I was trading emails with a friend who also watches America's Next Top Model, and she raised a good point - this may have been the most boring season (er, cycle) so far. For the record, CariDee English proved most fierce in taking the title, making her the second champion from the heretofore unknown model breeding ground of North Dakota. And while she's not the dullest of the winners - paging Naima Mora! - the overall run of shows was not particularly interesting.
Why? Well, I've got some theories.
Too much crazy - while Tyra stated in a previous cycle that she didn't want to have each year's group include a bitchy African-American, she's never managed not to cast someone for that role. This time it was Monique, who didn't do quite as well as past archetypes Robyn, Eva, or Camille as far as the modeling went, but she out-classed them all in the crazy. Part of it was hidden by the usual narcissim and immaturity that these contestants have by the truckload, but when she started rubbing things related to her private area on other contestants and their stuff, she vaulted way over the line and into crazy country. Seriously, I hope she's getting some help.
Anyway, she got the gate pretty early in the competition, and while she was clearly not the best contestant there, I have to think that the folks running things decided that she needed to go quickly.
Not enough crazy - that being said, without Monique the best the show could come up with was all of the contestants hating on Melrose, who combined Lisa's know-it-all tendencies with a frustating ability to take good pictures. This season was much less catty, and not a single skank ho poured beer on anyone's weave.
Speaking of beer...
Not enough substances - while I'm not generally in favor of using alcohol as a production tool, it certainly does liven things up a bit. This season was particularly devoid of drunken model wannabes, though it seems like more of the contestants this time around were under 21.
Given how little we saw of the contestants smoking, I wonder if the CW is tighter about showing this than UPN was (thinking it'd be a legacy of the WB and their focus on teen viewers). Then again, the one season where I really remember a lot of contestants smoking was season five, whcih is also the one that (to my mind) included the most drinking.
Not enough final episode - one hour isn't long enough for the finale. There's plenty of stuff between the Cover Girl shoot, the final runway show, the two judging and elimination sessions, and whatever other background stuff that's there to go to 90 minutes or two hours. I say this with a little trepidation, fearing that they'd go the American Idol finale route, where they try to put two pounds of content into a half-ton bag. Heck, make it two separate one-hour episodes, even.
Not enough follow-up - Brooke blew off graduation for the show. Anchal has crippling insecurity based on her past appearance. Michelle might be gay. CariDee tried to kill herself once. All interesting topics of varying seriousness, all fodder for some in-depth TV. Unless you're this show, in which case there's no examination, just labeling that's useful for categorizing - and perhaps eliminating - contestants. On the other hand, coming out or discussing your suicide attempt on national TV probably isn't something that Michelle or CariDee were looking for, so the show isn't necessarily at fault.
Not enough change - really, the show is getting a little formulaic, from the initial winnowing process to the makeover (and the contestant who cries over her hair) to the interview and acting portions to the trip abroad and the go-sees and such. I'd really like to see them mix it up in the future, even if it's just to re-order some of these common elements.
The real wrench in the works for the next season is the lack of writers, given that the producers fired them after they went on strike related to getting representation from the Writers Guild of America. So it may not be the best time for them to shake things up, content-wise. So we may be in for more snores.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Friday, December 08, 2006
What Was That? Good and Bad Edition
Playing some catch-up on TV, and came across both the good and bad of TV shows that make you ask, "What was that?"
Good: Gordon Ramsay's F Word. It's part cooking show, part restaurant reality show, part talk show, and wholly odd. The gist of things (to the extent I can tell) is that Ramsay has a new restaurant called The F Word, in which he has two contestants square off as assistants for the meal prepared during the show. At the end, he picks one of the two to continue on. I'm still not clear what the last remaining contestant will get, though I assume it's some sort of regular job in one of Ramsay's kitchens.
The meal this week was a sauteed mushrooms in pasta starter which looked great and a venison with a red wine-chocolate sauce that seemed a little over the top. For dessert, Ramsay passes on the show's competition to go head-to-head with a celebrity to make dish of the celebrity's choice. On the episode I saw, some kid from Eastenders went with rhubarb crumble, and lost pretty soundly with his simple version.
Inbetween all the food, Ramsay spends some time chatting with a food critic, and they talk about the food and such, with their discussion leading to a variety of pre-taped segements, such as Ramsay teaching a woman who doesn't cook how to make a fish pie and the critic embarking on a quest to raise his sperm count (for reasons which, thankfully, don't seem to have anything to do with food).
As you can imagine, the focus here is more on Ramsay the celebrity than as the chef, most obvious in the way that the recipies are given scant notice (and even then are played with an obnoxious musical background that also serves as the show's theme song). But it's still kind of fun, in an odd way. I don't think the show will win Ramsay many converts, but as someone who enjoys his other shows, it's entertaining.
