Did you have any idea what was happening in Project Fame when it started? I felt totally lost. Last week we saw a mish mash of contestants auditioning in between meeting The Academy staff, and this week audiences need to vote someone into the Project Fame Academy. Where did the eight finalists come from? What have I missed? Was there something on another channel or something?
So, the show's officially started and by the end I wanted to hit the board types responsible for making decisions. Hang on - I suppose I'd better put some of this in perspective for you first.
From what I could work out the situation with the show is this: at the Project Fame Academy there are six teachers and a principal who will take the contestants who get into The Academy through their singing, dancing and performance paces - preparing them for their weekly performances for us. The principal is Peter Terry, and the teacher-types are:
RJ Benjamin - Head Of Voice
Janine Neethling - Head of Music
Fiona Ramsay - Head of Performance
Muso Ntjoko - Guidance Counsellor
Cheslyn and Hayley Henry - Heads of Movement
At the moment they're having preliminary rounds in which eight contestants who've been chosen from auditions around the country perform for the teachers, a live studio audience and a board made up of people from the music industry, which includes Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse, Richard Loring and Nathaniel.
The current format is this - once all eight of the contestants have sung, the board chooses three people they want to eliminate. Then The Academy staff choose three they definitely want in The Academy and the two of the five who have nowhere to go are put forward for the public. The public needs to decide which one of the two should join the other three.
My feeling is that by the time audiences actually work out what's going on the preliminary rounds will be over! I think these rounds only last three weeks as there are only 26 contenders, and contestants move into The Academy on 20 June.
As for who they've chosen ... you know ... I really had such great hope when I saw who the board was. I thought I'd definitely agree with some of the choices made by the likes of Nathaniel and Sipho Hotstix ... and was very, very, very upset when they eliminated the person I thought was the best. How they could immediately have eliminated Natalie is beyond me.
It was beyond her too, and as they called her name out her brow puckered and tears appeared just behind her eyes - quite possibly because she was as surprised as I. Frustrated too. That they couldn't see she had so much to give.
I would hazard a guess that they were being prejudiced and eliminated her because she wasn't two years old. At 27 they probably thought she was too old or something, because I can see absolutely no other reason for not selecting her. She was just sooo not karaoke, and I cannot understand how they could have chosen that Tracey-Lee instead.
In fact - as I sit here writing this I'm so furious, because once more I'm faced with my usual dilemma. What are these shows supposed to be about? The feedback given by the board was totally bland and I got the sense they were too afraid to really express an honest opinion. Their feedback should have to include one positive comment ie. something they liked, and one piece of constructive criticism.
All the Teacher Types said was: "Can you believe these people are South African?!" God. If this show is to be credible it's gonna have to get a bit honest. The board cannot feel bad for giving constructive criticism; they must also be honest about why they choose people and if they feel too bad eliminating people they should never have taken the job.
In my humble opinion a fundamental problem with these types of shows is the energy and spirit that goes into contestants. Developing and building up a talent takes more than speaking in clichés. In a way all the participants need to be given spirit...
Grrrr ... not sure if I can explain what I mean. No - I can't. Sorry. Never mind.
As for those chosen to go into The Academy - I thought Tracey-Lee was not good enough to be admitted, because on my TV set she was singing completely out of tune. I didn't find her pleasant to listen to at all. Claudia was an option but I couldn't understand how they chose her above Natalie. They both fit a similar mould and I think Claudia lacks the passion Natalie has. While I don't think Tebogo is the greatest singer there is - he does have personality, seems to be a natural performer and will be entertaining in the whole process.
As for the rest ... Sian and Johan ... I'd definitely choose Johan. Sian's look just doesn't do it for me. While he's not an oil painting and doesn't look like a performer he did do a good job with his song and may become a sort of Kurt Nielsen - that unlikely looking singer who won world Idols. So, my choice would be him.
I liked the fact that contestants were able to use their own instruments, however I am very disappointed that they didn't have to write their own material to enter. These shows are constantly bordering on karaoke and reinforce the idea that it's impossible for people to create their own material.
As for the show as a whole ... mmm ... well, it's already gotten me very angry with the whole Natalie thing. This is fine, so long as it's reality TV and not a serious talent search. I don't think the evening was very well rehearsed because the presenters were a bit hazy, and I can't understand why one of them is American.
Other than that I'm actually quite interested to see what happens next. I also think the show could be popular. As soon as everyone works out what's going on.
Did you watch? What did you think? Please tell me you were as perplexed about Natalie as me.
Project Fame is on Mnet - Sundays at 18h00.
PS: In retrospect - and with some clarity - it's probably a very good thing they jumped straight into the eight. The market for watching singing auditions has been saturated.
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