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Last updated 28 May, 2006

Rock Star: INXS and Canadian Idol 3

The preview coverage convinced me to check out Rock Star: INXS, the reality show about INXS' attempt to find a new lead singer. It then became, I realize, the only reality program that I've watched from the very first episode.

Ratings, initially, were none too stellar. TV critics wrote articles analyzing why. I felt like I was the only one watching it. But through word of mouth—or something—the show's popularity grew, with the finale ending up as one of the top-rated programs. Now there is talk of doing a similar program next summer (with Queen? Van Halen? Nirvana? The mind reels...)

In Canada, Rock Star ended up playing the exact same nights as Canadian Idol. Having such similar premises—a singers' competition, with a recording contract as the prize—it was impossible not compare the two shows. Rock Star: INXS vs. Canadian Idol: who will emerge victorious?

Quality of performers

To be sure, the young people who make it through to the Top 32, then Top 10, of Canadian Idol have some vocal talent, unlike many of those who audition. The ones who stick around for a weeks also have some performing charisma. And they get better week by week. But they are, by definition, amateur performers.

Rock Star, on the other, had no “must be an amateur” requirements. Indeed, most of the performers were in the music business already, in some capacity. Some had recording contracts; others musical theatre experience. Also unlike Canadian Idol, they were not age-restricted; the youngest of them was 23. Furthermore, we never saw the audition process at all. The program began with 15 very talented performers putting on a really interesting show (for which they'd had only an hour to prepare). Which is why I became hooked on the program so quickly.

And then they got better.

So in the end, even the “worst” of Rock Star would likely out-perform the best of Idol. Winner: Rock Star

Song choice

I still think one of the best nights of Canadian Idol ever was last year's Gordon Lightfoot tribute. This year, nothing quite matched that, but the “standards” night (with orchestra), rock night (with live band), and Barenaked Ladies tribute all came off pretty well. On the other hand, the Elvis and the Stevie Wonder themes did not work so well, producing pretty flat hours of television. And most weeks used with the pre-canned karaoke-like accompaniment rather than live musicians.

With Rock Star, on the other hand, producer Mark Burnett managed to convince major artists to allow their songs to be performed by assuring them that only talented performers would be featured: Queen, Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Beatles, The Doors, Radiohead, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, David Bowie... And every week the music was also live, performed by the amazingly talented House Band. Sometimes the singers also accompanied themselves. The lack of “theme nights” also improved the viewing by increasing the variety of songs performed each time out.

So as long as you are a fan of classic rock, it has to be Winner: Rock Star

Winner selection method

On Canadian Idol, judges have their say, and they pick the top 32, but after that, but viewer votes rule: who stays, who goes, even (new this year) who gets the two “wildcard” spots is all determined by the number of viewer phone calls and text messages the two hours after the show. The results are particularly absurd in the early stages of the competition. For example, the first week all eight competitors did extremely well; what made the two who came ahead win is anyone's guess. The next week, all eight really seemed to choke; the two that made through were the only ones didn't. Appropriate vote that week, yes, but would those have survived if included with the bottom six the week previously? Doubtful.

Absurdities continued even with the top 10. Eventual winner Melissa O'Neil was nearly eliminated in weeks one and two, despite giving very fine performances. The pretty Cassie Leblanc lasted much longer than her more talented competitors.

Rock Star also used viewer votes, often with equally weird results, but that was never the final word. Given that INXS was committed to working with the eventual winner for the next year or so, they got the final word. The three performers with the least votes each performed INXS songs during the results show. The band used that, along with past performances and other factors, to decide who to dismiss that week.

A much more sane approach, resulting in yet another Winner: Rock Star

Filler

No reality show may exercise the fast-forward button more than Canadian Idol, particularly the results show. It only takes a minute to say who got the least votes that week; even with 8 minutes of commercials, than leaves 21 minutes to fill. That's done with:

• Group performance—which I enjoy, usually. (And if you don't, why are you watching this show at all?)
• Comedy segment with Jon Dore—which I can't actually assess, as I always fast-forward it.
• Interview with judges—Sometimes interesting, and hey, they have to earn their pay cheque somehow.
• Recap of the previous night, including Ben Mulroney repeating highlights of the judges' comments—Pointless, pointless.
• Segments featuring the show's sponsors—aka commercials in the middle of the show. I fast-forward these, too.
• Loser reprising the song that got them tossed—Which always struck me as kind of mean.

Rock Star, as previously mentioned, has a point to their results show. They also feature an encore performance of the previous night's highlight, which is cool. They also have another half-hour show featuring shenanigans at the mansion all the contestants stayed at, giving a kind of Big Brother aspect to the show. As well as giving more insight into the various personalities, it allowed us to see how the performers handled the song choice aspect, giving some insight into why some lasted longer than others.

