Friday, March 26, 2010

A dull start to the season…

After all the hype about the principal and the two co-hosts, the Konsert Tirai Akademi Fantasia 8 was a huge let down. I could not see potential in any of the students, except maybe Shah and Iwan. But, even then, I consider them not outstanding but just slightly better than the rest of them.


Their choice of songs were, in my opinion, bad or a big mistake, to say the least, especially ‘Pelisit Kota’ sang by Anum. I wondered if this girl actually understood what it meant, but, going by the way she dropped herself on the floor and prowled the stage on all four, it meant like she understood it very well and it could even be a depiction of herself! If she’s not, she had me fooled. I simply can’t erase that image of her prowling on the stage floor, but I tell you, it isn’t a good impression that she left of herself on me.

What can I say, none of the kids this season so far has left any good lasting impression on me. Unlike last season where the minute I saw Aril in the first episode, I already told myself that I am going to be keeping a lookout for that guy. So was it too two seasons ago when Nubhan, Riz and Stacy caught my attention at the first sight. Though I didn’t think that Nubhan could sing that season, but he was cute enough that I actually wanted to watch the diary just to catch him. It looks like he is now one of the more successful graduates from Season 6, besides Stacy, of course, and Riz.

I caught the 1st concert last Saturday, hoping to see some improvements in the kids’ performance now that they have gone through a week of proper training. Unfortunately, I was still just as disappointed when I watched the Tirai as when I watched the first concert. None of the students were actually outstanding. I have even forgotten what songs they sang!

I simply can’t understand why Astro has to have the results show on Sunday night instead of finishing off everything on Saturday night itself like it did for 7 seasons. Why are they trying to copy Americal Idol and Sejati Berdansa? AF is unique the way it was. But, now, it is just like any other reality shows.

Even my hubby (yup! He has an opinion on this as I took away the TV remote control from him that Sunday night! LOL!) was in the opinion that having the Debaran the next day is simply too taxing and stressful for the kids, having to spend another day of waiting to see who gets kicked out instead of having the Sunday to relax and take it easy, though they may be sad to have one of their friends booted out.

Shhhh…I think it is also stressful for my hubby as now he has to give up the TV remote control on 2 nights a week instead of only one night as in previous seasons. LOL! *wink*

Don’t worry, hubby. After watching the first Debaran last Sunday, I doubt it if I will want to watch the Debaran every Sunday night. I think I’d rather watch CSI instead. It is more intriguing, interesting and suspense filled! LOL!

I pity Sarimah who had to use all her imagination to try to fill in the 30 minutes. Sarimah is known to be very talkative, but last Sunday, I thought I saw her several times at a lost for words as to what to say. It is also not in her to get all emotional, or rather, she was controlling her emotions too much that her emotions looked faked.

She hasn’t got it in her, yet, or rather, she needs to build up the skill to pull at people’s heart string to make us feel the emotions with her. I even cringed as I hear her try to control her emotions, even half expecting her to fumble and laugh instead of cry.

And then, after the results were announced, she had to rush Shah to quickly finish off his thank you speech as it was almost time. We did not even get to see Shah go down stage to say goodbye to his teachers. It was a pity. It was either Sarimah had failed to work within her time, or, Astro had failed to plan the whole Debaran.

It was a pity too that Sarimah had to get all dressed up, I am sure many hours in advance, only to appear for 30 minutes! The dress she wore that night was even better looking than the one she wore on the 1st concert night itself, which was a pity because we only get to see it for a mere 20 minutes when you take away all those commercial breaks.

Oh! Another thing….all those tears while singing the bonus song which I have forgotten what the song was, was simply too much and over dramatic. It was overly dramatic to the extent of even being sickening.

It was understandable how their emotions were in that night as one of them will be booted out that night. But, it was a way bit too much. This was what my hubby meant when he said that having the Debaran on Sunday was too taxing and stressful for the kids, and I must say that I agree. Their emotions were on high after performing the night before and having to wait a whole day before knowing the results as to who gets to stay and who gets the axe is simply too much to handle for some of them who might already be suffering from the emotional turmoil of being separated from their families.

One girl (I have forgotten her name) was so stressed out that she threw out after the concert and was so sick that she had to be admitted. What does that say about Astro’s new format on the AF?

I wish that Astro would revert back to the way it was where the results would be announced the very same night of the concert. But, I guess Astro had already signed a contract with Sarimah to host the Debaran for the whole season. I am sure that they would have to compensate Sarimah if they were to pull out from that contract, not to mention the compensation to the sponsors during the 30 minutes of Debaran.

Looks like we will just have to bear with this format for this season, but, don’t expect me to sit in front of the TV to watch the Debaran every Sunday. I’d rather be intrigued with a case over at CSI rather than put my emotions on high with over dramatic kids and host.

Note - photo taken from Akademi Fantasia's official website

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