Video Beat SUPER MAX - PINOY DREAM ACADEMY DISASTER - USA OLYMPIC BASKETBALL TEAM TV SPECIAL

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

USA Olympic Basketball Team TV Special - The Pinoy Dream Academy judges have this mightier than thou attitude whereupon they talk down and humiliate the contestants rather than critique them - The Bloom Fell Off The Rose - Recommended TV Listings

Monday June 30, 2008

USA Olympic Basketball Team Special

The Men’s Senior National Team will be profiled in a five-part documentary series, “Road To Redemption presented by NIKE”, it was announced today. The series, produced by NBA Entertainment, will debut with a special one-hour episode that will air Wednesday, July 2 at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN2 in the USA.

As part of the series, NBA Entertainment will document the entire story of the USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team and its preparations for competition this summer in Beijing, China. NBA Entertainment’s cameras will have access to team practices, off-the-court activities and exhibition games that show how a group of elite NBA players work to come together to become one cohesive basketball team. Viewers will also learn about the new era of USA Basketball through vast archival interviews and exclusive access to USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team managing director Jerry Colangelo, head coach Mike Krzyzewski and members of the USA team.

FULL STORY

PINOY DREAM ACADEMY - DISASTER REPEAT

It seems that the popularity of American Idol judges featuring the aggorance of Simon Cowell has spread a disease around the world for reality show talent contest judges. In the Southeast Asian region we have witnessed wanna be Cowell type judges on talent programs from Thailand, Malaysia Indonesia and now the worst of all The Philippines.

The worst example of what not to do is displayed by the inept judges on the second season of the Pinoy Dream Academy. The judges have this mightier than thou attitude whereupon they talk down and humiliate the contestants rather than critique them. They all have totally lost the plot of their responsibilities and seem to seek their 15 minutes of fame by performing and not judging. It's as though they want to get the most mileage out of their time on the TV screen.

The most flagrant abuse of their role since last season when a judge made ripping sarcastic remarks to Iya after her excellent performance resulting in her being eliminated occurred this year when judge (?) Gerard Salonga made a fool out of himself by berating contestant Sheng (MICHELLE BELMONTE) 25, about her performance. "I didn't like that," he said with an arrogant tone.

One problem for an English language listener is that the Filipinos speak in broken English using some English words mixed with their native tongue. I speak some Spanish and understand some of their native language but most importantly you read more by the tone of their voice, facial expressions, contestant facial expression and reaction as well as the crowd reaction.

After going to the Dream Academy website the words in English sound a lot less caustic as what you see and hear on the telecast. For Solonga the website noted:

Among all the three jurors in the Second Gala Night, Gerard Salonga somehow stood out all throughout the show. Simply put, he was frank and quite tactless. His words were spared of a lot of sugarcoating that his co-jurors tried to maintain. It was quite hard not to notice all the comments he left because of their sharp quality. Unluckily for Sheng, she was one of the chosen dartboards.

As for his over-all evaluation of Sheng's performance: he didn't like it. He said it was somehow a pretentious act. He assumed that what she had showed them wasn't really who she is, so all he could say to end Sheng's misery was "practice harder and listen to your coaches."

As they say it's not what you say but HOW YOU SAY IT. Solonga got it wrong 1000%. What the website failed to note is that Solanga mentioned her performance was with "smoke and mirrors."

The website did note that: After the Gala Night, Sheng seemed to be a little shaken, which some of her co-Scholars immediately noticed. In the living room, where she was around the comfort of her friends, she confided what was bothering her. Unfortunately, Gerard Salonga’s assessment hit her big time. A little teary-eyed, she shared that she had received a lot of bad comments about her performances before, but she had never ever encountered someone like him. She said that his comment was too painful for her to accept.

Judge Isay Alverez was on camera the following day explaining why Sheng was nominated for probation and possible elimination form the program. Alvarez admitted that Sheng's choice of song greatly affected their decision. She also said that Sheng somehow had problems with the song's high notes. Again arrogance was detected in Alverez's facial expressions and tone of voice.

Both of these judges are supposed to be performers themselves. It would be interesting to see and hear their talent since they are respected so much by the Dream Academy producers to be given the responsibility of judging the future of others.

The judges vary from week to week and are not in a responsible position of having to show up every week and face the music for their decisions as the American Idol judges are subject to therefore creating a shoot from the hip style of judging and their limited time to show the world how knowledgeable they think they are.

The Academy program is supposed to be about finding a great talent but it comes off as a soap opera designed to stimulate viewer interest as they seem to focus on creating controversy and love interests and not focusing on developing talent.

The four principal teachers Kitchy Molina, Direk Joey Reyes, Monet and headmaster Ryan Cayabyab are also at fault. They are talented but Reyes has a tendency to address a student in a condescending manner. He and Molina are returnees from last season's flawed program.

While the contestants are performing the teachers are in the backroom and watch the show on a TV monitor. They grade the student's performance.

