Indie Idol?
Furthering the thoughts from the last post: Isn’t it strange that there’s practically no regularly scheduled show devoted exclusively to live pop music performances on North American television, aside from bands appearing in the music slot on talk shows, awards shows, Live 8-type events, and presented-after-the-fact concert films? (and, maybe at a stretch, the Pop Idol shows?)
The UK (and presumably, other European countries) have had a long history of these kinds of shows - Ready, Steady, Go!, The Old Grey Whistle Test, So It Goes, The Tube, Later with Jools Holland, and even if it’s lipsynced, Top of the Pops.
Why doesn’t any TV network in Canada have some sort of show like this? Did we ever have a real live-music show that was…you know, for kids?
Something where new bands and artists just come on and play to a live audience - and it’s not a variety show, music isn’t a tacked-on bookend or a filler between comedy sketches, and the focus is on new pop and rock music. It can’t cost that much to produce.
Ideally it’d be a pure showcase - really live, screwups and all - but I suppose doing one segment as a kind of ongoing talent review - call it Indie Idol - with judges from the biz, audience votes, phone voting, email comments…they get career advice, exposure, a good critique and studio time.
The networks have studios in every city in Canada; the talent is there, all it needs is a bit of coordination. I’d recommend the CBC for this job, purely because a) it needs this kind of shot in the arm with a youth audience, given how they squandered the potential of great shows like Big Life and Pilot 1 in the 90s, and managed to make Play the most boringly Torontocentric navelgaze in history; b) they can leverage talent like the folks that produce Brave New Waves; and c) they can be seen as relatively neutral, not being a media conglomerate like Bell Globemedia, Quebecor, Rogers etc.
Your thoughts, music lovers?
April 16, 2006 2:27 PM
Comments
There had been attempts in the past, my colleague Ken pointed out by email - Ear to the Ground and MusicWorks, but neither got the promotion or the budget to do much. I had friends in a band that once went on ETTG and they said it was a huge hassle because they all had to join the Musician’s Union in order to play a TV gig, otherwise they’d have had to pay huge fees or fines or something. If they’re going to encourage unsigned talent, they’ve got to lower the barriers to entry - or maybe do it all on the Internet as you say, with CBC 3.
What I love about the British TV model is they don’t automatically think in terms of 22-episode seasons that run forever in syndication - they do a 6-episode mini thing, or a one-off like The Prisoner, and then the people involved go off to do something else like a play or a movie. And there’s enough rotation of talent so that there’s always something fresh happening; in fact it’s a lot more like the Quebec model. Something CBC Toronto could maybe take a hint from, endlessly throwing money at my long-lost twin Don McKellar does not necessarily produce good TV.
wrote AJ Kandy on April 18, 2006 10:30 AM
heh heh you DO look a little like Don McKeller!
Couldn’t TVO and Rogers local cable programming have got away with this kind of variety show?
I can only see the equivalent of “college radio” being able to do an indie tv show. How about College tv? Well, I guess thats eaxctly what the volunteers at cable programing at Rogers are up to…?
Much musics only indie attempt is bands in the studio, but it sure draws a buzzz….and The Edge always has bands come in to play, but again radio…
Maybe this vaccuum exists because as soon a s a band can write some songs they themselves are working on recording and marketing then they get played right away on Much Music. This helps compensate for Cancon, No? Play any ol band to reach the ratio?
wrote Candy Minx on April 19, 2006 10:52 AM
Howdy!
American Bandstand
Your Hit Parade
It’s Showtime at the Apollo
The Midnight Special
Shindig!
Soul Train
And then there’s MTV, Much Music, VH1 and all their brethren.
wrote Zeke on April 22, 2006 4:28 PM
Hey Chris,
Thanks for reminding me of all those great US shows. We rarely got to see most of those except for Bandstand and occasionally Soul Train.
My point is, MTV/Much/VH et al don’t really focus on live performances, they focus on playing music videos. Which is great from an exposure point of view, but like commercial radio, it’s all kind of bought up and playlisted, it’s not like they go out of their way to explore scenes; it’s not part of their mandate to break unsigned talent, either.
wrote AJ Kandy on April 22, 2006 8:15 PM
It’s a pretty good idea. Maybe it could tie in with the gang at CBC Radio 3.
I see BBC TV when I go to the UK and what strikes me is how much choice there is. They can put out sophmoric sit-coms, raunchy sketch comedy, chat shows, music shows, and dramas (I’m dying to see Life on Mars). And they do it all without this sense of self-consciousness and earnestness CBC programming tends to have. Of course the Beeb is much better funded than the CBC (thanks to liscence fees) but still…
Something like you suggest could be a lot of fun to watch, which is something that’s been missing from the CBC lately.
wrote John on April 17, 2006 3:30 PM