Unlike the usual recap or crappy rant post, here's an essay by MidwayHeaven about the Demise of the Franchise, Pinoy Idol. We are appealing to Fremantle Media that the franchise be returned to ABC 5 for next year.
The Demise of the Franchise
by MidwayHaven
July 14, 2008
As I write this, Pinoy Idol fan blogs all over the country are celebrating the elimination of Sue Ellen, a 16-year old singer from Iloilo City. Though she was only the fourth among the traditional twelve finalists, Sue Ellen nevertheless outlasted two others, namely Mae and Robby, who were considered fan favorites in the show.
Despite the fact that she was, indeed, a poor singer, Sue Ellen's elimination only reflects the dismal state of the current Idol franchise in the Philippines. The sad fact is that fans are scrounging around, looking for a so-called "winner," from a remaining group of amateur singers who obviously lack the necessary talent to be considered "Idols." The "Idol" franchise, as its name implies, is meant to give young DESERVING people the chance to live not only as stars but as BIG stars-celebrities cheered on by the world that sees them as ideals, surrounded by the opulence of the age, looking forward to a bright future gilded in fame and fortune. I don't see this promise with the poor contestants on Pinoy Idol, however, as week by week the production slowly yet surely morphs into glorified yet sorry excuse for a karaoke contest slash personality pageant with a multicolor stage, a projected backdrop and flashing lights.
This was, of course, not always so: in 2006, the ABC network managed, despite their relative diminutiveness, to pull off an Idol season that was relatively good to watch. Though the glitches were visible and ABC was rather new at staging a big-budget production such as this, the small network's attempt at slicing off a piece of the network war pie through Philippine Idol was commendable.
For legal reasons Fremantle decided to bail Idol out from ABC and instead award it to GMA, whose entertainment department wasted no time exploiting ABC's legal right to the name "Philippine Idol" and instead marketing "Pinoy Idol," in effect turning a blind eye on everyone and everything that the first show stood for. To call their own Idol franchise "the first" and to deny the existence of Philippine Idol is an abominable insult, not only to the good folk at ABC who worked really hard to build a great accomplishment, but also to the first winner Mau Marcelo, who had all the right to rant about the indignity that befell her fate. Fostering bad blood is, apparently, perfectly in line with GMA's ethic to "put God above all things," as their corporate vision states.
As a side note, comparing GMA's Pinoy Idol with its superior American counterpart is a moot point; though not the first of the franchise, American Idol will of course always be superior to other Idol shows, especially here. It would always be interesting however to compare Philippine Idol with Pinoy Idol, but there's not enough space for that discussion at the moment. I could go on with the visual production, of how the stage today looks no better than the one used for GMA's other weeknight singing contest. I could go one with the sound production, of how the system today doesn't match to fit listeners' ears. I could talk of the host, of how he today looks stiff and bloated like a talking corpse pumped with helium-instead I refer to you to the dozens of blogs out there who have a way of expressing The Bitch better than I do when it comes to comparison of these two seasons.
One thing that comes into mind with Philippine Idol however was how ABC was gracious enough to present a special non-competitive concert entitled "Kakaibang Idol," where the most interesting contestants who were eliminated early in the show were given one more chance to perform live on stage. My personal favorites were the red-dyed girl who sang the "Voltes V" theme and Yhova, the young man who not only looked like a woman but also sang like one. This not only boosted the popularity of these one-night-only singers, but also proved that ABC had a good sense of humor, and didn't take their piece of the Idol franchise too seriously, and for that I am totally grateful. I seriously doubt if GMA would do a similar show, but to totally shut out these pre-top 12 gems is simply a shame.
"Idol" hinges on the three people everybody calls "judges," who are chosen based on their credibility and experience in the music industry. I am sorry to say that out of Pinoy Idol's three judges, I find two of them absolutely appalling. Firstly, a person who knows nothing of Jolina Madangal will find it useless discovering her so-called musical credibility, because the vocabulary she spouts seems limited to different inane ways of belching the word "winner." Secondly, Wyndgard Tracy seems hell-driven to imitate Simon Cowell, right down to the way he snorts. If there was one good advice that Fremantle gave to the ABC judges, it was to "be themselves," advice which actually worked. Now however, to have these two GMA judges choose the person that millions of young people would look up to as an ideal is simply a travesty, and a reflection of what the "better part" of the TV entertainment industry in the Philippines is really all about: people with no brains pretending to have brains.