For filler with more fibre and less fluff, Winner: Rock Star

Host and sidekick

Want to develop some appreciation for Idol's Ben Mulroney? Just watch Rock Star's Brooke Burke at work. Honestly, if I could have fast-forwarded every vapid word from her mouth and still followed the show, I would have. Whereas least Ben is capable of honest and spontaneous reactions to the contestants. (And can actually dress himself.) Honestly.

As for Dave Navarro, while I can't really compare him to the fast-forwarded Jon Dore, I have to think this man has lost some serious cool points by being involved with this show. Winner: Canadian Idol

Judges

The Idol judges, in all their powerlessness, actually seemed better this year. At least I could understand what they were saying most of the time. They were occasionally too mean (particularly with Darryl, whose “What a Wonderful World” I found kind of nice to listen to), but usually fair.

Rock Star didn't officially have judges—they had Dave Navarro and INXS. And while the performers were, honestly, usually quite good, these guys did often lay it on a lot thicker than you'd expect from macho rockers. When they weren't making leering comments about the women performers.

I dunno; I think I have to hand this one to Winner: Canadian Idol

Canadian content

Canadian Idol is all-Canadian. It's on CTV, it's Canada's top show, all the contestants live in Canada, as the do the judges, host, and sidekick. Except for thinking up the concept in the first place (which the Brits did), it's all ours.

Rock Star features an Australian band and an American producer. So it's interesting that 4 of the 15 contestants were Canadian. And they did really well: Tara the first out only in week five, Suzy lasting up to the penultimate week, and JD finally winning it all. Mark Burnett says this may well have opened the door to having Canadians in other US reality programs. (Is that a good thing?)

So although you have to give this one to Idol, major props to Rock Star for extending the invitation north of the border and congratulations to JD Fortune (great rock star name). Winner: Canadian Idol

Finale (and predictability thereof)

Last year's eventual Idol winner, Kalan Porter, was never in the bottom two or three; therefore, there was never too much doubt about who was going to take it all. This year was a lot more of a mix-up; someone could go from bottom three one week to safe the next. Each top three performer spent some time at risk of elimination. So that did make for some suspense in what turned out to be the closest Idol vote yet.

The last two shows, was over-long, were still pretty enjoyable. Both Rex and Melissa did well on their final performances; Rex, in fact, impressed me more in his three songs than he had for the whole series—and I'd always thought he was good. (Unsurprising that he scored a recording contract mere days after Melissa's win.) Also a nice surprise that the Idol single wasn't totally lame. The top 10 group sings of the final results show were good; Kalan demonstrated that he might actually have a long-term career in music; the Barenaked Ladies performed; it was a fun time. And a girl won for the first time, which was nice.

On Rock Star, it came down to Mig, Marty, and JD. I thought I knew exactly how it would happen: Mig would be dismissed first, then Marty would win. Because JD just seemed too erratic. So when Mig was dismissed, I settled in for Marty's coronation. But I found myself kind of wishing JD would win instead. Which surprised me. And then I surprised again when JD actually won. (And frankly, Marty didn't look at all unhappy about it.)

JD then performed with INXS, and really seemed to be channeling Michael Hutchens' spirit. A little spooky.

So both finales had merit, and fine performances, but Idol's went the way I expected it to, and only with Rock Star did I feel the need to watch the whole thing live. (With Idol, I watched the last five minutes live, to get the results, but watched the rest only later in the week.) So I'm going to hand this one to Winner: Rock Star

Overall winner: Rock Star

My review of Rock Star: INXS - The DVD

MSN Rock Star site

CBS Rock Star site

The Amazing Race 5

Premise: Eleven teams of two (siblings, couples, friends, cousins...) race around the world for a million dollar prize. Each leg typically requires them to go to another country, often in another continent. They have to perform various tasks as part of the race. Detours are a choice between tasks, each with its pros and cons. Roadblocks are tasks only one team member may perform. Exception for the occasional predetermined non-elimination leg, the last team to arrive at the “pit stop” each week is eliminated.

Current status: Deservedly, Season 4 was just awarded the Emmy for Best Reality Series. Season 5 just ended; it aired Tuesday at 10:00 on CBS and CTV. Season 6 will be broadcast in late October or early November, at a day and time yet to be determined.

Comment

I watched and enjoyed the last few episodes of Amazing Race 4, but AR5 was the first I'd watched from the beginning. What's great is that so much action is packed into each episode—the hour always passes in a flash (“the pit stop? Already?”). You get to see many beautiful parts of the world; the cinematography is often very impressive. You do learn about a few local customs. Each week's challenges and locations are different, so you rarely get that “haven't I seen this before” feeling.

