I can’t believe I’m even going to blog about this
on May 31 in General by DanLast night we watched the final of Britain’s Got Talent. In my defense I only watched it because Amy wanted to. Over the last few weeks she’s become quite the fan of the show, although she has tended to only watch it when she’s sleeping over at her grandparents house as they are a little bit more liberal when it comes to extending bedtimes than we are.
I’m actually quite pleased Amy likes the show so much. One of my perennial rants is about the fact that kids these days (or at least my kids these days) aren’t exposed any types of TV other than that found on Cbeebies, Nick Jr, or Playhouse Disney. If the current trend of DVR’s, TV-on-demand, and box-set television continues then they might even grow up in a world where you only consume programs on TV that you actually want to watch. Back in my day TV shows were there to be suffered through until the program you actually wanted to see came on. Just as life would not be so sweet if it weren’t for death, The Intercepter wouldn’t be half so good if you hadn’t had to sit through Highway and Bullseye to get to it.
Anything I can do to steer Amy and Evan off their diet of specifically targeted kids shows can’t be a bad thing. Even if it does involve watching the insufferably smug Piers Morgan, a man who I would quite happily give a resounding punch up the bracket should I ever meet him in the street.
So last night we watched the final of Britain’s got talent. We even voted. Twice! Amy wanted to go for Hollie Steel, because she was: a) A girl, and b) sometimes wore pink. I myself went for the dance troupe Diversity. Not particularly for the dancing, which granted was excellent as you’d expect for a final, but for the choreography which was superb and massively creative. I’m not the biggest fan of dance, and am very reluctant to actually pay to see it. All the live shows I’ve seen have had some sort of added value to them (Stomp: drumming, Carnival Messiah: Caribbean Music, and Angelena Ballerina: the happiness of a 5 year old girl). But I’d definitely pay to see those guys. They put both Transformers and Superman in their dance routine for goodness sake, you can’t get much better than that.
Diversity won the show, quite rightly too. Internet sensation Susan Doyle (or Mad Eye Moody as I like to call her) came second. According to the mighty Wikipedia she lost by only 329 votes, which seems bloody close to me and I’m not sure how reliable that figure is. The whole cafuffle over Boyle has been both irritating and patronizing. The way that the program makers attempted to manipulate the audience in the initial introductory sequence as she came on stage was both blatant and crude. Oh look, here come a slightly odd looking overweight middle aged woman. There’s no way she could possibly have any talent at all because she isn’t good looking. Lets all laugh at the funny ugly looking woman…
Oh my god she can sing!! The ugly woman can sing!! How can this be? Surely only young attractive people have vocal chords arranged in a way which makes them capable of producing a pleasant noise? The universe has been turned on it’s head! The world will never be the same again!
Fuckers.
Sure she can sing, but I’ve heard better. And, while I hope I’m wrong, I suspect she’s regretting ever signing up for the auditions of the show. From the few stories I’ve absorbed on the periphery of my awareness it seems that she’s not handling the attention very well. And there’s nothing the British press like more than building someone up and then tearing them back down again. Poor old Susan Boyle has been cynically exploited, and I hope the bastards who did it to her one day get their comeuppance,
Anyway, here’s the video of Diversity’s winning performance.
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Many people who sing opera and do it well aren’t exactly the thinnest, most attractive people, so I don’t understand why everyone has such a hard-on for Susan Boyle being able to sing decently. She’s not even that amazing. The whole thing just drives me crazy.
Avitables last blog post..My review of Drag Me To Hell (Spoiler Free)
It’s surprised me how quick the let’s love Susan Boyle – let’s hate Susan Boyle thing has happened.
Very true what you say about telly though, I can’t remember the last time I sat down just ‘to watch telly’, whatever may come on.
I was plugging for Diversity too I must say.
Xbox4NappyRashs last blog post..Simmer, then bring to the boil
I get annoyed at the Susan Boyle hype too. You put it well, that talent is talent and not about beauty.. shocking isn’t it!
Amanda Janes last blog post..Great Grandmother Layout
That’s it. You blame the kid.