With all of what's happened to the franchise, it comes as no surprise that powerful internet bloc voters would rather visit websites such as "Vote for the Worst," which made world headlines by pushing American Idol's Sanjaya Malakar all the way up to the top 6 or so, pushing off agreeably better singers. Pinoy Idol apparently reeks so bad, it has to contend with not one but THREE local versions of Vote for the Worst, all of which die hard fan sites have viciously blamed for dumping Mae and Robby while keeping Sue Ellen.
I don't have to rant about the big errors that GMA's entertainment department did with the show; again, the blogs out there would do that for me. Why, for example, are voting lines open BEFORE the contestants even get on the stage? GMA is of course quick to deny they committed mistakes, and instead they point their fingers at Fremantle Media whenever fans discover shortcomings about Pinoy Idol's production. Well, aren't they precious. Flaunting itself as a network giant, shouldn't GMA have the common sense to think like one, too?
If I were to exactly pinpoint when Pinoy Idol stopped being a deserving franchise, it would have to be the time when the stage producer threatened to inflict a wave of plastic butterflies on stage, a move which no doubt would have forced the president to declare a state of emergency. No such gaiety came to pass, however, as we have to instead contend with a massive plastic rainbow looming over the huddled masses at SM Mall of Asia. Now rumors are spreading that rival network ABS-CBN is recruiting Idol castoffs into their fold, probably even pariah Sue Ellen, especially since TFC has recently shown video tidbits of the Australian Idol auditions. ABS-CBN taking Idol and naming it something like, oh, "Filipino Idol," does nothing but make the franchise even more pathetic than it already is. I prefer its return to ABC, were it not for the legalities that the small network has to go through.
For the moment I stick to my conviction that the franchise has met an untimely demise, assassinated by the same people who promised to make it better than the one that has passed. Meanwhile GMA probably already has plans for a second Idol season (I prefer to call it the third), and will most likely stand by its own clichéd conviction that it isn't over until the fat lady sings. The problem is, GMA's entertainment department probably doesn't like fat ladies on stage-and Wyndgard can't sing, anyway.
MidwayHaven is a MESS Member at SurvivorSucks.Com, and is chief moderator of the Survivor Philippines Sucks message boards.
Vote for the Worst Pinoy will be starting a petition next week for the franchise to be returned to ABC 5.
The Demise of the Franchise
by MidwayHaven
July 14, 2008
As I write this, Pinoy Idol fan blogs all over the country are celebrating the elimination of Sue Ellen, a 16-year old singer from Iloilo City. Though she was only the fourth among the traditional twelve finalists, Sue Ellen nevertheless outlasted two others, namely Mae and Robby, who were considered fan favorites in the show.
Despite the fact that she was, indeed, a poor singer, Sue Ellen's elimination only reflects the dismal state of the current Idol franchise in the Philippines. The sad fact is that fans are scrounging around, looking for a so-called "winner," from a remaining group of amateur singers who obviously lack the necessary talent to be considered "Idols." The "Idol" franchise, as its name implies, is meant to give young DESERVING people the chance to live not only as stars but as BIG stars-celebrities cheered on by the world that sees them as ideals, surrounded by the opulence of the age, looking forward to a bright future gilded in fame and fortune. I don't see this promise with the poor contestants on Pinoy Idol, however, as week by week the production slowly yet surely morphs into glorified yet sorry excuse for a karaoke contest slash personality pageant with a multicolor stage, a projected backdrop and flashing lights.
This was, of course, not always so: in 2006, the ABC network managed, despite their relative diminutiveness, to pull off an Idol season that was relatively good to watch. Though the glitches were visible and ABC was rather new at staging a big-budget production such as this, the small network's attempt at slicing off a piece of the network war pie through Philippine Idol was commendable.
For legal reasons Fremantle decided to bail Idol out from ABC and instead award it to GMA, whose entertainment department wasted no time exploiting ABC's legal right to the name "Philippine Idol" and instead marketing "Pinoy Idol," in effect turning a blind eye on everyone and everything that the first show stood for. To call their own Idol franchise "the first" and to deny the existence of Philippine Idol is an abominable insult, not only to the good folk at ABC who worked really hard to build a great accomplishment, but also to the first winner Mau Marcelo, who had all the right to rant about the indignity that befell her fate. Fostering bad blood is, apparently, perfectly in line with GMA's ethic to "put God above all things," as their corporate vision states.
