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Showing posts with label Reality TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reality TV. Show all posts
Sunday, November 1, 2009
We are now halfway through the latest series of "Strictly Come Dancing" (which for us dance fanatics is also running parallel with its U.S. version "Dancing With The Stars", now also being screened on the Watch satellite channel).
Before the first dance steps had even been taken in Series 7, the controversy was well under way. The BBC decided to replace one of the judges, legendary choreographer Arlene Phillips, with Series 5 winner Alesha Dixon. Accusations of "ageism" followed, which were heightened when the oldest professional female dancer, and series 4 winner, Karen Hardy was dropped from the show.
Controversy has continued to follow "Strictly" this year, recently a race row involving professional dancer Anton Du Beke who is alleged to have used a completely unacceptable racist term to describe his celebrity partner Laila Rouass after she had a spray-tan.
In its early weeks "Strictly" has been up against ITV's "X Factor" in virtually the same time slot, so dare I suggest that any publicity - even the most negative - is good publicity? Two weeks ago, the 'walk-off' by Brendan Cole following the judges' slaughter of his celebrity partner Jo Wood, seemed a little too fabricated for my liking - particularly as the same Mr Cole seemed just a bit too cheerful last week in spite of his partner, known to most people as being the dumped wife of Rolling Stones star Ronnie Wood, finally reaching the end of her "journey".
Aah, the "journey". That good old celebrity-reality-show cliche. It's not the taking part that counts, it's the journey. Thanks to this show, I've discovered myself/became a better person/became more confident/lost 3 stone in weight blah blah blah. And if you can't dance then that's even better.
I first came across the "Vote for the Worst" concept a few years ago whilst following American Idol. The idea was not to vote for the best or the most talented contestants, but for the worst, or the most entertaining for all the wrong reasons. Somewhere along the way, that idea caught on over here - it's viewer power taken to the extreme, sticking two fingers up at the judges which, although it's a good idea in theory, it means that good candidates are often sacrificed so that the truly rotten ones can remain, week after week, to entertain us. Remember the "Strictly Come Dancing" hall of shame...?
Series 1 - Christopher Parker
Series 2 - Julian Clary
Series 3 - Fiona Phillips
Series 4 - Peter Schmeichel
Series 5 - Kate Garraway
Series 6 - John Sergeant (the legend!)
Of course John Sergeant quit the contest at the stage last year when winning became a possibility: his is the standard by which all celebrity-reality-contestants are now measured.
The best thing about Mr Sergeant was his personality. This year's no-hoper is still in search of
one....
So far, Martina Hingis, Richard Dunwoody, Rav Wilding, Lynda Bellingham, Joe Calzaghe and Jo Wood have been voted off the show. I can't comment about Martina Hingis as I didn't see that show, however I've seen the rest and they've all been varying stages of rubbish - although I'd have liked Lynda Bellingham to stay as she was good fun. Last night brought a shock result as Ali Bastian/Brian Fortuna and Zoe Lucker/James Jordan (pictured below) were in the bottom two, despite receiving good scores from the judges. It was a difficult decision for the judges who had to evict Zoe who had been one of their favourites in this series. Neither of these dancers should have been in the bottom two: but then it's not really a dancing contest any more, is it?
Whilst the standard of dancing by the celebrities this year is reasonably high and in some cases exceptional (yes I mean Ricky Whittle and Ali Bastian - if it was just based on dancing then these would be the two finalists), there is still the dead wood, (as opposed to the dead Wood, who was thankfully voted off last week).
Above: Ali Bastian & Brian Fortuna - they deserve better than the bottom two. 
Above: Craig Kelly & Flavia Cacace - when will the nine lives run out?Craig Kelly - better known to TV viewers as the guy off "Queer As Folk" who does a lot of voiceovers and then went into "Corrie" for a brief spell as factory owner Luke Strong - has become the darling of the "vote for the worst" brigade. You'd think he'd have used up his nine lives by now, but he lives to fight another day...especially as he so desperately, desperately, desperately wanted to make it to Blackpool.
