I should explain. I mean relief, in the sense I'll be spared from it. For a couple of years now, I have forsaken a television service. I only watch catch up and streaming services, and in doing so, I save £145 per year by not paying a TV License. Sure- there are things I miss. I am a fan of documentaries, I like an edgy drama special now and then and enjoy debate and panel shows- but so much of television today is complete and utter dreck. Fly on the wall shows. Game shows. Talent shows. Parades of Z list celebrities trying to recapture an audience. "Talent" shows.
Which brings us neatly to Britain's Got Talent. Ironically- the show's title doesn't give me this feeling. "Britain's got a lot of shameless, grasping, attention seeking, desperate souls who will debase themselves on national television for a shot at easy money" might be a bit long, I suspect, but is closer to the mark. "Britain's got some Talent when you sift through all the shit" pretty much sums it up.
Be under no illusions. BGT is not out to make "stars;" it is out to make money. It is out to keep both of Cowell's Bugatti Veyrons purring along affluent roadsides.
Aside from that I hardly need to mock
It because it has gotten so ridiculous it is now a parody of itself. Everyone knows that some auditions are just included for ratings. Everyone knows these people shouldn't get through to the next rounds (but they inadvertently do) just to make "good television" and promote discussion. It's only through being discussed that shows like these maintain relevance at all.
I ask the same question of the genre that Bowling For Soup once did ("When Did reality, become TV?), but I have a particular distaste for "talent shows", particularly when there is music involved. I've stated already that I am a music elitist- for better or worse. I believe that music should come from that creative place deep inside every mind. It should come from how you feel about the world, how you feel about being in it, and sharing that with others. Talent shows make it all about money, fame and selling records. It's for Simon Cowell- not the artists.
However, because it is a catapult into the limelight, as opposed to the traditional methods of getting yourself out there musically, desperate and deluded souls will continue to sign up to try and get their shot. The reality is Britain does have talent, but it isn't on this programme; it's in the small venues around the UK just waiting to be found.
Artists who have built themselves up from the ground with integrity also have something these manufactured singers don't. Longevity. Even the ones who win talent competitions (with few exceptions like Will Young) have a year of success at best before their labels drop them and they fade into obscurity- only to be replaced by next year's winner.
I think that's what offends me most of all. It's not just that I don't like the manufactured pop these shows turn out; I can't respect any of it. It has no substance. Then again, the easily amused masses who keep these shows running don't respect it either; they're just interested in sampling the flavour of the month. I am a music elitist because I don't accept mediocrity. That's all these people are. They are a cheap and cheerful and inoffensive. Our Panem et Circenses. Nothing more than a distraction for those with low attention spans and money from which- like the proverbial fools- they are soon parted.
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