Category Archives: Reality TV
AGT’s First Night in Vegas
Archer Ben Blaque
America’s Got Talent began Vegas Week last night and there really was no reason to be optimistic about this season. It has been a disappointment. There have been many acts that were terrible and not even remotely entertaining. Most of the acts that made it through to Vegas were only average.
The hour opened with the crowd of acts scrambling as they were told that they would be split into three groups: the judge’s favorites, the standbys, and those who weren’t on either list. The acts in the last group would not perform in Vegas and would either be sent home right away or sent straight to the New York rounds. This was very repetitive, as the acts were shown on camera all saying basically the same thing that they had a good performance at the auditions and they hope they make it through. This did not hold my attention at all and the time could’ve been used to give the acts more screen time.
CBS Hilariously Throws Stones At ABC’s Glass House
CBS unsuccessfully tried to get a court to block the premiere of ABC’s Big Brother-esque reality show The Glass House. While the premiere of The Glass House was only watched by 4.7 million viewers, that hasn’t stopped CBS from sending out a press release that is one big jab at ABC.
Here is the press release in it’s entirety:
06.20.2012
CBS ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT OF “DANCING ON THE STARS,” AN EXCITING AND COMPLETELY ORIGINAL REALITY PROGRAM THAT OWES ITS CONCEPT AND EXECUTION TO NOBODY AT ALL
Los Angeles, June 20, 2012 – Subsequent to recent developments in the creative and legal community, CBS Television today felt it was appropriate to reveal the upcoming launch of an exciting, groundbreaking and completely original new reality program for the CBS Television Network.
The dazzling new show, DANCING ON THE STARS, will be broadcast live from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and will feature moderately famous and sort of well-known people you almost recognize competing for big prizes by dancing on the graves of some of Hollywood’s most iconic and well-beloved stars of stage and screen.
MTV Goes Retro
No, MTV hasn’t had a change of heart and decided to play music videos all day. However, MTV has announced its new “Retro Mania” block. The block, which will air weekdays from 9am to 12pm, will start on June 25 and will run until August 3.
The full schedule is:
June 25 – June 29: Laguna Beach (Seasons 1 and 2)
July 2 – July 27: The Hills (Seasons 1 – 6)
July 30 – August 3: Daria (MTV’s favorite episodes from the series)
After seeing the list, it looks like MTV has no idea what is considered retro. If MTV really wanted to go retro, it would have put Remote Control and old seasons of The Real World.
What shows would you like to see on MTV’s Retro Mania block?
I would like to see 2ge+her, which was about a fictional boy band, and the aforementioned Remote Control.
America’s Got Talent’s Final Disappointing Audition Show
Liliana
As a lackluster audition season comes to a close, Monday’s episode of America’s Got Talent needed to leave a great impression. This was no time for awful acts that deserved to be laughed off the stage. This was no time for forgettable acts that would never be heard from again. This episode needed to find possible winners. Unfortunately, as soon as the show opened with an act featuring a pig, this night seemed doomed. It didn’t get much better afterwards.
The opening feature package showed a woman excited to show the world her pig’s talent. I could not imagine any talent that this act would show. As it turns out, the pig didn’t really have a talent. She ran into bowling pins seemingly accidentally and squeaked what looked like a bicycle horn with her mouth. The judges didn’t understand it and promptly rejected it. Of course, it wasn’t worth being shown on television at all, so AGT was continuing a problem it has had all season.
Both the “No” and the “Yes” montages that followed were just as forgettable. An average singer, some dance groups, and some acts that weren’t made clear got voted through to Vegas. Some bad singers and more variety acts that could never hold anyone’s attention were rejected from going to the next round. The montage sections of the show has been a constant disappointment throughout the auditions. They are supposed to give the viewer a sense of the talent and lack of talent that was found in various cities. They could never do that in two minutes. The montages just ended up being unnecessary parts of each hour.
Timothy Poe Admits He Fabricates Stories
America’s Got Talent contestant Timothy Poe spoke to WFAA, an ABC affliate in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, admitting and apologizing for fabricating stories. However, Poe refused to say he lied. Instead, he gave excuses such as:
“I mean, as far as everything I said, I believe it wholeheartedly myself, but I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“I really don’t know right now what’s reality and what’s not reality.”
“I don’t feel like I’ve lied. That’s what’s driving me crazy, because I truly thought things have happened to me.”
In the past Poe has also claimed to have served in Iraq, but there is proof that he didn’t serve there. When asked about Iraq, he responded:
“I don’t know. I’m thinking, why have I for the last, over two years, believed things have happened to me and they might not have?”
In past interviews about his service, Poe did not stutter, so it is probable that it is not real.
I’m not a doctor, but it looks like Poe is a pathological liar. Poe even told WFAA that he knows he needs help and has already contacted the VA to make an appointment.
The video of the interview can be found here.
What do you think of Timothy Poe’s story?
Tampa Bay’s Not So Hot for America’s Got Talent
Big Barry posing with Howard Stern
America’s Got Talent has gotten a lot of coverage lately after the Tim Poe controversy, but I was just hoping to see some quality or at least memorable acts on Tuesday’s show. After all, it’s what the show should be known for. Whether it’s showcasing the true idiots of the world or actually finding unique undiscovered talent, the show has failed to do either many times this season. Tuesday was another disappointment.
