I've been sucked in .... Damn it!

Ok so we are not talking about black holes and quicksand here but non the less I have finally succumbed and been sucked into the experience that is reality television.   
Now normally I would avoid reality tv shows like they were soul sucking daemons (which if we are being honest, is a fairly accurate comparison).  I tend to find that they are either (a) utterly cringe worthy (b) utterly dull or in most cases (c) both of the above.  I mean really do we want to see someone making a grade a muppet of themselves or watch a group of people just sleeping.  To be honest it does nothing for me.  If I wanted to watch people doing regular day to day thing while being trapped in a house then I could just look at what happens in my own house. 

There have been some people that have argued the case for reality telly by saying that it is a psychological experiment to see how relationships change, how behaviours adapt over time etc but you know what - they are lying. 

The very first time that the genre was employed this may have been the case, as no one knew what was happening or what to expect but now these shows are filled with people that are playing up to the cameras.  This being the case your theory of psychological experimentation is kind of blown out of the water.  Lets face it really it's just car crash telly.

Anyhow as per normal I digress.  I have managed largely to avoid the whole thing until the other night.  My descent into pish telly started (as these things always do) by channel flicking whilst board.  Whilst in the midst of flicking I came across a show called Tommy Lee's Supernova.  Intrigued I sat and watched an hour of it, and now I am hooked.

The premise of the show is as per all of these things.  Take a group of people and make them compete for something.  In this case the thing that they are competing for is the chance to be a lead singer in a new 'super group'.  Now the one thing that is special about this are the other members of the group.  Who ever gets the gig (and the world tour that comes with it) will be up on stage with Tommy Lee (Drummer for Motley Crew) Gilby Clarke (Guitarist with Guns 'n Roses) and Jason Newstead (bassist from Metallica).  There are all well known guys who have been involved very successful bands. 

The show its self was used originally when INXS were looking for a new lead singer to replace Michael Hutchins following his death.  I did not see the show then but can see why people like it. There is little focus on what goes on in the house where the wanna be rock stars stay, most of the attention is on the performances that they give. 

For the first time when watching this show I was in a position where you could say, " You know what, while they are not all the right people to front the band - they all could sing in a different genre". Another thing that I liked was the fact that they have turned around the way that people get voted off.  Every week the group a presented with a number of songs from different genres that have been picked by the band.  There is one song per person they just have to agree on what they will sing.  Each person then gets a session with the house band to practice and then they are on stage.  After singing each person gets feed back from Supernova and Dave Navaro. 

So far it sounds same old same old but the change comes when it comes to voting people off.  While phone in calls will decided who will be in the bottom 3 Supernova will vote off the individual they think will not fit. Really it is much the same as all the other reality telly shows but some of the feedback provided by Tommy Lee et al is great- included "Dude.......you suck". 

It is nice to see the honest commentary and why they think that individuals will not work for their band. 

Anyway really it is much of a muchness with the other shows but for some reason I find it more entertaining that others.  Maybe it is the start of a slow descent into reality telly doom - but I hope not.  In saying that I will still be watching the hatchet man next week