For next week, "Strictly Come Dancing" will return to its spiritual home - the Tower Ballroom. Who could forget the brilliant Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett winning there in 2004? Hopefully the change of venue for one week only will bring some much-needed magic to this series.
This series is distinctly lacking in personalities, the judges often seem strained, Brucie's jokes are a ropey as ever, Tess Daly still has her foot stuck in her mouth and don't even start me on that band and those singers and the inappropriate matching of song choices to dance routines, and the past their sell-by date 'interval acts' (Jamie Cullum excepted)....yet in spite of all that I'm still enjoying "Strictly Come Dancing" - we need a bit of glamour in these dark times don't we?
Above: Natalie Cassidy & Vincent Simone: she's not that great, but she's having fun.
Above: Jade Johnson & Ian Waite: as Brucie would say, 'you're my favourites'. They deserve to do really well.
Above: Phil Tufnell & Katya Virshilas: he's the anti-Craig Kelly - he never stops grinning.
Above: Ricky Groves & Erin Boag: we like him, he's good fun. Those facial expressions in the beginning were hilarious.
Above: Ricky Whittle & Natalie Lowe: go to the top of the class. Rrrrrrrrrrrricky!!! 
Above: Laila Rouass & Anton Du Beke: he can't dance Latin for toffee. She deserves better.*All pictures above courtesy of www.bbc.co.uk*
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The end of August in France has meant only one thing to me since 2002: the annual return of my all-time favourite reality pop-talent show. At this time every year (apart from the year that the Rugby World Cup was in France), the new series of Star Academy would launch with an all-new set of contestants all hoping to win the contest almost four months later. But that's not going to happen in 2009: there will be no Star Academy this year, leaving a void in this blogger's life and an overwhelming desire to take a look back...........
It all started back in 2001. Jenifer Bartoli was the first Star Academy winner and is arguably the most successful of all the Star Ac winners over the years, but I didn’t get into the show till 2002 (during my holiday in Biarritz) and that for me is still the best ever series. Star Academy 2 was of course won by Nolwenn Leroy, despite every effort made by the programme and the French media for her rival Emma Daumas to win the show. (Nolwenn & Emma pictured above, picture courtesy of http://www.tele7.fr/)
It was inevitable that series 3 in 2003 would be an anti-climax: despite Michal and Sofia being the best contestants, it was Elodie who triumphed. Where series 2 had appeared natural and genuine, series 3 was planting the seeds of viewer manipulation and effective editing, the tools which have become commonplace in reality/talent shows. Therefore Elodie was shown to be fragile, almost bullied by the ‘profs’ whilst her rival Sofia was continually shown in a bad light despite being the most talented of that year’s contestants.
The result of Star Academy 4 (2004) could be predicted before a note was sung: when a young man with cystic fibrosis entered the chateau it seemed inevitable that this would sway the sympathy vote. And then Gregory Lemarchal began to sing, and there was no question that he would be the winner, based purely on his considerable singing talent and nothing else. Female singers had dominated Star Academy so a male winner was long overdue. If the win was a foregone conclusion, then there was one other significant thing about Star Academy 4 for me: Mathieu Johann (pictured above). Enough said.
Star Academy 5 (2005) was probably my least favourite of all the series. There was a new theme tune - the excellent "Love Generation" by Bob Sinclar replaced Bustafunk's "Run Baby Run". The series was blighted by manipulation from start to finish: despite some very talented singers - Alexia, Ely and Jean-Luc were my favourites - it was Magalie Vae (pictured top left) who won, in an "overweight girl wins against the odds" kind of way. The problem was that her ‘story’ didn’t translate into a musical career of any longevity. This was probably the crucial turning point when winning Star Ac wouldn’t guarantee success any more....
