blacked out until 05.08.06 -
YouTube
link added
02.03.09
11:16 AM,
Saturday, May 6th, 2006:
It's starting to
become difficult to figure out what goes under the
"America's Got Talent" series, and what doesn't.
I've decided that all things concrete: event changing
calls, rehearsals and so forth - that's a part of the
series... scheming and investigative reporting is just
good ol' Journey fun.
So Charlotte and
I had a nice long 2 hour therapy session with
each other trying to figure out this mess. I was
actually still somewhat comatose and she made me talk
which helped. I'm pretty blown away by how
I reacted. LOL. Wasn't acting on that little
video, my body just went into a state of shock and my
brain literally couldn't process the information. I
start to process it in the entry and then as you can
read, it gets less and less lucid. Needless to say I
was a little stunned.
What we can all
agree on is that the show is morphing daily. It's not
like they know exactly what's gonna happen and they're
keeping us out of the loop, it really is changing.
They would never have called people, booked rehearsal
time and taping dates just to fuck with us. Charlotte
immediately called and left a message with her contact
and then called back again and got her voicemail which
said: "We are on the road now". Enter a key
piece of info.
Maybe they decided
flying everyone in was too much so they're just gonna
set up shoots in the cities? Maybe it's an old
message from when they were on the road as late as
April 22nd? Ponder that for a second...
Then, near the end
of our conversation it occured to me that the lady
said quite clearly she was calling a bunch of people
today. That she had gotten the information and thought
instead of leaving for the weekend, she'd let everyone
know as soon as possible... but at 10:30 EST on the
East coast? No, she only called the LA people, maybe
the Vegas people as well, but obviously the LA crowd.
Which makes you think that the taping on the 19th
& 20th was originally a local thing. Both
Charlotte and I still think the whole flying people
in, yet them not all perfroming thing is ridiculous,
but check NBC's website:
2-HOUR SERIES PREMIERE, WEDNESDAY JUNE
21
Simon Cowell & FremantleMedia, the
producers from AMERICAN IDOL, team up with
NBC in the search for the hottest variety
and novelty acts from across the country!
From ventriloquists to contortionists,
acrobats to animal acts, magicians to
mimes, Americans will prove (or not) just
how talented they really are. Viewers will
decide the ultimate winner, who will
receive a million dollar grand prize!
In a format reminiscent of classic
game show competitions, those waiting to
audition will wait in the studio audience
ready to go. If their name is called, they
will perform in front of three judges who
at any time can hit an “X”
button. Once three “Xs” appear
on stage behind the performer, they must
stop. Judges will then determine if the
act moves forward or is eliminated.
The final vote will be made by America
and announced during an exciting live
finale!
They're pretty
dead-set on this idea. Also note that you could take
from that that only the finale is live. If
that's the case, it would make sense that this
whole thing will be taped like a mini-series with the
cast only being needed certain weeks. It also means of
course that "The Journey" will be blacked out until
that final night which could be in August.
Whew.
Anyway, the big
point that made me feel better last night was that she
was calling several people. It's highly likely they
were all being bumped because of a format change that
would knock them out of the contest. Of course she
can't say anything because as you can read not
everyone will even get the chance to audition. So yes,
they really pre-interviewed me, got the dimensions of
my set-up, had production people ask me about audio
ins and outs for their soundboards, will have people
rehearse and go to the taping... and may never get on
the show. Seems like a ridiculous amount of
work.
Here is my one
true concern: set-up. Almost every single one of
these acts can easily - run up onstage and perform
instantly. Although my set-up is on wheels, it takes
some "pre-set up" and wires and so forth. It would
require stage hands running up with me, rolling it out
- and going at it. From what I've seen in the new
promo, I'm the only act with anywhere near that much
gear/set-up time. That could be a problem for this
hap-hazzard randomness of the show. I certainly see
how they could cut me out of it on those
grounds.
Also,
I'm not in any of the promos.
Granted, there are a few people in the
promos that will most likely never make it
on the actual show, but it would be a bad
move to show the 4tvs set-up and not
address it later as it is pretty unique.
So it would make sense, that if they're
having those doubts - to cut it out all
together from the promos for
now.
Also - the promo
shows audience shots and contestants actually jumping
up to run down to perform as if it's already been
shot. I know a lot of that can be faked just for a
promo, but something tells me that there is a good
deal already in the can whether or not it was done on
the road or here in LA. Every piece of information
answers 1 question and poses 17 more.
Grrrr.
The one happy
thing this promo shows is that there are
legitimate comedy acts. The 2 guys and the bowling
ball (that was fuckin awesome - lol) would certainly
be the type of act I'd be going up against. So the
worry that I amy be "formatted" out because there
won't be comedy acts is officially done. Now it's onto
all the other concerns...but look at the promo man.
Could they describe my show aymore? Could it be more
perfect? I mean, "The most unique talent search
in history...any act, any age". I just can't see how
I could be "formatted" out.
And that's the one
true worry. That's the sleepless nights. Hey if
I get on and lose out to a better act, I will
shake their hand and skip away - 4tvs was dead. But
the thought of not getting on is overwhelming. That's
the story of 4tvs in a nutshell, simply not getting
the chance to even perform for the big moments.
Getting bumped like I just did yesterday with
absolutely no assurance that I was bumped just for
scheduling and that I'd be the week after is just gut
wrenching. I never got the 30 page release, never
heard from the attorneys, this could all just slip
away. It's like MSNBC. You know you've got it, you
know if you do get bumped it'll be early the next
week...and eventually you never hear from them again
and it just fades away.
Listen, I know
that doesn't make sense - but the neither did the call
yesterday. Oh and this morning I played Magnum
P.I. and was able to screw with the directory at their
offices long enough to get all 32 different extensions
for a full directory. BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Unfortunately
I found that 3 people have the "we're on the
road" messages, and the other 2 even say "Open
calls" and "audition tours", so it's fairly
certain now that the message Charlotte heard was an
old one. They're no longer going on the road, and
really - how could they just pull that out of their
ass in 24 hours a week before the rehearsals and
taping? It takes way too much planning to do on
location stuff like that. Somehow, I'm just not
involved with the first two days of taping, but
aparently other people aren't either. I just
can't seem to figure out why yet, especially since
they're not doing a city by city
thing.
