Post by uptowndragon on Nov 16, 2007 15:48:28 GMT 7
OIAM 2: The Opening Salvo
Well it’s finally back and on air again. One In A Million once again graces our living rooms in its latest incantation with hopes of getting us glued to our idiot boxes every Friday and making us happily part with small fortunes via SMS every week, to enrich total strangers we hardly know anything about yet willingly want them to be part of our suburban lives.
OIAM season 1 was a bold attempt at creating a new brand of reality talent show by the TV station who tries very hard to be different. It was a clear attempt to breakaway from the over dependence on American based reality shows, namely the ever popular and well heeled Idol franchise, which costs most stations way too much money in licensing fees. Creating a brand from scratch is certainly no easy task, especially even more so in the east, especially when the western world, let alone our close Asian neighbours would not care to import. To a certain extent, 8TV has managed to create a unique proposition by marginally mimicking what is already a global phenomenon, with its own little tweaks, twists and twirls. Although reasonably well received within urban quarters of the nation, it has yet to capture the imagination of the general TV viewing public, whom of late has been bombarded with way too much reality madness, foreign, regional and local.
It is only understandable that a brand cannot just be created overnight, and will probably take several seasons before it can even be a local household name. To date, the majority of TV viewers have not seen or are aware of the existence OIAM, even though they are more than familiar with American Idol, or its local offspring Malaysian Idol, and of course, the biggest reality artistes mass producer in the country, Akademi Fantasia, which seems to have gained a massive leap in mindshare, upon the arrival of the Mawi circus. Even the Singapore branded Chinese reality talent show Project Superstar has made inroads into this country, and not only has mindshare but market share as well here.
It’s hoped that the newest season of OIAM will fare better, and will reach out to a larger audience, and hopefully find its way into regional programming, although early indicators do not seem to point that way. Tell tale signs as evident in low turnouts at this year’s auditions, as well as seemingly late arrivals in sponsor deals, with only one major sponsor as opposed to two of last year, plus the waning of interests in the many online forums who are major proponents of OIAM does not seem to augur well for the show. It is further fueled by the fact that the energy and hype that was created for season 1 seems to be severely lacking this year. Perhaps the one month Aidilfitri break between auditions and the show going into workshop stages and on air, and with a brand new production team still sorting things out, may have dampened things up a little.
In a few more hours, the first episode of season 2 will go on air, and many like me will be keen to find out whether it will be a big draw, or a big yawn. As a major proponent of the show, right from the day of its inauguration, I sincerely hope for the former, and look forward to finding several gems in a pool already over saturated with wannabe singers. To all the contestants, Rentak Sejuta wishes you all the best and hope that you make us all proud with your endeavours, irregardless of whether you make off with a million ringgit or not at the end of the season. To the artistes who are competing, please leave your celebrity statuses behind and consider the other candidates as real threats and ensure that you are present in all manner of activities as prescribed by the producers. To the producers, we wish you the very best and look forward to a terrific season, hopefully full of fun and surprises to keep us totally engaged and in awe. And to the guys who handle the SMS system, please, please get a handle on things and don’t muck up as you did last year in the finale. Yeap, we have not forgotten about that.
Well it’s finally back and on air again. One In A Million once again graces our living rooms in its latest incantation with hopes of getting us glued to our idiot boxes every Friday and making us happily part with small fortunes via SMS every week, to enrich total strangers we hardly know anything about yet willingly want them to be part of our suburban lives.
OIAM season 1 was a bold attempt at creating a new brand of reality talent show by the TV station who tries very hard to be different. It was a clear attempt to breakaway from the over dependence on American based reality shows, namely the ever popular and well heeled Idol franchise, which costs most stations way too much money in licensing fees. Creating a brand from scratch is certainly no easy task, especially even more so in the east, especially when the western world, let alone our close Asian neighbours would not care to import. To a certain extent, 8TV has managed to create a unique proposition by marginally mimicking what is already a global phenomenon, with its own little tweaks, twists and twirls. Although reasonably well received within urban quarters of the nation, it has yet to capture the imagination of the general TV viewing public, whom of late has been bombarded with way too much reality madness, foreign, regional and local.
It is only understandable that a brand cannot just be created overnight, and will probably take several seasons before it can even be a local household name. To date, the majority of TV viewers have not seen or are aware of the existence OIAM, even though they are more than familiar with American Idol, or its local offspring Malaysian Idol, and of course, the biggest reality artistes mass producer in the country, Akademi Fantasia, which seems to have gained a massive leap in mindshare, upon the arrival of the Mawi circus. Even the Singapore branded Chinese reality talent show Project Superstar has made inroads into this country, and not only has mindshare but market share as well here.
It’s hoped that the newest season of OIAM will fare better, and will reach out to a larger audience, and hopefully find its way into regional programming, although early indicators do not seem to point that way. Tell tale signs as evident in low turnouts at this year’s auditions, as well as seemingly late arrivals in sponsor deals, with only one major sponsor as opposed to two of last year, plus the waning of interests in the many online forums who are major proponents of OIAM does not seem to augur well for the show. It is further fueled by the fact that the energy and hype that was created for season 1 seems to be severely lacking this year. Perhaps the one month Aidilfitri break between auditions and the show going into workshop stages and on air, and with a brand new production team still sorting things out, may have dampened things up a little.
In a few more hours, the first episode of season 2 will go on air, and many like me will be keen to find out whether it will be a big draw, or a big yawn. As a major proponent of the show, right from the day of its inauguration, I sincerely hope for the former, and look forward to finding several gems in a pool already over saturated with wannabe singers. To all the contestants, Rentak Sejuta wishes you all the best and hope that you make us all proud with your endeavours, irregardless of whether you make off with a million ringgit or not at the end of the season. To the artistes who are competing, please leave your celebrity statuses behind and consider the other candidates as real threats and ensure that you are present in all manner of activities as prescribed by the producers. To the producers, we wish you the very best and look forward to a terrific season, hopefully full of fun and surprises to keep us totally engaged and in awe. And to the guys who handle the SMS system, please, please get a handle on things and don’t muck up as you did last year in the finale. Yeap, we have not forgotten about that.