As a group the two teams of students must achieve a 7.5 grade average or they are punished by having their food supply reduced. This is childish as are the methods used by the network on their other reality show programs. The four bottom scores are up for elimination. One student is first saved by the teachers. A second contestant is saved by the voting of the other students and THIS IS A MAJOR FLAW IN THE PROGRAM where jealousy, revenge and insecurity to their talent and that of another become a factor. It results in a cat and dog fight, backstabbing, establishing cliques. The result being that the concept is diametrically opposed to what music is all about that being harmony. The program creates contempt, dissension, conflict and deception.

Bea 18, is a problem child who was in conflict last week with Laarni. She was talking behind Laarni's back. When she speaks to the 23-year-old Laarni she talks down to her with no respect as if Laarni was a 2-year-old. Laarni has a superior voice and much more talented yet as a result of Bea's backstabbing she was up for elimination last week.

Since another student became ill and was expelled that saved Larni from elimination. Bea is also the girlfriend of Miguel (18) who has one of the top four voices in the competition. They are a good looking couple and given that fact are perfect for a TV reality show.

Bea does not have a strong voice. It is weak and she goes off key. She was up for elimination for the second week in a row. Last week the students voted to save her. This week the teachers did so. Why? The website noted the teachers thought that her talent was obviously raw, and unfortunately, the jurors took that against her. She was somehow problematic with intonation and projection on the stage.

Among the four (nominated), Jet (25) and Sheng (25) were the two left under probation. The Dream Mentors chose to save Bea because they saw a great potential in her that they would like to enhance. Cris, on the other hand, was given a second chance through the help of her co- Scholars through the revised voting system. Most of the Scholars decided that Jet has to go after his votes outnumbered the other Probationary Scholar Sheng's with 10-2.

Unfortunately for the two organizations inside the Academy, they would have to go through the rest of the week only with basic necessities. With 6.03 and 6.18 GPAs for One Voice and Pupilars respectively, both teams failed to hit the 7.5 passing GPA that should have earned them their allowances for this week. Their low grades only reflected how disappointed the jurors were on their performances yesterday.

The irony of the above remark contradicts what they say on the air. They were told they improved from the previous week yet their marks were lower. The other irony is when the students vote they must stand up in front of the other students and state why they made that decision. What is evolving are two factions the 18-year-old student verses the older group. Of the 15 remaining students six are 18 years of age, one is 26, four are 25, one is 22, two are 23 and one 21. Of the 18-year-olds Inaki has the most to say behind the backs of others. He is also closely aligned with Bea and Miguel. Bea said she voted 26-year-old Jet out because she felt he should go home to be with his newly born child. Miguel takes exception that Jet points out that he's older.

As we noted last week is the students voting people out is a major flaw in the program since many are too young and have limited life experience to make rationale decisions. The show should be about talent not about immature emotional decisions resulting in true talent being eliminated. The backstabbing problem should be controlled by the teacher/mentors if there's disorder in a house it's the parent or teachers responsibility to correct the problem. Those students creating dissention and problems should be eliminated regardless of their talent, at least that's the way it was when I attended school.. Does American Idol display this type of behavior from its contestants?

Is there a conspiracy in progress? Next week we'll examine that situation and why this is a soap opera and not a talent show in our feature Pinoy Dream Acdemy OUT OF CONTROL.

NOTE:

LIEZEL GARCIA was selected as the best performer for the second consecutive week

What happened to a contest for teens that did not live up to it's former standards when these words were spoken: "Our society now has a bad problem with drugs and domestic violence. In order to solve these problems you have to start with the family but sometimes they don't understand. That's where we come in. It's not going to solve the problems of the world but at least we started something. We teach being a good teen at home by being a good son or daughter. At school (we teach) being a good student, in society to be a good friend. This is the concept we teach." COMING - The Bloom Fell Off The Rose

Note: The shows listed are for the Cambodia - Thailand time zone. Check your local listings for time and date in your area.

MONDAY

4:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

8:00 PM - NBA FAST BREAK - ESPN

TUESDAY

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

WEDNESDAY

4:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

7:00 PM - TRIBE - DISCOVERY CHANNEL

10:00 PM - PRISON BREAK - Star World

THURSDAY

10:00 AM - TRIBE - DISCOVERY CHANNEL

12:00 NOON - PRISON BREAK - Star World

4:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

FRIDAY

12:00 NOON - PRISON BREAK - Star World

4:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

4:30 PM - CLICK (Internet Technology program) - BBC

6:00 PM - PRISON BREAK - Star World

SATURDAY

1:30 PM - CLICK (Internet Technology program) - BBC

3:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

4:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

6:00 PM - PRISON BREAK - Star World

7:30 PM - HI NET WORTH - (financial magazine show) - CNBC

9:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

10:00 PM - TRIBE - DISCOVERY CHANNEL

9:30 PM - DREAM ACADEMY - TFC (ABS-CBN) The Philippine Network

SUNDAY

12:00 NOON - DREAM ACADEMY - TFC (ABS-CBN) The Philippine Network

1:30 PM - ASAP - TFC (ABS-CBN) The Philippine Network

3:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

4:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

8:30 PM - HI NET WORTH - (financial magazine show) - CNBC

9:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

© Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com All rights reserved.