Wednesday, July 22, 2009

My Love/Love Relationship With "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?"


When you read scripts for a living, it's very difficult to be surprised by plot twists. Even when you haven't read the episode in question, the formulas across the board tend to become obvious. So my love for "reality" show / musical audition program "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" has tripled in recent weeks.

This show is CRAZY. They make the losers participate in sudden-death sing-offs in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and then the person voted off is forced to sing "So Long, Farewell" from Sound of Music as they tearfully exit stage left. How will I survive when it ends next week?!

Let's discuss the panel of judges. First we have absurdly good-looking actor guy John Barrowman, who is exactly like Tom Cruise, if Tom Cruise were less Tom Cruise-y. I guess he's on a popular Dr. Who spin-off that I've never seen. Nor do I happen to watch Dr. Who. But he's famous and attractive and gets to make remarks like, "You can be my leading lady anytime, baby."

Next up is the semi-evil vocal coach, Zoe. She is tough to please, and usually gets the audience all riled up and angry when she critiques the vocal stylings of the contestants. Still, I think she's fair, and willing to work with people and give them second chances.

Lastly is the white-haired, slightly older-looking theater producer man whose name escapes me... The problem is, I can't Google this stuff yet because I don't want to inadvertently spoil the identity of the winner. The show airs on BBC America, and has presumably crowned its Maria in Britain already, so if I look up the show I risk ruining my life. But anyway, Producer Man was gushingly in love with Sioban at first, but now he seems to have realized that she might not actually have the acting chops to be Maria.

I am putting all my hopes, dreams and money on Connie for the win!!

2 comments:

  1. Hey, love the shiney new blog! I never watched How Do You Solve... it just wasn't my thing, but John Barrowman, although devistatingly handsome, is a bit like Marmite in England, which is a weird kind of, erm, paste that people put on their morning toast and people either love it or hate it. There is NO middle ground when it comes to Barrowman. And 'Torchwood' the Dr. Who spinoff just got axed because it's largely made of Fail, and people stopped watching because the plots were awful. Bless him. He's on EVERYTHING though, so I think he'll be famous for a while. After this show, they do one looking for a Joseph ala Technicolor Dreamcoat.

    kirst

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  2. Thanks, Kirsty! Every time I watch the show, my husband flees the room, but not before sort of squinting at the TV in appalled confusion and going, "Why is Tom Cruise there??"

    Say no more about Marmite, we've been teasing my mom (who's British) about it for years ;) I love that you made that comparison, though.

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