Post by uptowndragon on Jun 5, 2006 14:27:30 GMT 7
MOWDOWN AT KK CORAL ( Episode 1)
(featuring Paul ¡°John Wayne¡± Moss & Syafinaz ¡°Gary Cooper¡± Selamat)
Major apologies to all for not filing this review of Episode 1 much sooner. I do have a legitimate excuse though ¨C I was simply uninspired to do it. That should tell you a lot about Episode 1 of OIAM.
This much hyped, much talked about, most anticipated reality talent show ever to be featured on national TV, finally made its season opening debut. With much aplomb, we would expect. Unfortunately, that was not the case, as it was far from expectation. As excited as I was, looking forward to this show, my excitement ceased no sooner than the show progressed. I was truly disappointed. No, I was not expecting another Malaysian Idol. I was expecting more. Much much more.
This initial episode simply didn¡¯t seem to bring anything new to the party. In fact it paled in comparison to the previous ¡°Idol¡± shows. Perhaps the marketing machinery set the standards too high for the show to live up to. I will agree that it was just Episode 1 and I should not be too hasty to judge, but, you know, first impressions do count for a lot, as far as public perception is concerned. However, I was reasonably pleased that they decided to make the show 90 minutes long. But remember, its not always about the quantity. The quality matters most in the end.
I won¡¯t say much about the contestants apart from the fact that we weren¡¯t really shown any truly outstanding ones. Perhaps they were saving it for later. That¡¯s okay by me. Most of us are quite aware that Borneo has a fair share of undiscovered gems. Anyway we will leave that for when the time is right.
As for the brand new hosts, as excellent as they were discharging their duties professionally, there was clearly zero chemistry between them. That¡¯s a massive letdown as they are charged with setting of the tone for the show. We will just have to wait and see whether the sparks will fly in due course, but I seriously doubt it.
My biggest misgivings about Episode 1, however, lies with the way the judges were setting the tempo of the eliminations. If you thought the judges were disappointed with the attitudes of contestants, I more so with theirs.
Our much too fine judges, with their high & mighty noses in the air, MOSSied into KK town, wrapped up in their ¡°I know what¡¯s it all about¡± six gun toting city slicker attitudes, all set to mow down as many unsuspecting & underexposed Borneans down, in a bid to earn brownie points from the producers.
Show a little respect for the natives, ¡°dudes¡±. Don¡¯t just go trampling over them just because they don¡¯t fit your mould. This is after all laidback get to bed early KK and not the rat raced rush hour mad house KL that you live in. Things are different here. They don¡¯t run at the same pace as we do.
Many unfortunate contestants took unnecessary bashings and were shot down even before they could respond, simply because most of them could not understand what either of the judges were on about (and we are not just talking about the language barrier here). Hey guys. What maybe impressive discourse by college educated upper middle class folks in Seri Hartamas, Damansara or Bangsar, is not gonna make hay in the far corners of rainforest covered mountain separated small town Sabah or Sarawak.
Please realize that some of these contestants may have turned up from far flung ends of this rugged & disparate island, from small shanty towns, kampungs or dusuns. Most of them having spent a small fortune and enduring 10 - 12 hours or more of traveling on rickety old express buses, vans or wagons, just to make it to the auditions, and will likely be heading back immediately after. Most of them may have never even left their safe havens before, let alone set foot in KK. It would probably be their first time for a lot of them. Their exposure level may not be the same as those in Peninsular Malaysia. Most of them turn up, not knowing what to expect. The last thing these soft spoken locals needed was insult added to their injuries.
I certainly understand that taking the Mickey out of the contestants makes great reality TV and drives ratings for the show, but Paul Moss doesn¡¯t need to be nasty at every opportunity. Especially to people who really don¡¯t deserve it. Sadly for Paul, the insults seem less original these days and seem so recycled & tiresome. That makes pretty dull TV. I almost choked when I heard one line obviously ¡°borrowed¡± from Jacsville¡¯s slogan writing competition being used to praise a contestant. Aiyoh, Paul!!! Better work on newer material. The forumers here & in Blue Hyppo are way too sharp and will see right through it.
