Blogging on Blehdom

Is reality TV (at least the American breed of it) running out of steam? Recently, we have seen:

a) Too many uninspiring finalists and not enough good singers on American Idol 3. Jasmine Trias making it to the final 3 should tell you something about the season. Or the fact that Jon Peter Lewis was the token male teen-heart-throb of the season. The final showdown was a whole lot of nothing, with Fantasia being crowned winner the day Latoya London got herself kicked off. Just insipid, on the whole.

As for the winner, I grant that Fantasia has musicality, style and stage presence, but boy, does her voice ever grate! I have heard her latest single (I don't care enough to find out the song's title, sorry) on radio, think it's a cool song but I cannot get past her voice. There is a quality to it that makes me reach for the tuning dial. I think this may be yet another instance of "visceral cringe". And Fantasia on the AI Christmas Special was a high-octane wailing banshee. It was positively painful to listen to her. I hear she's a bit of a critic's darling and I certainly don't wish her any ill, but I do. not. get. it. Bleh.


b) The most boring season ever of Survivor with the Vanuatu edition. This was even more boring than Survivor: Thailand, where Brian had the whole lot of them wrapped around his finger so early on, we could have skipped every episode from the "not-a-merge" onwards and just watched the reunion episode. At least Brian was somewhat interesting in his Machiavellian way. Chris from the Vanuatu season seems to aspire to be another Richard Hatch but just is not half as interesting. When he won, my reaction was more "Whatever" than "Wow!".

And all that harping on Twila's swearing on her son got really OLD really quickly. We went through this with Lil and her scout's uniform, and it wasn't even all that fascinating the first time. This season seemed to recycle old ideas from past seasons, but in a much more boring way. Single-sex tribe (much better handled in Amazon), swapping members (much better in all previous seasons), puzzle challenges (ditto), getting the "loved-ones" to participate in challenges (also ditto). And Chris was supposed to be the villain who lied to everyone (the biggest victim, of course being Jeff's darling Julie) but that was also done before by Johny Fairplay in the Pearl Island season. Now, I cannot stand Johny Fairplay AT ALL, but he was a much superior villain than Chris ever was.

The reunion show was also just the absolute pits; it was all about Jeff, his girlfriend Julie and her friends, Ami and Leeann. Chris was the winner and got barely one third the time lavished on this trio. I mean they finished 4th, 5th and 6th! And still they got more air time than the top 3 put together. I really liked it when Jeff hosted the reunion show for Suvivor Amazon, but this convinced me that maybe it's time for change. Bleh.


c) Freddy and Kendra winning the Amazing Race. Sigh; this was my all-time favourite reality TV series. Then they went and spoilt it all by casting all these unpleasant (Jonathan), melodramatic (Victoria), whiny (Hayden), elitist (Kendra), ugly Americans. The nice teams got eliminated early, leaving only Kris and Jon to carry the flag for the non-bickering folk of the world. I watched the finale with someone who was watching any episode of TAR for the first time ever. Halfway through, he observed that "These two (Kris and Jon) are certainly more amiable than the others." Which really did about sum it up.

Freddy and Kendra winning was all the more difficult to swallow because the 2nd place team were such nice people, while the winning team had ... well, Kendra. The one who said that the Senegalese just kept "breeding and breeding". And who said that Freddy was "worthy of having my children". I think this choice of words says something about the type of person she is. I know we are not supposed to extrapolate a person's entire character from edited representations on TV, but how else can one read a person who talks about others being "worthy" of doing something with her? It just smacks of ignorance, elitism and a highly refined sense of entitlement. I think, sometimes, one can tell a lot about a person from one turn of phrase. That one phrase can distill the core of your belief system.

Worst of all, in all the post-show interviews, Kendra has not once apologised for her "breeding" comment. She has chosen instead to say that the viewers cannot understand how difficult it was for her to see all that poverty. And of course, that the editors showed that statement out of context. Well, I am sorry, but she said something tasteless and we are the ones who have misunderstood her? Frankly, I don't care what she thinks about what we (the viewing public) think. The apology she owes is to the people in Senegal to whom she referred to as "breeders". I half suspect she doesn't think they are worth apologising to, or apologising over.