I have spared myself from the dross of BGT. A dance group? Give me a break. Mind, I’ve become a self righteous TV snob of late. I even had a pop at my mother’s soap watching last week.
So perhaps I should keep my typing to myself.
SingleParentDads last blog post..A Video Explanation (of sorts)
We watched the finals, via YouTube, which means we could skip through the boring sax solos and whatnot.
I’ll agree with you that the Diversity choreographer had more talent than anyone. They were fun to watch, and my kids asked to watch them twice. Flawless were fun too.
I was kind of hoping Stavros Flatley would win just because that would show what a joke these sorts of talent shows really are.
As for Susan Boyle, I hope she makes some nice money out of this experience and then retires happily back to her cat. She endeared herself to me not by her singing but by her quoting Fawlty Towers in the semifinals.
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Hi Dan,
Just found your site. I’m embarking on a similar lifestyle. I’ll come back again soon.
All the best,
Drake
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We watched it and I have to agree that I would pay to see Diversity but not any of the others.
I suppose you’ve seen the news today that Susan Boyle had a breakdown and is now in The Priory? I guess fame just aint all it’s cracked up to be!
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‘… not handling the attention well’ indeed! And – irrespective of whatever sympathy she now deserves for being so exploited – she didn’t sing particularly well on Saturday. Like you, I was watching for the first time having been almost begged by Sally. What shocked me was the exploitation of young children – whether ‘dancing’ with their fathers or singing with their grandads or alone. Surely that was worse. At least Susan Boyle was a grown-up (if vulnerable) woman…
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Mate, if you want to punch Piers Morgan for being a smug twat then you’re going to have to get behind me in the queue.
I was so sad to hear about Susan Boyle. Blumming evil press gits. I loved Diversity too and we wanted them to win. AND, I once sent hate mail to Piers Morgan when I was a kid. I cut little letters out of newspapers. You’re a bit scared of me now aren’t you. Muwah ha ha haaa.
Jo Beaufoixs last blog post..Bed Time Stories from Disney Blu-Ray
I got a good kicking on my blog when I mentioned after Ms Boyles first audition that she sang the words without feeling the song and compared the video of her singing with a video from Les Mis – there’s no comparison in terms of performance – Ms Boyle was/is a soul-less bag of rags by comparison.
Anyway, at least my video links worked ;)
Garys last blog post..Greg Mulholland – top bloke
I, too, was appauled by the way they set her up to suceed just because of what she looked like and that she could sing. It just came off as being in bad taste to me.
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Avitable – It’s all to do with how the producers of the show edited her first appearance on it. They are clever buggers, if not a little manipulative.
Xbox – It’s been years since I’ve just watched TV passively. The trend for audiences seeing out shows that they want to watch is behind ITV’s failure I think.
Amanda – Exactly.
SingleParentDad – Dance has a lot going for it. It may be a bit populist, but I challenge you to go watch Stomp and not enjoy yourself.
Idaho Dad – I almost voted for Stavros Flatley, but was a little uncomfortable about them using the fat kid as a source of humour.
Drake – You sir are a spammer.
Penelope – I’d love to know what exactly has gone on, proffessionaly speaking of course. sounds like she’s had some kind of psychotic episode from the bits I’ve heard.
Tim – the one with the grandad I think was probably old enough, but the other kids I agree were definately being exploited. Especially the Stavros Flatly kid who I imagine is going to have a hard time living his appearance down at school i should imagine. Essentially the joke boiled down to “look at the fat kids belly wobbling”
Jo – Wow, hate mail as a child? You certainly were advanced. I demand a post about it on your blog.
Gary – I apologize for not leaping to your defense, I must have read your post before you started getting comments on it. And my vid works for me.
James – Exceptionally bad taste, and I’m surprised more people didn’t see through it. Although I imagine most did but it’s the direction the press goes in which often appears to be the way popular opinion flows, even if in reality most people have the opposite view.
Dan – you mean you’re vid doesn’t say “Embedding disabled by request” on it when you look ?
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