front-runner group, and you dont have the dire need to
get votes, as Ace has gotten. A safe effort could be
disastrous for you this week as I am reserving a spot in
the bottom three between you and
You
and Elliott are jockeying for second place in the male
pop division behind Chris. You need to sing
extraordinarily well for the next 2 weeks. Why 2? Well,
you need it this week to stay out of the bottom three,
but youll need it even more should Elliott fall in the
bottom three and make it out, because the backlash of
his fans coming out will directly be coming from your
voting stash. Of course, if you want to make your life
really easy, you blow him out of the water this week,
pray for a surprise elimination (as Lisa and Buckys
contingency know that they have to vote for their idols,
which could make this a prime upset week for Elliott)
and then be safe for at least 2 more weeks, which could
buy you enough time to get a momentum swing on Chris.
But it starts this week, because at least one of the
grouping of you, Elliott or Paris will be occupying one
of those bottom three spots.
This
week for you becomes a week of survival. You must
outsing Lisa and you probably need to do enough to
siphon some of Kellies votes. Last week was awful and
one more awful effort means bye-bye, Bucky. I think you
do get saved because youre fans will be out to vote for
you and I think you will get some of the vote from the
departing Kevin but not if you did on Tuesday what you
did last week.
You
have 2 major problems here. The first one is that you
are only good in a field of great R&B singers. The
second one is that your fans last week KNEW that you
were in trouble and the best you could do was third to
the bottom. Now people can bounce out of the bottom from
time to time, heck Fantasia did it a few times and still
wound up winning the thing. No one, however, has come
back after being in the Bottom three in CONSECUTIVE
shows, and I dont see how you are going to get votes
from Mandisa or Paris (who clearly outsang you) or from
the departing Kevin, as his genre is completely
different than yours. Your only hope is to go back to a
ballad and sing the tar out of it, and hope that either
Bucky, Paris, or one of the pop boys do badly enough
that you can skate over one of them and buy yourself
another week.
So my bottom three this week is Lisa, Bucky and the
loser between Elliott/Ace/Paris. The edge is for Ace to
be in the bottom and for Lisa to be leaving the show.
Well see if we continue the perfect record in a matter
of days.
Gordon Pepper wonders what would happen if you put
Mr. T and Chuck Norris in an underground bunker. E-mail him at
gordon@gameshownewsnet.com.
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