Another distressing concern is the fact that neither judges seem to have a consensus on the direction the show should be taking. I clearly remember Izham (8TV CEO) saying that both judges have been prepped on the selection criteria and well aware of their duties. We obviously didn¡¯t see that, did we? It¡¯s crystal that both judges seem to have their own interpretations. So what is it really? A singing competition or something else? Hey! Wait a minute. What did it say on the promotional poster? - ¡°Is your VOICE worth RM 1 million?¡± Hmm.
Well, even if you follow Paul¡¯s interpretation, I am surprised then that he did not find Atama (Andrew A. Mudi) interesting or different enough to put him through. Understandably Atama is no great singer but those who know this rapper/songwriter/producer who is a well known Kadazan Dusun Hip Hop sensation will be quite aware what a fantastic find this bloke is. Perhaps the producers didn¡¯t prep both the judges about this amazing once in a blue moon talent. Paul, you really need to do more info gathering before you knock people down. You wouldn¡¯t be so aloof with your comments if you had actually heard his album. You want something different & original, you can¡¯t go wrong with Atama. He¡¯s the real deal. Your loss guys. If I had RM 1 Million, I would definitely invest in him. (I remember telling Paul about Atama during MI days & asked him to check him out and to try and feature him on 8TV).
(Note: Atama was first featured in an article at Jacsville¡¯s forum last year. Atama¡¯s first album called My Tribal Roots which really should be in every serious music lover¡¯s collection was launched last year with his first single ¡°Throw Your Hands In The Air¡± topping the Radio Sabah FM charts. This was followed by the equally successful ¡°Here Comes The Sumazau¡±. MI 1 Rydee is also featured on the album. She lends her vocals to ¡°I¡¯m Leaving You¡±. This is truly a fantastic album. It¡¯s fresh & way cool with fantastic tunes & arrangements. Unfortunately, its only available in Sabah at the moment. It¡¯s costs around RM 25.00.)
As for Syafinaz, what¡¯s with the Colonial Finishing School Headmistress like dissertations. Ease up lah!. Dia orang itu semua tak faham apa awak cakap! Even worse was the eerie stare when analyzing the contestants¡¯ performances. Reminiscent of ¡°Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam¡±. It was more fearsome than Maya Karin¡¯s award winning potrayal. No wonder some of the contestants seemed petrified, speechless & confused. They must have been afraid their hearts may have been ripped out of their chest cavities.
The bottom line is, the normally sane, sensible & interesting Paul Moss seems to have traded his wits & creativity, in exchange for crankiness & nastiness. Syafinaz hasn¡¯t faired much better either, coming off a little brash & high brow. The only thing I really enjoyed from the show was one really super fast verbal assault on Syafinaz by Paul Moss:
SS to contestant Jorge: It¡¯s so difficult for me to say yes to you.
PM: That¡¯s why you are still single.
Paul, can we have more of that & less of what you generally dished out in KK? Syafinaz, please soften up and make sure the contestants understand what you guys are saying before you pull out the big guns and blast them.
That pretty much sums it about the inaugural OIAM episode. The season just started and already the show seems to have lost its appeal on me. Don¡¯t get me wrong. I am not anti OIAM or anything of that nature. I am probably one of its biggest supporters (after all that¡¯s what Rentak Sejuta is all about) but I will also be one of its hardest critics. I hope the producers of the show read what we have to say and use it as a platform to improve the program and make it truly something worth shouting about. The premise of the show should focus on inspiring Malaysians with talent to step up and chase their dreams, no matter who they are and where they aspire from, and should never be turned into a personal shooting gallery. Its agreed that they should not be sthingy fed but motivating, challenging & guiding instead of ridiculing, humiliating and beating them to a pulp, would definitely yield better results. Take heed guys.
As the sun sets over KK, I could almost hear both judges galloping off, guns smoking in the wind, leaving Borneo riddled with holes & plenty of broken souls.
The very wise & sensible Milokaiyeh described OIAM Episode 1 best and in one simple word, and I couldn¡¯t agree more. It was HOLLOW!!!
