Just like old times: Ant (in white jersey) and Dec performing – as PJ & Duncan – during the big reunion segment of their variety show, Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
American Idol is finally over ... at least for now.
AMERICANS cast their vote last week and Candice Glover won. Thus ends another long and boring season of American Idol (Star World and 8TV).
(Cue frantic cheers and leaps of joy from audiences all over the world.)
Will this be the last that we see of the long-running reality-based singing competition? Last Friday’s finale saw the show’s lowest ever ratings (14.3 million viewers in the United States, which is a 33% drop from last year’s already dwindling number); that’s a clear indication of American Idol’s decreasing popularity.
Some put the blame on the judges – apparently, two bickering divas sandwiched between dull, docile men make for horrible TV viewing – while others think the contestants are just too boring and not good enough. Whatever it is, fixing this “problem” will not be an easy or a cheap task for Fox, the network that runs the show. Apart from acquiring new judges (Randy Jackson has announced his exit, while the others have yet to confirm anything), the network also has to search for a variety of contestants that viewers will remember from the first time they appear on screen.
Also, bring back Simon Cowell.
Another variety show that has been around for more than a decade is Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV Choice), hosted by the irrepressible duo, Anthony “Ant” McPartlin and Declan “Dec” Donnelly. Last weekend’s programme was a very special one, especially to those who were big fans of British pop music at the beginning of the new millennium.
But before we get into that, let’s find out what makes Saturday Night Takeaway such a fun show. First of all, it’s a variety show for the people. Studio audiences get the chance to win wonderful prizes, like a holiday for the whole family, a car, a state-of-the-art dishwasher... The contestants need to do some things before they can get their hands on the prize, of course, but they are usually very easy like a general knowledge quiz, sing the winning Eurovision song, etc.
Apart from giving away prizes, Ant and Dec also send their teams out all over Britain, Wales and Ireland to give folks a chance to win tickets to attend the live show, which is shot in London. Actually, they send “The Super Computer”, a gigantic machine fitted with a camera and a screen. If you were interested in going to Saturday Night Takeaway, all you need to do is stand in front of The Super Computer and do whatever it tells you to. At the end of it, you will receive one of two sets of tickets that either say “lucky” or “unlucky”. It’s a funny segment in itself, because the things that people do rank from hilarious to really, really stupid.
Anyway, back to last week’s special show. For the live performance segment, Ant and Dec got three of Britain’s top pop groups of the last decade together on stage – 5ive, Blue and Atomic Kitten! It was sort of a promotional stint for another special programme that ITV2 had produced, called The Big Reunion, which put these three groups alongside 911, B*Witched, Honeyz and Liberty X.
To add to the fun, Ant and Dec decided to put on their old digs and bring back the good old days of PJ & Duncan! (Before they were Ant & Dec, the duo was known as PJ & Duncan, a pop group that was known for their funky pop-rap tunes.) PJ & Duncan – Ant is PJ, Dec is Duncan – played their biggest hit, Let’s Get Ready To Rumble. After not performing for so many years, PJ & Duncan did very well, jumping around the stage like how they used to and never skipping a word or a beat.
Ah, nostalgia. It can’t be beat. n Do you think American Idol deserves another season? Do you think more British variety programmes should be shown on other TV channels in Malaysia? Tell us on Twitter (@MyStarTwo).
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