Opinion

I was completely gutted on Monday night when Dominic Bowden announced that the theme for this week’s live show of The X Factor New Zealand would be soul classics.  Had the Best of British week lived up to its title then taking a step back to something a little less current would have been a nice port of call in this little journey.  Unfortunately it would seem that the producers are intent on removing any ounce of pop music relevance to The X Factor in favour of NZ Idol circa ten years ago.

Soul Classics might be what the producers – who were children of the 60′s and 70′s – want to reminisce about but that generation of music holds very little relevance to today’s Facebooking audience.

Yes, soul is an important part of music that was part of the evolution that got us to where we are today.  However, if the mentors can’t even select semi-decent current songs that their acts can then performe like they’re in a serious music competition, why should they be bothering with music that is decades old?

The thought of hearing Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye or Tina Turner simply depresses me. Continue reading »

I was watching TV this morning when a TVNZ promo came on for one of their DVD releases which made a very interesting and, I believe, false claim.

The promo was for the DVD release of the 1976 South Pacific Television Production “Hunter’s Gold” and my complaint is that the promo credits the programme as a “TVNZ Classic”.

But wait a minute. How can this be?  TVNZ, as us TV history buffs know, wasn’t even a thought in the minds of “the powers that be” in broadcasting until 1978, and didn’t eventuate until 1980.

And secondly, Hunter’s Gold has, as far as I’m aware, never been re-screened on New Zealand television since the administration was established in 1980.

So how can TVNZ justify calling a South Pacific Television production, made before TVNZ even existed, a “TVNZ Classic”?

Even NZ On Screen credit “Hunter’s Gold” as being a South Pacific Television Production, and not a TVNZ one.

So would TVNZ, by right of reply, acknowledge that they made a mistake and would they be prepared to alter the packing and on-screen promotion for the DVD by adding both the TVNZ logo and the South Pacific Television logo?

Tonight’s episode of The X Factor was a massive improvement on last week.  The show flowed beautifully and the song choices, for the most part, were well chosen.

However, the stand out for me tonight though was Daniel Bedingfield.  Throughout the series so far we’ve seen the high energy, bounce-off-the-walls Bedingfield deliver his renown crazy.  He’s made his bold fashion statements and given The X Factor a colourful character that’s great for television but tonight he finally gave us the thing that proves the producers made an excellent decision appointing him to the show.

Bedingfield’s comments to the contestants tonight were considered, insightful and anything but generic.  We’ve heard the other mentors tell their acts that they shouldn’t listen to a word he says but the truth is, their ears should all be eagerly listening to every syllable that rolls off his tongue. Continue reading »

Congratulations, you weren’t the first act voted off The X Factor New Zealand. Last week, most of you either ignored my advice or chose to let your nerves get the better of you so let me repeat myself again.  Exude confidence! I cannot emphasize this enough.

You have nothing to fear and the sooner you realise this, the better you will be as performing artists.  The audience that is in front of you at the studios on Sunday nights are there because they want you to entertain them.  They didn’t turn up with a desire to find fault with the way you perform, they turned up because they wanted to be entertained.

Entertain them!  If the audience is being entertained you can be assured that everyone at home will be seeing and hearing the reaction in the studio and will be wishing they were there experiencing the show live rather than on their own couches.  Continue reading »

Tonight I attended the live recording of The X Factor.  Being in the audience of a live television show gives you a completely different perspective as your vision isn’t restricted to whichever camera the director wants you to see so watching the show back is like seeing an almost entirely different show.

The thing you notice the most is how big the stage is and just how little of it the camera captures.

It was great to see New Zealand produce a live show for television but someone needs to sit the producers down and give them a lesson in how to put together a gig set list.  There is a formula that works but tonight’s order was way off the mark. Continue reading »

At the end of 2007, after a year of near death experiences, Rachel and I embarked on a five week round the world trip.  We began in Sydney where we attended a filming of Australian Idol.  While NZ Idol, which we had had quite a lot of involvement with, was pre-recorded on Friday nights for a Sunday night broadcast, Australian Idol was filmed entirely live.

While the editors had the ability to cut parts of NZ Idol out if need be, the pressure was on with Australian Idol to ensure the program didn’t extend beyond its allocated time or interrupt the ad break schedule.  Having seen how things were done in New Zealand, Australian Idol was a completely different beast and one heck of a well oiled machine. Continue reading »

Congratulations, you’ve made it to the live shows of the first season of The X Factor New Zealand!  If there is one simply piece of advice I’d give you, it’s exude confidence!

You’re about to perform in front of the entire country and while that may scare you a little (probably a lot), you need to harness those fears and direct all that energy into what you do on stage.

Probably the most important thing you need to realise is that people want you to succeed.  They want you to be great.  They want you to be a star!  Play that role and the audience will respond in kind and treat you as one.  If you let your fear and nerves take control and look uncomfortable on stage, then the audience will feel uncomfortable watching.  You’re there because someone believed enough in you to give you a shot.  The rest is up to you and the audience will be right behind you if you believe that as well. Continue reading »

There is an element of reality TV talent shows that says it doesn’t matter who the judges put through because they only need one winner.  On the one hand, producers will want a fairly diverse group of finalists.  On the other, whoever makes it through is purely there to make up the numbers.

While the judges have their own agenda to win on The X Factor, the reality is only one of their three acts can.  Who you put through then becomes a case of, can I take them to the top or are they the collateral damage that gives my preferred act an extra week to improve against the rest?

With this in mind, let’s take a look at the decisions. Continue reading »

After last week’s episode, I made my own picks as to who I thought should make it through to the Top 12 of The X Factor New Zealand based on what we’d seen so far.  Now that we’ve heard the acts all perform one last time, my opinion hasn’t really changed.

The biggest issue is that the producers have decided that Jackie Thomas should actually be in the show rendering the last week of campaigning on Facebook rather redundant.

Apparently Jackie has Daniel on speed dial.  However, 021 750 592 isn’t his number, despite what the editors would like us to believe.  I wonder how many people tried ringing that number tonight?

  Continue reading »

I’M SO PUMPED FOR THE JUDGES’ DISAPPOINTMENT ON #xfactornz TONIGHT

— Caryl (@starshone_storm) May 12, 2013

To everyone slamming “judges retreats”, UK and US variants mostly haven’t gone to actual “judges houses” in years #XFactorNZ

— Mark Stewart (@markboynz) May 12, 2013

Cynical observation 2: the groups go to the north-of-Auckland retreat because it’s cheaper than flying overseas. #xfactornz

— Robyn Gallagher (@robyngallagher) May 12, 2013

The plaid. On a beach. It’s amazing. #xfactornz

— Cate Owen (@CateOwen) May 12, 2013

Continue reading »