Cheers all. Hoping for a better Episode 2.
(featuring Paul ¡°John Wayne¡± Moss & Syafinaz ¡°Gary Cooper¡± Selamat)
Major apologies to all for not filing this review of Episode 1 much sooner. I do have a legitimate excuse though ¨C I was simply uninspired to do it. That should tell you a lot about Episode 1 of OIAM.
This much hyped, much talked about, most anticipated reality talent show ever to be featured on national TV, finally made its season opening debut. With much aplomb, we would expect. Unfortunately, that was not the case, as it was far from expectation. As excited as I was, looking forward to this show, my excitement ceased no sooner than the show progressed. I was truly disappointed. No, I was not expecting another Malaysian Idol. I was expecting more. Much much more.
This initial episode simply didn¡¯t seem to bring anything new to the party. In fact it paled in comparison to the previous ¡°Idol¡± shows. Perhaps the marketing machinery set the standards too high for the show to live up to. I will agree that it was just Episode 1 and I should not be too hasty to judge, but, you know, first impressions do count for a lot, as far as public perception is concerned. However, I was reasonably pleased that they decided to make the show 90 minutes long. But remember, its not always about the quantity. The quality matters most in the end.
I won¡¯t say much about the contestants apart from the fact that we weren¡¯t really shown any truly outstanding ones. Perhaps they were saving it for later. That¡¯s okay by me. Most of us are quite aware that Borneo has a fair share of undiscovered gems. Anyway we will leave that for when the time is right.
As for the brand new hosts, as excellent as they were discharging their duties professionally, there was clearly zero chemistry between them. That¡¯s a massive letdown as they are charged with setting of the tone for the show. We will just have to wait and see whether the sparks will fly in due course, but I seriously doubt it.
My biggest misgivings about Episode 1, however, lies with the way the judges were setting the tempo of the eliminations. If you thought the judges were disappointed with the attitudes of contestants, I more so with theirs.
Our much too fine judges, with their high & mighty noses in the air, MOSSied into KK town, wrapped up in their ¡°I know what¡¯s it all about¡± six gun toting city slicker attitudes, all set to mow down as many unsuspecting & underexposed Borneans down, in a bid to earn brownie points from the producers.
Show a little respect for the natives, ¡°dudes¡±. Don¡¯t just go trampling over them just because they don¡¯t fit your mould. This is after all laidback get to bed early KK and not the rat raced rush hour mad house KL that you live in. Things are different here. They don¡¯t run at the same pace as we do.
Many unfortunate contestants took unnecessary bashings and were shot down even before they could respond, simply because most of them could not understand what either of the judges were on about (and we are not just talking about the language barrier here). Hey guys. What maybe impressive discourse by college educated upper middle class folks in Seri Hartamas, Damansara or Bangsar, is not gonna make hay in the far corners of rainforest covered mountain separated small town Sabah or Sarawak.
Please realize that some of these contestants may have turned up from far flung ends of this rugged & disparate island, from small shanty towns, kampungs or dusuns. Most of them having spent a small fortune and enduring 10 - 12 hours or more of traveling on rickety old express buses, vans or wagons, just to make it to the auditions, and will likely be heading back immediately after. Most of them may have never even left their safe havens before, let alone set foot in KK. It would probably be their first time for a lot of them. Their exposure level may not be the same as those in Peninsular Malaysia. Most of them turn up, not knowing what to expect. The last thing these soft spoken locals needed was insult added to their injuries.
I certainly understand that taking the Mickey out of the contestants makes great reality TV and drives ratings for the show, but Paul Moss doesn¡¯t need to be nasty at every opportunity. Especially to people who really don¡¯t deserve it. Sadly for Paul, the insults seem less original these days and seem so recycled & tiresome. That makes pretty dull TV. I almost choked when I heard one line obviously ¡°borrowed¡± from Jacsville¡¯s slogan writing competition being used to praise a contestant. Aiyoh, Paul!!! Better work on newer material. The forumers here & in Blue Hyppo are way too sharp and will see right through it.
