I just saw the ratings for “Idol” spinoff “The Next Great American Band” and wow, it bombed. Just 3.5 million people checked in, dead last among the five networks. That was even worse than “Friday Night Smackdown!” on the CW.
Do you think the target audience simply wasn’t home? Or is the concept unworkable for a mainstream broadcast network?
Personally, I enjoyed the show. The crazies were kept to a minimum and most of the 12 band finalists showed real talent. The Las Vegas desert provided a stunning vista and the producers fed us a few interesting backstories (the dude with the missing arms, the bands proclaiming this to be their last chance else they’ll disband et. al).
The judges were okay. Ian “Dicko” Dickson, the Australian Idol judge was fairly predictable in his meanness though he threw in a few good lines. (e.g. “I didn’t fly 15 hours to watch Mr. Ed sing Kim Wilde,” he said to one really awful band. To another: “Ladies - that was like a semifinal in a cat strangling competition. Really bad!” “There’s a touch of Ned Flander in you,” he said to a dorky singer.)
Johnny Rzeznik was dull with his comments while Sheila E showed verve and harped on musicality. She even went up and played some drums when a Latin band tried out but the band was’t good enough to make the cut.
No Georgia bands were among the final dozen though a Tifton group called Blackbird, shown briefly, made it past the first cut.
My favorites included Franklin Bridge, an all-black rock-funk group from Philadelphia. a decent 60s retro rock band Tres Bien, a gospel-tinged trio with great skills called the Clark Brothers, a tight country act named Sixwire (though they’ve had a couple of charting hits before) and the Likes of You, an L.A. rock band with a soaring lead vocalist.
An entertaining group of 12 year olds channeling Iron Maiden, Light of Doom, made the cut, as did a token all-female band, Rocket, who played “Blitzkrieg Bop” and weren’t half bad.
A quality big band act also made it through (“Denver and the Mile-High Orchestra).
Did anybody catch the show? I’m sure given that this has the “Idol” imprint on it, Fox will air it no matter how bad the ratings are. Fox hasn’t had a hit on Friday nights in years and I don’t think people are even conditioned to watch the network on Fridays anymore. The game isn’t over yet.