And for what is worth, Bolo (the male half of the wrestlers team) said that he would not "spit on Kendra if she's on fire". Gossip from the other contestants have also suggested that both Freddy and Kendra in real life are like what we saw on TV, snooty and think they are better than other people. Even Hayden and Aaron (who were in the "Model Alliance" with F&K) apparently were not very positive about them. I think it speaks volumes when fellow contestants are not bothering to be politically correct about you. Well, they have their million dollars, their model looks and each other. They can keep these for as long as they last (with plastic surgery, the model looks may just last the longest).

I only wish the season had a different winner, so that I could overlook much of its mediocrity and celebrate a likeable winner. This season went to great places (they went to Berlin! where I was just months ago) and the scenic shots were gorgeous as ever, but far too many forced bunchings rendered any lead completely meaningless. You start with a 3 hour lead, then hey presto! The next task is at a place that only opens in 7 hours' time, so everyone behind you catches up. I know this is part of TAR and has been since season one, but it was out of hand this season. Certain episodes had 2 or more bunching opportunities. That's either poor planning or trying to manufacture close finishes. What it did do was to ensure that teams could get by without being particularly good, as long as they had some luck. Adam and Rebecca was in the top 3, which ought to tell you something. I always maintain you can tell about the quality of a season by seeing who ends up in third place.

To wit:
TAR 1: The Guidos. A great racing team, even if they were not particularly likeable while on the race.
TAR 2: Page and Blake, the brother and sister team. They were young, quick and resourceful. Blake was always up to some new "creative" way of getting things done, which was not always helpful, but was the sign of a good racer.
TAR 3: Ken and Gerard, the brothers with the sense of humour. Sigh, my favourites, who raced strongly from the start and could have won if they only hailed a taxi from the right place.
TAR 4: Jeff and David, the surfer dudes. They were pretty anonymous throughout the race, but they had strength and speed, even if they tended to get lost rather a lot. Still, not the worse team in TAR by a long shot.
TAR 5: Nicole and Brandon, the Christian models. The one time I had any problem with them was when they refused to shave their heads for the fast forward. Other than that, this was a competent team, and deserved their place in the top 3.
TAR 6: Adam and Rebecca. He was afraid of many, many things. She did not help much but nagging at him a lot. They got lost, bungled up some stuff, were saved by a non-elim, and ended up in the top 3.

Point made, I think, and case closed. Super bleh on season 6.


The 2nd season of The Apprentice in now airing, and I have missed all but Ep 1 due to various factors, amongst which being that it often clashes with the football. However, from what I saw in Ep 1, not one single candidate came anywhere near the calibre of Bill and Kwame, or even Amy and Troy, from season 1. We did get many photogenic and bitchy females, and a few gym-constructed square-jawed dullards. I suppose that ultimately, the blue-print for reality TV is The Bachelor.

I am not even watching American Idol 4, although I may start once they are down to the finalists. All the forced hilarity, histrionics and manufactured drama of the audition episodes are not as riveting as they used to be. Again, it's not like they were such great TV the first time around. AI has always been the most watchable when it's down to the semifinals and finals, when there is more singing and less "reality TV". Actually, I think it's disgraceful how little they actually sing on AI. During the theme nights, the kids get to sing less than 90 seconds of a song, while the judges and Ryan blather on about nothing very interesting. They managed to get in more singing in both Singapore Idol and Malaysian Idol (perhaps because our judges were less verbose) which is why I have found these local versions more enjoyable from a musical aspect, even if the contestants here did not hold 12 second notes or reach a sustained high C (or generally show-off the way the AI contestants do, because that is what passes as impressive in the context of AI).

Survivor Palau starts this week. This better be an improvement over All Stars and Vanuatu, or I am ready to give up on the Survivor franchise. TAR comes back in March, which is much too soon. It was just recently that I celebrated Chip and Kim winning Tar 5 and TAR 7 is about to begin. There can be too much of a good thing. Witness what happened to Who Wants to be a Millionaire? If they had not churned out season upon season back-to-back, the concept would not have lost its public appeal so quickly (and it didn't help to have Celebrity edition, Kids edition, JC edition, Family edition etc. Just overkill).

Do I have hope left for American reality TV? Check back in 13 weeks when Survivor Palau nears its conclusion.