For those who do not know, I work at a CBS affiliated station here in Memphis Normally I am forced to sit through NCIS and NCIS: Los Angelos every Tuesday night. Tonight, however, is the premier of Paula Abdul's Live to DANCE. Now, I hate these kinds of shows. Simon Cowell created a monster that is only just now, after 9 years, showing signs of fatigue. Every network in America and some over seas of tried to mimic it's success. But there is one thing that none of these copycats, including Live to DANCE, have gotten right.
American Idol is live.
Fox took a huge risk when they decided to surrender their entire primetime block on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to a single, live show. And it has paid off in a huge way. Every year, American Idol's ratings increase at the expense of their competition. Every night that AI is on the air, ABC, CBS, and NBC could go off the air and very few people would notice. A huge part of the draw is the drama. And huge part of the drama comes from its live format.
As I sit here and suffer through CBS's attempt at capturing that same magic, I can already assure you that they will fail. And the blame falls squarely on the pre-recorded format. NBC's The Singoff would be a great show, except for the tired pre-recorded format. When the show is pre-recorded, the show's editors are forced to find ways to fill space. This leads to tired, boring, unnecessary narrations done by people with tired, boring voices. Think American Idol's first few episodes every season. Ryan Seacrest spats off his non-sense that no one truly cares about. It waters down the content of the show. It also allows for created drama. When you can edit in more shots, you can drag out the drama of waiting for those results from the judges. It feels fake and forced because it is fake and forced.
If the other networks want to capture that intensity that Fox has with American Idol, they're going to have to take that plunge.
While American Idol is bigger than anything else, remember that American Idol is just a rip-off of the British show "Pop Idol."
ReplyDeleteWith some of the extremely dangerous stunts attempted on America's Got Talent, could you imagine what that would be like if it were live?
Technically, American Idol isn't a rip-off of Pop Idol because both shows are made the same guy and the same company. They're the same show, just in different regions.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, America's got talent being live would be a huge risk, but that's the point. It's a risk. And if the other networks want to capture that Idol magic, they need to take that risk.