The Facts:
It is hard to not be taken in by this years Britains Got Talent, a show that tries in vein to find the most talented people in the UK. Yet for the past three years all they have done is parade a sick sad nation on a variety of stages making Simon Cowell richer and Amanda Holdens face tighter.
Last Night Show
Why put people through to the semi-finals if all your going to do is buzz them and tell them ‘thought you would have done more with it.’ This happened twice; Ben and Becky (the brother and sister ballroom dancers) & The Barrowboys. Both these acts where ofcourse limited interms of The Barrowboys there was very little they could do from the first show to this one. As fun and nice as the guys are this was not really a ‘talent’ just a bit of fun farmers seem to be able to have when they are not on the farm.
As for Ben & Becky they are ballroom dancers and thus are limited to a very strict way of dance. This should have been seen from the first performance they did and though this type of dance is still very very popular it is not something the public are used to seeing anymore. Well think about it the very popular BBC two show Come Dancing was cancelled even yet only to be revived as Strickly Come Dancing (or Dancing with the Stars worldwide). Though they still keep to the classic ballroom type of dance it has changed to include many new forms of dance. This is what Ben & Becky lacked on the night and after 13 years of this style of dance it is going to be hard for them to change.
But overall it was the way that some of the comments come from the judges makes no real sense, why bother putting them though if only the second time you see them they lack that same thing you thought they had.
To Define Talent
Am not going to try and start to look too much into what talent is, but singing is NOT a talent and I think that has been where the show has lost its real meaning. Don’t get me wrong some Opera IS a talent as it’s not in the mainstreem as much as it should and there is no place for it on X-Factor. But Susan Boyle, Shaun Smith & Shaheen Jafargholi (who are all though to the final) should be on this show. Other than the shock of Boyle and the worldwide fame that she has managed to create thanks to the likes of Demi Moore, Oprah & Larry King all she is doing is singing.
Now don’t get me wrong I think she is amazing and each of them are good in their own way (though I dislike Shaheen for reason I’ll explain later) but they should ALL be on X-Factor. This is suposed to be a talent show yet those with actual talent are being told they are bottom of the barrel, nightclub esc as Simon said to The Singing Ventriloquist. What he did was incredible and if it was taken outside of a competition like this it would have been awesome.
I think singers who are not operatic should be disqualified from this competiton as it’s unfair. As for Shaheen he’s stage school, he’s an actor, and yes he has a good voice but all Simon sees is money money money. I think he should have gone from X-Factor and not this show as it stacks the deck as everyone knows Simon is into his music and am sure they sign very thick contracts stopping them from going anywhere other than in Simons directions.
Judges
I have to admit though Morgan is a total tool (see his work at The Mirror) he does sometimes put Simon in his place and that is a good thing. But Simon’s commments are harsh and really hurt the chances of some of the acts and he never really explains why he dislikes something he just seems to say its crap or rubbish and he’s seen millions of people do this better etc. Well if that’s the case where it is?
But let us not get to caught up in the very staged ‘disagreements’ that they have on set. This is all aimed at trying to make sure that everyone is equal on the panel and that each of their ‘votes’ are valued.
The Public Vote
Last night saw Stavros Flatley win the public vote, something of a shock really I thought. and I really want you to think about this for a moment…ok are you thinking…all this is is a fat man and his fat son dancing (or jelling) along the stage. that might be harsh but its true. We are all guility of laughing at a fat man and his tubby sun (think back at Chunk in Goonies, you heartless bastards). As cute as this is and as nice as they are together there was still very little change from their first show – in fact that one was better…
