"Talent" Shows

             We have all heard of at least one type of talent show that is on television: America’s Got Talent, American Idol, The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance. American Idol has been around for more than a century and the number of talent shows is on the rise. What is it about these show’s that capture our attention and leave us wanting more? Let’s first talk about how popular these types of shows are. According to the website, tvbythenumbers, America’s Got Talent raked in 11.3 million viewers for it’s season finale last week (yes, I did watch it). The X Factor had almost 7 million for its premiere; the twelfth season of America Idol had 7 million as well, and that is down from the tip of its hype with 37 million viewers. So I think it is safe to say that America has a weird obsession with watching other people perform their talent. All of these shows have a different type of talent; American Idol and The Voice are about singing, So You Think You Can Dance is, well you guessed it, about dance. America’s Got Talent is a little bit of anything and everything (one of the main reasons why I enjoy watching it, but we will get to that).

            As we talked about in class, all of television has a narrative and this stands true for these talent shows as well. The next closest narrative to these shows would be a game show narrative, yet talent shows are slightly different. They all have live audiences, which are shown a couple times during the episode. Since these shows are mostly filmed and/or shown live, multi camera filming is used so that edits can be done while filming. They also all have judges that sit at a table that is across from the large stage that the contestants perform on. These judges play a different role in the wide variety of talent shows but their main purpose is to decide who is still in the competition or not. Some judges, like in the Voice, play an active role and actually coach the contestants and work with them on techniques and skills. On the other end of the spectrum, America’s Got Talent, the judges only participate in the first round of decisions and from then on, America chooses who they want as a contestant so the judge just sit back and give their two cents when Nick Cannon asks them for it.

            So why are we obsessed with these types of shows? Do we enjoy watching others who are much more talented than us?  Do girls just watch The Voice in order to see Adam Levine talk? (That is a rhetorical question). Or do we just like the cruel things that Simon and Howard Stern say about contestants? Do we enjoy seeing people’s successful journeys towards winning? One of the top 6 finalists on America’s Got Talent did an interview with realitytvworld.com and was talking about how she never played a show outside her hometown before. She was quiet and shy on the show so some people could relate to her. She made it all the way to top 6 but was cut there. But in the interview, she states that now she wants to pursue music more since she received so much positive feedback from the judges and America as well. That is the positive end of the reasons why we love these shows. At the dark end, shows like American Idol, have slotted times where they put the people they think the viewers will make fun of. All you have to do is go to YouTube and search “bad American Idol auditions” and hundreds of videos will pop up. Is our nation like the bully at school that gets to sit there and watch other people make a fool of themselves? This is not the only negative aspect of these shows. As a blogger mentioned on flavorwire.com, these talent shows are not even guaranteed to work. The winner from the show is promised money, a short career or some combination of both. Emphasis on short. If enough people like the second or even tenth place winner, they could have just a good of a chance of making a career out of the show that the first place winner has. So is it truly a talent show?

            I think one of the main reasons that they are so popular is because they are easy and cheap to make. They only have to pay the judges since they are the ones under contract from the station. The performers are the ones doing the entertaining and they usually only need a stage and a microphone. The audience members are there for entertainment and background noise to make it look like a popular show. They pay to attend these shows so the network does not even need to pay them. It is a quick, easy and entertaining way to make large amounts of money. Is the system jaded?

            With all the negative things now out in the open we can look at talent shows for what they are. While the shows do have negative aspects to them, they are also uplifting and inspirational. They give us hope that our favorite contestant will win. They suck you in with weekly eliminations. Some of them do showcase raw, unnerving talent in Americans. So while they can be depicted as a high school bully, or networks exploiting us for our money, they can also be the most popular things on television. 

Works Cited 

1. NBC's America's Got Talent Tops Year-Ago Finale, Sara Bibel, September 19, 2013.      http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/09/19/nbcs-americas-got-talent-tops-year-ago-finale/203758/

2. America's Got Talent Top 6 Finalist Cami Bradley talks about her time on the show (part 2), Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, September 20, 2013. http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-america-got-talent-top-6-finalist-cami-bradley-talks-about-her-time-on-show-%28part-2%29-15311.php 

3. In Praise of the TV Talent Show Weirdo, Tom Hawking, May 29, 2013