Also, for all the use of The F Word, Ramsay swore very little.
Bad: Show Me the Money, the cacophonic mish-mash hosted by William Shatner. Did you ever see the Friends episode where Joey is trying out to be the host of a game show called Bamboozled, whose rules are so arcane that they aren't figured out until right before his audition? Or the recent episode of How I Met Your Mother where Barney wins money on a game involving cards, changing seats, a money wheel, and guessing which woman is holding a jelly bean? If so, you've gotten a pretty good introduction to Show Me the Money, which seemed to be making up rules as it went along.
Here's the best I could figure out: the contestant gets to choose from among three questions starting with the same word (they can pass the first two but then must take the third, a concept that upon its initial description made it sound like the contestant could only pass on two questions in total). The contestant gives and answer, and then picks one of 13 dancers (yes, dancers), who opens a scroll to show the question value (or a stopper card, which apparently ends things). We then find out if the contestant's answer is right or wrong, and the question amount is added or subtracted to their total. Once the contestant gets six correct or incorrect answers, the game is over.
I think.
I will say this - the questions are a little harder than 1 vs. 100, and they do not present multiple choice answers. On the other hand, there is so much noise and distraction that it's hard to tell exactly what I'm supposed to be focusing on at any one time. Throw in the rube they found to be the first contestant - a fey Oklahoman who brought his "murse" on stage with him - and there's a level of stupidity to this show that is breathtaking. And considering how well Boston Legal seems to be going, I'm unsure why Shatner got himself involved with this train wreck. Maybe he misses the flash set and ability to dress up that he had when he was on Iron Chef USA.
Anyway, I don't even know if this show is even still airing. There's a small, evil part of me that hopes so.
Good: Gordon Ramsay's F Word. It's part cooking show, part restaurant reality show, part talk show, and wholly odd. The gist of things (to the extent I can tell) is that Ramsay has a new restaurant called The F Word, in which he has two contestants square off as assistants for the meal prepared during the show. At the end, he picks one of the two to continue on. I'm still not clear what the last remaining contestant will get, though I assume it's some sort of regular job in one of Ramsay's kitchens.
The meal this week was a sauteed mushrooms in pasta starter which looked great and a venison with a red wine-chocolate sauce that seemed a little over the top. For dessert, Ramsay passes on the show's competition to go head-to-head with a celebrity to make dish of the celebrity's choice. On the episode I saw, some kid from Eastenders went with rhubarb crumble, and lost pretty soundly with his simple version.
Inbetween all the food, Ramsay spends some time chatting with a food critic, and they talk about the food and such, with their discussion leading to a variety of pre-taped segements, such as Ramsay teaching a woman who doesn't cook how to make a fish pie and the critic embarking on a quest to raise his sperm count (for reasons which, thankfully, don't seem to have anything to do with food).
As you can imagine, the focus here is more on Ramsay the celebrity than as the chef, most obvious in the way that the recipies are given scant notice (and even then are played with an obnoxious musical background that also serves as the show's theme song). But it's still kind of fun, in an odd way. I don't think the show will win Ramsay many converts, but as someone who enjoys his other shows, it's entertaining.
Also, for all the use of The F Word, Ramsay swore very little.
Bad: Show Me the Money, the cacophonic mish-mash hosted by William Shatner. Did you ever see the Friends episode where Joey is trying out to be the host of a game show called Bamboozled, whose rules are so arcane that they aren't figured out until right before his audition? Or the recent episode of How I Met Your Mother where Barney wins money on a game involving cards, changing seats, a money wheel, and guessing which woman is holding a jelly bean? If so, you've gotten a pretty good introduction to Show Me the Money, which seemed to be making up rules as it went along.
Here's the best I could figure out: the contestant gets to choose from among three questions starting with the same word (they can pass the first two but then must take the third, a concept that upon its initial description made it sound like the contestant could only pass on two questions in total). The contestant gives and answer, and then picks one of 13 dancers (yes, dancers), who opens a scroll to show the question value (or a stopper card, which apparently ends things). We then find out if the contestant's answer is right or wrong, and the question amount is added or subtracted to their total. Once the contestant gets six correct or incorrect answers, the game is over.
I think.
I will say this - the questions are a little harder than 1 vs. 100, and they do not present multiple choice answers. On the other hand, there is so much noise and distraction that it's hard to tell exactly what I'm supposed to be focusing on at any one time. Throw in the rube they found to be the first contestant - a fey Oklahoman who brought his "murse" on stage with him - and there's a level of stupidity to this show that is breathtaking. And considering how well Boston Legal seems to be going, I'm unsure why Shatner got himself involved with this train wreck. Maybe he misses the flash set and ability to dress up that he had when he was on Iron Chef USA.
Anyway, I don't even know if this show is even still airing. There's a small, evil part of me that hopes so.
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