The second Tampa Bay Episode opened with a Latin dance crew called The Untouchables, which is made up of kids ranging from ages 8-13. It was obvious that the group would make it through, for the simple fact that they’re kids with high energy that can be endearing. It’s also horribly boring. There is almost never a large dance act that isn’t reasonably coordinated and refined. It is not good for the viewer to know who goes through in advance. It would have been a little better if the performance was great, but it wasn’t. It was average. The show is at its best when it showcases the superior and the atrocious. This was neither.
The montages, both successful and unsuccessful, also were not anything exciting. Granted, these are the acts deemed unworthy of a viewer’s full attention, but that shouldn’t lend itself to inadequacy and boredom. A singer with an okay voice, a dancing duo, an illusionist get sent to Las Vegas. A singer with a slightly worse voice and some variety acts whose talents are unclear do not move to the next round. They’re all basically the same. The people voted through will probably not be seen again. The people who were rejected won’t get talked about again. It just seems like an elaborate time filler.
Another act featured was a squirrel that water skis. Some animal novelty acts can be fun and entertaining. This one certainly wasn’t. As Sharon and Howard agreed, it is nowhere near big enough for a Vegas show. Howie disagreed only out of curiosity to see the act do better in Vegas. It honestly would have been more entertaining to watch the squirrel go too fast around the pool and fall multiple times. That would have been worth a proper and unequivocal rejection. Instead, the squirrel technically succeeded with the act. It just wasn’t good. This act was not good enough to be considered a worthy talent. It was not horrible enough to be considered a hopeless excuse for entertainment. If it does not fit either of those, it isn’t worthy of being aired at all.
Weekly TV Update: June 11
Each week we bring you stories from around the Internet that you might have missed.
J.R. Ewing and family returns to television this Wednesday at 9 pm on TNT.
ABC Family’s Bunheads debuts tonight. This drama that centers around ballet dancers comes from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherma-Paladino.
Cinema Blend’s Kelly West has a treat for Suits fans. She has posted photos from her behind-the-scenes tour.
CBS asks a court to block the premiere of ABC’s The Glass House, which is a Big Brother-esque reality show. The ABC show has somewhere between 15-30 former Big Brother staffers, some who had access that show’s “bible”.
In its quest to remain relevant, Ion Television announces five new original Christmas movies for December.
Choose Not to Watch The Choice
I wanted to like The Choice in a charmingly absurd kind of way. The premise of the show revolves around celebrities choosing dates based only on the sound of a suitor’s voice. The title is clearly a derivation of NBC’s singing competition show The Voice and this show seems to be trying to gain popularity based on viewers being familiar with the NBC show. That was really the main reason I was interested in watching it. I knew it wasn’t going to be “quality” television, but I still thought it was going to be enjoyable. I was mostly wrong.
The show opened with introducing the celebrities. They included recording artist, Romeo, Olympic athlete Jeremy Bloom, Jersey Shore cast member DJ Pauly D, and General Hospital star Jason Cook. None of these celebrities really interested me. Most of them are not really that famous. Of course, much like Dancing With The Stars, hiring low caliber “stars” is a common problem. I understand that most of the bigger “stars” already have their relationships constantly in the media or do not need the publicity, but the selection of celebrities was still a weak point for the show.
Another Reality Show, Another Liar
Monday’s America’s Got Talent introduced America to Timothy Michael Poe. He appeared to be the embodiment of patriotism: a southern cowboy injured during his military service who overcame his injuries to fulfill his dreams. Everyone wanted to believe him. For a day, we did. Now, the Associated Press reports that Poe probably lied about his injuries.
Poe did not lie about his service in Afghanistan, but he was not injured there. He did not need to lie, especially since he is talented. Poe would have been considered a hero just for serving a month in Afghanistan or any time in the military. However, Poe’s lied completely destroyed any respect America had for him.
As Howard Stern said,
“You could be the most f—ked-up liar on the planet, but you never lie about military service. This lie is so wrong on so many levels.”
America’s Got Talent Goes Goth
Andrew De Leon
Last night America’s Got Talent was a little light on the entertainment again. NBC is killing the show. Each week, viewers only get two hours of new acts followed by several repeats throughout the week. In the past, we saw three to four hours of new acts and they were repeated once. It doesn’t help that each hour only has 5 full performances and four short ones mixed in with a bunch of boring montages consisting of people kissing or people with pets or some other boring activity the producers think will make the audience go “awwwww.”
On Tuesday, AGT was still in Austin. I think this is the first week NBC has aired both parts of a city’s auditions back to back, which helped with understanding Howie Mandel, Sharon Osbourne, and Howard Stern in the Snapple Chat.
The first act was the Aurora Light Painters. They painted with light. I really don’t know how to describe what they did without being captain obvious. The Aurora Light Painters somehow manipulated light and took advantage of a cameras light sensitivity to put on an interesting show. It wasn’t one of my favorites, but the judges loved it. (If anyone knows how the Aurora Light Painters performance works, please leave a comment. My head hurts just trying to figure it out.)
Wait! What's A Dial? 