TDL’s Sports, Wrestling, & Otherwise

Last Friday I went out with a good buddy from high school who I don’t hang out with nearly enough. The only problem is that he tends to get out of work really late. Generally, I hate coming home from work and then going back out: once I sit down, I’m basically spent for the day. Since we decided to go out downtown, I was able to fight it off… basically by not sitting down. After a haircut, shower, and such, I flipped the TV to see what was going on with the Ghost Whisperer’s cleavage.

Plans changed when I discovered the 2nd episode of Fox’s The Next Great American Band. Basically, it’s the American Idol for actual bands. The first episode, from what I gathered, was the audition show. Only one audition show was aired… with bands collecting in Las Vegas with a chance to meet with our judges. As I was getting ready to leave, I turned on the DVR to pick up the rest of the show.

Playing the role of Randy Jackson is John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls. Paula is represented by Shelia E. And playing your role of snarky judge with an accent is Ian “Dicko” Dickson. The spin is thrown is as the host is also played by “guy with accent” Dominic Bowden.

Pros

• Each of the judges actually bring something to the table… and not in a “holy sh*t is she actually going to die on camera this week” kind of way. They actually each say stuff relevant to the performance that isn’t “da bomb” or “pitchy”. All three judges actually bring relevant, constructive criticism.
• Great cross section of different types of bands. The original 12 bands represent classic rock, bluegrass, chick rock, fake punk, ska, and lots in between.
• For all the shows that rip-off Idol, at least this one doesn’t pretend it’s anything otherwise. The judges make reference to Idol and the opening is pretty much a carbon copy. Of course, it’s also created by Simon Fuller, so I guess that makes it OK
• Sixwire, Franklin Bridge (the token black guy band), The Clark Brothers, and The Hatch are all pretty good bands. Hopefully, this gives them some kind of exposure
• Rocket (the token chick band), Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, and The Muggs are, at the very least, something different. Does anyone other than me find it odd that, even in today’s market the first hot chick that comes along music market, they haven’t found one token chick band to mass market? A couple months ago I was walking home from work and there was a stage set up in the World Financial Center’s Riverside Park. There was a chick rock band of all Chinese or Japanese chicks on the stage playing some kind of crazy rock music and singing in whatever language it was. It was god-awful and I couldn’t understand a word but I still stood there and listened and watched them bounce around the stage… I can’t be the only person who’d be guilty of that.

Cons

• I really don’t like the fact that they put gimmick bands through. One of the final 12 bands is a group of sixth graders called Light of Doom. I understand that they put them through because they’re quirky and the guitarists are actually pretty good… but at the end of the day it’s still a 13-year-old trying to sing metal. It doesn’t work. Not to mention the drummer and one of the guitarists came on stage with no shirt on…. not only was it creepy, but it was disturbingly creepy. Not surprisingly, this trainwreck has picked up the endorsement of Vote For The Worst, who decided to interrupt their extended offseason for this show. The problem is when you have these gimmicky bands, they tend to draw in the vote for people who really think they’re lame and random 12-year-old girls who really think they’re cute.
• Friday Night? Do they really want the show to fail? Apparently so. Putting the show in the Friday night graveyard gives it pretty much no chance to be the pre-game to Idol’s main event. Not surprisingly, the first episode of the show finished fifth on the night, drawing in 3.5 million viewers and finishing behind Friday Night Smackdown. Think of the number of people who still watch wrestling (shit, I’m part owner of a wrestling website and even I hardly watch wrestling anymore) and it did worse than that.
• An extension of above, with only 3 million people watching, I think you can probably narrow down who’s going to win. It’s not going to be one of the quirky or different bands… it’s going to be one of the classic rock-y type bands like Sixwire or The Muggs. Why they didn’t give this show Monday Night at 9pm or Thursday Night at 8pm… to give it a shot in hell… I have no idea.

The Verdict

I’ll watch it for as long as it lasts… which looks to be like two more weeks. Although, I don’t know what network execs plan to happen to shows on Friday nights, so maybe it’ll make the end of the season.