Reality Bites Sings - Sing When You're Winning

So when did Sunday and Mondays become singing competition nights on television? So much for American Idol withdrawal.

Nashville Star. Canadian Idol. How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, High School Musical: Get In The Picture (starting July 20th on Sundays and Mondays).

One country. Another Idol. Then 2 for Musicals. Three if you count MTV's Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search For Elle which we can't get here in Canada (legally at least... ahem) which also airs on Mondays (at 10pm).

I was going to skip Canadian Idol this year but they just announced the Top 24 and in a first, they did NOT split it evenly between boys and girls with only 9 girls and 15 boys in the finals because the boys were just so much better this year. That kind of excited me because while 2 of the best Canadian Idol winners have been girls (Melissa O'Neil and Eva Avila), I usually find the Canadian boys were generally better and more exciting and avoided the belty ballads (Brian Melo, Jacob Hogar, Kalan Porter etc). So I'll have to check it out tonight (8pm on CTV).

There's already Nashville Star (NBC) on Mondays (9pm on NBC) which I'll probably drop since there's really no one I really like except for Tommy (below, although he reminds me a bit of Elliot Yamin) and to look at Justin.

I usually like the competition because I find the judges (this year with Jewel, John Rich (from Big & Rich) and Jeffrey Steele) are actually quite constructive and I actually love country but this year I find there's very little talent to work with. No one has impressed me at all and the only person I could find myself wanting to listen to in the future is Tommy.

Finally, I just recieved my subscription tickets to The Sound of Music at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto so now I actually CARE who gets cast as Maria in the CBC show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?. Plus, I didn't realize Torchwood hottie John Barrowman was coming to judge the Canadian version of the UK hit. I may have to go stalk the CBC building on Front St. this summer. Or Niagara Falls.

And based on the audition shows and tonight's first round of live performances I think I like Allie the best. She's kinda awkward and looks like Sarah Silverman's little sister but there's something about her I really like. And if you think about it, Maria is supposed to be a bit awkward too isn't she? Plus bonus points to Allie for singing a Byork song.

Donna has a nice voice. Katie and Kyla were NOT good. Janna has a good voice but totally wrong type of voice for Maria. I didn't mind Tamara, Marisa or Jayme. I can barely remember Elicia or Allison at this point but I don't remember hating them. Still, I just watched it so that's not a great sign.

I guess the show hews closely to the British original down to the gay blond host, with Canadian Gavin Crawford taking Graham Norton's duties (though I like Norton better, so far Crawford is kind of annoying). Well, at least they brought over Barrowman. Seriously, the CBC building is 2 blocks away from my gym. I'll need to go more often this summer.

Meanwhile, ABC (and CTV by default) continues to milk the High School Musical phenom with High School Musical: Get In The Picture and sad to say, but I'm super duper excited even when the prize is just a lamo spot in the video during the CREDITS of High School Musical 3.



Still, another competition for musical theatre kids/nerds. How awesome! Let's just hope Maria? and HSM turns out better than Grease on Broadway (even though I actually liked Laura and Max).