As a side note, comparing GMA's Pinoy Idol with its superior American counterpart is a moot point; though not the first of the franchise, American Idol will of course always be superior to other Idol shows, especially here. It would always be interesting however to compare Philippine Idol with Pinoy Idol, but there's not enough space for that discussion at the moment. I could go on with the visual production, of how the stage today looks no better than the one used for GMA's other weeknight singing contest. I could go one with the sound production, of how the system today doesn't match to fit listeners' ears. I could talk of the host, of how he today looks stiff and bloated like a talking corpse pumped with helium-instead I refer to you to the dozens of blogs out there who have a way of expressing The Bitch better than I do when it comes to comparison of these two seasons.
One thing that comes into mind with Philippine Idol however was how ABC was gracious enough to present a special non-competitive concert entitled "Kakaibang Idol," where the most interesting contestants who were eliminated early in the show were given one more chance to perform live on stage. My personal favorites were the red-dyed girl who sang the "Voltes V" theme and Yhova, the young man who not only looked like a woman but also sang like one. This not only boosted the popularity of these one-night-only singers, but also proved that ABC had a good sense of humor, and didn't take their piece of the Idol franchise too seriously, and for that I am totally grateful. I seriously doubt if GMA would do a similar show, but to totally shut out these pre-top 12 gems is simply a shame.
"Idol" hinges on the three people everybody calls "judges," who are chosen based on their credibility and experience in the music industry. I am sorry to say that out of Pinoy Idol's three judges, I find two of them absolutely appalling. Firstly, a person who knows nothing of Jolina Madangal will find it useless discovering her so-called musical credibility, because the vocabulary she spouts seems limited to different inane ways of belching the word "winner." Secondly, Wyndgard Tracy seems hell-driven to imitate Simon Cowell, right down to the way he snorts. If there was one good advice that Fremantle gave to the ABC judges, it was to "be themselves," advice which actually worked. Now however, to have these two GMA judges choose the person that millions of young people would look up to as an ideal is simply a travesty, and a reflection of what the "better part" of the TV entertainment industry in the Philippines is really all about: people with no brains pretending to have brains.
With all of what's happened to the franchise, it comes as no surprise that powerful internet bloc voters would rather visit websites such as "Vote for the Worst," which made world headlines by pushing American Idol's Sanjaya Malakar all the way up to the top 6 or so, pushing off agreeably better singers. Pinoy Idol apparently reeks so bad, it has to contend with not one but THREE local versions of Vote for the Worst, all of which die hard fan sites have viciously blamed for dumping Mae and Robby while keeping Sue Ellen.
I don't have to rant about the big errors that GMA's entertainment department did with the show; again, the blogs out there would do that for me. Why, for example, are voting lines open BEFORE the contestants even get on the stage? GMA is of course quick to deny they committed mistakes, and instead they point their fingers at Fremantle Media whenever fans discover shortcomings about Pinoy Idol's production. Well, aren't they precious. Flaunting itself as a network giant, shouldn't GMA have the common sense to think like one, too?
If I were to exactly pinpoint when Pinoy Idol stopped being a deserving franchise, it would have to be the time when the stage producer threatened to inflict a wave of plastic butterflies on stage, a move which no doubt would have forced the president to declare a state of emergency. No such gaiety came to pass, however, as we have to instead contend with a massive plastic rainbow looming over the huddled masses at SM Mall of Asia. Now rumors are spreading that rival network ABS-CBN is recruiting Idol castoffs into their fold, probably even pariah Sue Ellen, especially since TFC has recently shown video tidbits of the Australian Idol auditions. ABS-CBN taking Idol and naming it something like, oh, "Filipino Idol," does nothing but make the franchise even more pathetic than it already is. I prefer its return to ABC, were it not for the legalities that the small network has to go through.
For the moment I stick to my conviction that the franchise has met an untimely demise, assassinated by the same people who promised to make it better than the one that has passed. Meanwhile GMA probably already has plans for a second Idol season (I prefer to call it the third), and will most likely stand by its own clichéd conviction that it isn't over until the fat lady sings. The problem is, GMA's entertainment department probably doesn't like fat ladies on stage-and Wyndgard can't sing, anyway.
MidwayHaven is a MESS Member at SurvivorSucks.Com, and is chief moderator of the Survivor Philippines Sucks message boards.
Vote for the Worst Pinoy will be starting a petition next week for the franchise to be returned to ABC 5.
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