On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 9:25 AM, Pollak, Melissa F. <[email protected]> wrote: > > What can I say? Dave nailed it. > > I find it amusing to contemplate: > > The message that SNL sends out to the TV audience: these are good singers. > The message that AI sends out to the TV audience: these are good singers. > > Now, which message has more credibility than the other? > > And, yet those who buy the former message are oftentimes the first to dismiss > the second. Makes no sense.
This is a little confusing. When I read someone bashing the recent musical guests on SNL I have an urge to nod my head in agreement - but when I do that I am not thinking "Yes, the music on American Idol is so much better". Indeed, I guess the unarticulated thought I have is that what is wrong with the music on SNL in recent years is that it is too much like the music on American Idol. But the truth is it may be that all three claims (1: SNL music sucks; 2: SNL music is not enough like AI music and 3: SNL music is too much like AI music) are exaggerated. Here is a list of the musical guests for the first 16 episodes of SNL this year (including the next episode): 637: Lil' Wayne 638: Kings of Leon 639: Duffy 640: The Killers 641: Adele 642: Coldplay 643: David Cook 644: Beyonce 645: Ludacris 646: T.I. 647: Kanye West 648: Taylor Swift 649: Fleet Foxes 650: Jason Mraz 651: TV on the Radio 652. Jonas Brothers I am not that familiar with Rap music, so I can't really comment on the quality, but I believe Lil' Wayne, Ludacris and Kanye West are well regarded in that genre. I am not at all familiar with T.I. and had forgotten he was on SNL this year, but the wikis tell me he is at least a successful rap artist. I know David Cook was the AI "winner" last year, and, while I never did get clear on this, I have the impression that Taylor Swift was an AI contestant at some point in the past (or if not, her music clearly seems to be "AI type music"). Jason Mraz gives me diabetes, but he seems to be popular, and I would classify him as "AI type" (maybe he was on AI at some time?), and the Jonas Brothers seem clearly to be in that same AI mold. I like (even when I don't love) Kings of Leon, Duffy, The Killers, Adele, Fleet Foxs and Cold Play, and I noticed that three or four of them were prominently represented at the recent Grammys. Beyonce is I think both a successful pop song seller and a well respected singer. I am not a huge fan of TV on the Radio (their Colbert gig did not do much more for me than their SNL) but they are the kind of act that I like to see SNL have on, whether it works or not. If I were programming the SNL music I would have omitted all of the AI type performers, pruned maybe two of the rap artists and taken a few more chances on lesser known but promising acts (and, disagreeing with Dave Sikula, I think this is the kind of thing that the Letterman people actually do a pretty good job with). But over all, given the commercial realities of even late night network television, I don't think this list of musical guests is all that bad. In response to Melissa, is it really your claim that this list of 16 musical acts is significantly inferior to the final 16 singers on AI in any recent season? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
