Audience Participation
Gordon Pepper
This isnt the first time that Chico and I have
collaborated on a thought or a project. This is,
however, the first time that we have a pre- and post-
essay write-up on the same topic. We both thought that
the act of TLC changing their project in midstream was
important enough, yet stupefying enough to spend a lot
of time on it. We spend a whole segment on it in WLTI
and even added the Big Board to discuss it.
To make a long story short, TLC, in promoting their new
reality contest RU the Girl with T-Boz & Chilli, has
promised the winner the opportunity to join them on the
next phase of their career. This next phase would be
with just the T and the C, as the L (Lisa "Left Eye"
Lopes) was killed in a tragic accident in 2002. It was
originally thought of and planned, according to many
publications, that the next phase would be a tour and
a new album, but it turns out now that the next phase
is going to be a one time live concert and a possible
single released by the three of them. There is no doubt
in my mind that a massive backlash of the audience and
TLCs followers were the cause of this changing of the
phase. I happen to agree with that I liked them since
Aint Too Proud To Beg and the thought of them Calling
themselves TLC without the L is C for Crazy and T for
Terrible. You can check out Chicos commentary (which I
whole-heartedly agree with)
HERE.
This isnt the first time that a backlash has changed a
shows procedure. Just this week, Dancing With The Stars
announced a change in their format, as many people
(myself included) thought that the way that Kelly Monaco
won the event was not very kosher. The changing of a
shows procedure has happened more than one time on
American Idol, where they have had rebroadcasts, weeks
of non-eliminations, revotes, additional phone lines and
changes on how contestants should be eliminated due to
the fears of the audience turning against them. The
changes have been, for the most part, successful Idol
is still a huge American juggernaut. Ill say this much
about the American Idol producers they arent stupid.
Neither is the audience. When you break it down into the
basest terms, the audience has always had a say as to
whats going on in the form of ratings. With shows like
Under One Roof, Playing it Straight, My Big Fat
Obnoxious Boss, All-American Girl, Forever Eden and The
Will, the audience has dictated that these shows leave
the non-cable networks airwaves before we even find out
who won. The audience knows bad ideas when they hear
them. Even this past week, we are getting spin from ABC
that Welcome to the Neighborhood will never see the
light of day because of the way that the episodes were
laid out, and not due to the incredible backlash from
audience and consumer groups alike. I dont buy it for a
second, and the fact of the matter is that the last
thing that ABC (who only recently spent the season
digging out of the ratings abyss that they were in)
wanted was a reason for people to hurl them back into
the abyss.
Lets go back to R U the Girl. What makes this more
interesting is that these quotes have come in early June
well after the taped show was in the can. If the point
of the show was indeed, to only perform live with TLC
and to not go on tour, then there wont be much editing
needed and the show should appear smoothly. If theres a
lot of sound editing and choppiness from TLC or the
contestants (or if the editors just got lazy and left
the potential rewards in there that TLC insist werent
being offered), then we know that something is up.
That being said, I am never one to condemn a show
without actually looking at it. This segment of the
write up was written before I have seen the show. I will
now write the rest of this after I have seen the show
and will give you my honest comments on it.
(24 hours or so later....)
Well, this is interesting. Technically, the show is
correct. The prize is, to have this person join them in
the next phase of their journey. The question becomes,
what is alluded to by 'the journey'? It could be that
its just the concert and a new single, which will be on
the new record. It could also be that the group wasted
to take a Wait and See view on how good the people
are. After one episode (and in my hometown of NYC,
nonetheless) the response is that if you are looking for
a worldwide tour and a multi-platinum album
well
dont
hold your breath.
The question becomes - how are you seeing the glass? If
you are a non-jaded person, then its half-full and TLC
is really doing this to thank their fans and give one
person a chance to live out their dream. If you are
jaded (like myself), then the answer is that the glass
is half-empty and this is a shameless way for the
surviving members of TLC to milk out more money while
having a chance to back-peddle if the audiences
feedback and subsequent ratings turn ugly. How do you
see it? I guess well find out on Wednesday, when
everyone takes their glass for a refill.
Gordon Pepper wanted to start a group called GCR with
Chico and Ryan, but the name sounded more like a
cleaning product. E-mail him at gordon@gameshownewsnet.com |