Year 6 - 2006 - finally brought the first black winner of the show: Cyril Cinelu, who originated from Martinique. Since the contest began, there had been much debate in France that there had never been a non-white/mixed race winner of Star Academy, or any other reality-talent show for that matter, despite the rich racial mix within the country. He beat my favourite Dominique Fidanza, (pictured above, with Cyril) former Italian 'Popstars' winner in the final. Earlier in the series it looked as if the 'chosen ones' were Cynthia and Marina, the latter being a singer-songwriter who was favoured by the "prod" from the beginning and who was allowed to sing her own compositions on the "Prime".
In 2007, Star Academy 7 brought yet another foregone-conclusion winner. You couldn't imagine anyone but Swiss-born Haute-Savoie native Quentin Mosimann (pictured above) winning the competition that year: he beat off the vastly inferior Claire-Marie in the final, and we will always have fond memories of his classic "Love is Gone" with David Guetta and Peter Cincotti. Meanwhile, Quentin's much-nominated fellow finalist Mathieu Edward eventually found chart success as a credible r'n'b star, Maureen (a French Amy Winehouse?) memorably walked out and Alexia - a particular favourite of this blog - didn't do as well as expected.
Finally, to 2008. Star Academy 8 had a revamp - new theme tune ("Superstar" by the Merrymakers) and no more Dammarie-Les-Lys as the show relocated to the Marais in Paris. Once more I was on holiday in Nice (as in 2003/2005) so was able to watch the show whilst on holiday. From the beginning it looked as if the strongest contestants were Joanna, Harold and Mickels....whilst the "Prod" focused its attentions on Gautier and Alice. Inevitably these two (inferior IMHO) contestants would go far in the competition, but it was Mickels (pictured right, second row from bottom) who finally beat off Alice in the final to become the last Star Academy champion.
Rumours from France suggest that the show will return in 2010, although I can't really see that happening. In the meantime if you're having withdrawal symptoms, I'm sure YouTube and DailyMotion will deliver....!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
I haven't been feeling too great over the last few days and the next few days are going to be a bit mad too but I may just post a few random thoughts along the way. Like these....
1. Britain goes GaGa over GaGa: "Just Dance" knocked "Hallelujah" off the no.1 spot on Sunday. Hooray!! What a great pop record, and it's got me hoping that 2009 could be the year when quality pop finally wrestles control of the charts from the manufactured talent show rubbish, the identikit r'n'b and the corporate indie.
I wouldn't mind a commercial dance music revival either - if Guru Josh's "Infinity" was transformed from a 1990 laughing stock into a dance stormer then anything is possible. Oh and Calvin Harris is on the way back too. I like him.
2. Empire of the Sun: new wizards of Oz. Just discovered this amazing duo last week and I can't stop listening to "Walking On A Dream" and "Standing On The Shore" and "We Are The People" (www.myspace.com/empireofthesunsound) They make dreamlike dance-pop which (to me) has very strong early 80s influences to it. Distinctive sound with floating harmonies and beats sometimes reminiscent of Deepest Blue (whatever happened to them?). I am loving this band and I think they're going to become major faves on this blog!
3. Michelle don't love Coolio: We're so addicted to this series of Celebrity Big Brother - who'd have thought it? Anyway there's the usual mix of the noisy/opinionated/entertaining/quiet/dull housemates. Even though Coolio, Tina and Terry can be annoying at times, I'd rather have them than comatose pop stars Mutya, scarf-boy Ben and Michelle, the latter two getting very annoyed by housemates' suggestions that they may be more than just friends. Tonight's BB was a Heaton blub-fest, as she whinged about Coolio the bully-o. Then Ben weighed in and got a very predictable response from Coolio!
Why is Michelle so bothered anyway? If she's in a secure relationship with her boyfriend outside the house, then she shouldn't really care. Or do we feel yet another fabricated reality romance coming on? The tears. The manipulation. Aah...it all makes sense now....!
I'm disappointed by the young pop stars, who seem ill at ease among the older and more opinionated members of the house.
I will probably post a few more updates over the week as I'm really into this series now. Anyway, Michelle, Mutya, Tina and the (overpaid) Ulrika are up for eviction.
I wish the highlights show would have more Verne as he's the reason I started watching it. His "Endless Love" duet last week was priceless though :)
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