I want to start a reality show called "America Can't Sing For Shit!" It goes like this. Basically: each week, callers would call in voting for whichever contestant, but week after week nobody ever gets the axe. Nobody gets cut. No eliminations. Everybody stays in till the end. No elimination whatsoever. EVERYBODY STICKS AROUND!
I think the eliminations are where most of these contestant shows mess up. These are premature eliminations. It's anti- the drama possibilities. The way every single one of these (seems like!) is set up, it eliminates the chance of a comeback from a real slow-starter. Like the guy who's the absolute worst in the first two weeks, but then dramatically catches fire, just suddenly starts coming on like a madhouse and then...wait. Coming on like a...some kind of house. Freight-house? Firehouse? Coming on like a doghouse? Ahh. Heck with it. Any one of those works equally well! I'd like to see some guy who was totally written off in the early going suddenly start just coming on like a dollhouse and then...
You know. Winning the whole schmeer. I think that kind of format tweak would be a revitalizing shot in the arm to a cliched, overplayed, insipid and waning genre.
Or hey, here's another curve-ball! Week after week, nobody gets eliminated. But that's just the setup! Because at the end, the big season finale, the final shocker - EVERYBODY WINS!
Now you're talkin'.
2 comments:
Some critic, perhaps Tom Shales of the Washington Post, once suggested that the logical extension of the reality show movement will be a program called "A locked room, a suitcase of cash and a pile of knives."
I might watch that.
Yeah...that sounds like something he'd say!
Post a Comment