My favourite tasks were definitely the animal ones. There's just something hilarious about everyone trying to herd sheep into boats, and you really had to see Colin's fit over the “broken ox” that he was trying to plough with to believe it. The archeological hunt for the scarab (i.e. digging in the sand with shovels) was amazingly tension-filled, which shows you just how good the editing. And though I wasn't crazy about the two “eat a whole lot of food” challenges, it was just too hilarious seeing the unsympathetic brother try and fail to find the vanilla chocolate while team after team came in, found it, and left.

As with any good television program, casting the right personalities is key. And since most of it is in the editing, it's interesting how views of some of the couples can change over time. Examples:

Charla and Mirna. Yes, it did seem very strange to cast a little person in this program. But when the team did so well that first leg, it was hard not to get behind them. Until, that is, we get to see and hear more of Mirna, the regular statured cousin. The woman was irritating! And, frankly, the weak link on this team. It was just a relief when they were eliminated.

Brandon and Nicole. The fact that these two were models just gave me an instant, irrational dislike of them. And the way Brandon kept spouting that “Jesus would see them through,” as though God had nothing better to do than to help these two pretty Americans win a reality series—not endearing either. And frankly, I never got over my eye-rolling reaction to Brandon's form of prayer. But I did end up liking this team. I couldn't help it. Though naive, they really did seem like decent people. And for the most part, they really supported each other.

Colin and Christie. I could barely remember this couple for the first half of the season, they made so little impression. But as other teams dropped away, their really intense and unattractive sense of competitiveness came to the fore. And I couldn't stand them. Truth is, in terms of racing skill, they did deserve to win. They were very good at this game. But the fact that they were beaten in the end by the far more likeable Chip and Kim was just so satisfying on a karmic scale.

Links

CBS Amazing Race 5

CTV Amazing Race

Television Without Pity: The Amazing Race

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Canadian Idol 2

Premise: Aspiring singers under 26 try out for the chance of winning a recording contract. The initial set of whittled down by judges, but then the viewing public takes over, calling or text messaging in to vote for their favourites. Sets are eliminated to get to the top 10, then one singer (the one with least votes) is eliminated each week until one is crowned “Canadian idol.”

Current status: Season 2 ended recently. No doubt we'll see Season 3 next summer. Played Wednesdays (competition) and Thursdays (results show) at 8:00 on CTV.

Comment

Not sure I could pick a reality show more different from The Amazing Race if I tried. Where the Race is action-packed, Idol is mostly filler—guest stars, commercials masking as makeup segments, comedy bits, pointless recaps. Where Race has a fairly straightforward mandate: you finish your tasks first, you win, Idol is based on who inspires teenage girls to hit “redial” most often in two hours.

And yet, I got drawn in. I blame Elena Juatco. Well, Elena and Jason Hogard. The night they were doing songs by Canadians, I flipped and caught the ending of Elena's version of Alanis Morrisette's “Mary Jane.” Like the judges, I was struck that she'd pick a less well-known song like that, and was impressed by her vocal skill. Hmm.

And then — I can't remember if I stayed there or flipped back later — I saw this guy with a lip ring come out. Didn't look at all like the typical Idol material. And he did Paul Anka's “Put Your Head on My Shoulder.” Huh. It was both completely ridiculous, and completely compelling.

So these are the reasons why I'm glad I kept watching “Canadian Idol 2” after that, despite the show's obvious flaws:

1. Gordon Lightfoot. Yep, he was there. They did a whole night of nothing but his songs. And everybody did a fantastic with it—I knew Kalan would do “If You Could Read My Mind,” and do it brilliantly—but most stunning was the performance of Shane Wiebe on “The Way I Feel.” The previously somewhat undistinguished performer was the winner of the night (in quality, if not quantity of votes—but he did live on to the next week.)

And then in the results show, a first for the Idol franchise: the performers accompanied themselves, rather than sing to a karaoke soundtrack, on the “Canadian Railroad Trilogy.” Hey, maybe they should let them do that when competing, too.

2. Jacob Hogard. That this guy made it to the top three speaks well of the voting public, frankly. He's the one Idol whose album I'll be buying (especially since, by not winning, he won't be stuck doing those lame, quickly recorded Idol songs that Kalan will be getting).

3. Talent. I actually have a certain fondness for last year's winner, Ryan Malcolm (good cheekbones, after all), but the fact is that this year's top 6 could all sing him under the table. These kids were good. When not hamstrung by lame themes (songs of summer?) and lame songs (that first Idol single), they often managed to give really striking performances, even in this bizarre setup.

Links

CTV: Canadian Idol

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