Another distressing concern is the fact that neither judges seem to have a consensus on the direction the show should be taking. I clearly remember Izham (8TV CEO) saying that both judges have been prepped on the selection criteria and well aware of their duties. We obviously didn¡¯t see that, did we? It¡¯s crystal that both judges seem to have their own interpretations. So what is it really? A singing competition or something else? Hey! Wait a minute. What did it say on the promotional poster? - ¡°Is your VOICE worth RM 1 million?¡± Hmm.
Well, even if you follow Paul¡¯s interpretation, I am surprised then that he did not find Atama (Andrew A. Mudi) interesting or different enough to put him through. Understandably Atama is no great singer but those who know this rapper/songwriter/producer who is a well known Kadazan Dusun Hip Hop sensation will be quite aware what a fantastic find this bloke is. Perhaps the producers didn¡¯t prep both the judges about this amazing once in a blue moon talent. Paul, you really need to do more info gathering before you knock people down. You wouldn¡¯t be so aloof with your comments if you had actually heard his album. You want something different & original, you can¡¯t go wrong with Atama. He¡¯s the real deal. Your loss guys. If I had RM 1 Million, I would definitely invest in him. (I remember telling Paul about Atama during MI days & asked him to check him out and to try and feature him on 8TV).
(Note: Atama was first featured in an article at Jacsville¡¯s forum last year. Atama¡¯s first album called My Tribal Roots which really should be in every serious music lover¡¯s collection was launched last year with his first single ¡°Throw Your Hands In The Air¡± topping the Radio Sabah FM charts. This was followed by the equally successful ¡°Here Comes The Sumazau¡±. MI 1 Rydee is also featured on the album. She lends her vocals to ¡°I¡¯m Leaving You¡±. This is truly a fantastic album. It¡¯s fresh & way cool with fantastic tunes & arrangements. Unfortunately, its only available in Sabah at the moment. It¡¯s costs around RM 25.00.)
As for Syafinaz, what¡¯s with the Colonial Finishing School Headmistress like dissertations. Ease up lah!. Dia orang itu semua tak faham apa awak cakap! Even worse was the eerie stare when analyzing the contestants¡¯ performances. Reminiscent of ¡°Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam¡±. It was more fearsome than Maya Karin¡¯s award winning potrayal. No wonder some of the contestants seemed petrified, speechless & confused. They must have been afraid their hearts may have been ripped out of their chest cavities.
The bottom line is, the normally sane, sensible & interesting Paul Moss seems to have traded his wits & creativity, in exchange for crankiness & nastiness. Syafinaz hasn¡¯t faired much better either, coming off a little brash & high brow. The only thing I really enjoyed from the show was one really super fast verbal assault on Syafinaz by Paul Moss:
SS to contestant Jorge: It¡¯s so difficult for me to say yes to you.
PM: That¡¯s why you are still single.
Paul, can we have more of that & less of what you generally dished out in KK? Syafinaz, please soften up and make sure the contestants understand what you guys are saying before you pull out the big guns and blast them.
That pretty much sums it about the inaugural OIAM episode. The season just started and already the show seems to have lost its appeal on me. Don¡¯t get me wrong. I am not anti OIAM or anything of that nature. I am probably one of its biggest supporters (after all that¡¯s what Rentak Sejuta is all about) but I will also be one of its hardest critics. I hope the producers of the show read what we have to say and use it as a platform to improve the program and make it truly something worth shouting about. The premise of the show should focus on inspiring Malaysians with talent to step up and chase their dreams, no matter who they are and where they aspire from, and should never be turned into a personal shooting gallery. Its agreed that they should not be sthingy fed but motivating, challenging & guiding instead of ridiculing, humiliating and beating them to a pulp, would definitely yield better results. Take heed guys.
As the sun sets over KK, I could almost hear both judges galloping off, guns smoking in the wind, leaving Borneo riddled with holes & plenty of broken souls.
The very wise & sensible Milokaiyeh described OIAM Episode 1 best and in one simple word, and I couldn¡¯t agree more. It was HOLLOW!!!
Cheers all. Hoping for a better Episode 2.
