HEADS CAROLINA, TAILS CALIFORNIA: After the last few weeks of I'm A Celebrity -- Am I Hot Enough To Be Married By America? and a sadly Frenchie-free American Idol (go Kimberlies and Ruben!), I've been pretty down on reality tv lately. Until now.
And I can't believe I'm about to say this.
God bless Nashville Star. I don't even really like country music, but this show won me over. Why?
1. Talent. Without question, the men and women competing in this competition were better singers, across the board, than anything American Idol has ever seen. Just beautiful and strong voices even among those not picked for the final twelve. And unlike AI, for this competition they've got to be able to write and perform their own original songs as well.
2. Diversity. The final twelve represent a wide range of singing styles, body types, performing styles, everything. It's just interesting watching people addressing country music from so many different angles, from Tejano-based to Patsy Cline to the woman who did a Warren Zevon cover to make it to Nashville. Also, on the whole, these performers are a little older than those on AI, which may have something to do with the better talent level.
3. Structure. This show adopted the American Idol structure, and it works: smart, funny, honest judges who aren't gratuitously mean, who aren't trying to steal the spotlight for themselves. Local competitions begat regional competitions which now move into the national finals, starting next Saturday, with two performers eliminated per-week -- one by the judges, live that night; one by us viewers, via telephone, announced the next week.
One little thing that made a big difference: unlike AI's regional competitions -- a capella, isolated room with just the three judges -- these regionals took place in crowded clubs, with a full backing band. Made for better singing, and just more entertainment.
The hour-and-a-half debut episode re-airs four more times this week, and fresh episodes of Nashville Star air live Saturday nights at 9pm.
Good television shows find a way to make you care about a universe you might otherwise have no interest in, be it "guys in a Boston bar", "Baltimore homicide detectives" or "eight-year-old kids growing up in Colorado". I don't much care for country, nor would I want to see a "country music talent show" in the abstract, but I sure liked Nashville Star. Do try and watch it.
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