Howdy, kids! Back with you after going MIA last week (sorry!) due to the exhausting commitment that was Comic-Con, but I have a confession to make: I’m still not loving High School Musical: Get in the Picture as much as I thought I would be. Maybe it’s because after five episodes, it seems like the show hasn’t really started. The first four installments gathered our wannabe-star contestants; last night’s outing brought them to the brightly colored, cartoon-come-to-life High School Musical "campus," where they got the HSM equivalent of new student orientation, full of getting-to-know-you games and on-the-town events. It was exactly as dull as my prose sounds.
The first half of the show saw acting coach Ron Adler conduct an exercise in which the contestants all offered "first impressions" of each other. My favorite was this observation of Stan the Football Stud by Shayna the Hippie Chick: "You’re the jock who has lots of girls who want you, but you actually don’t want them–you want a ‘secret girl’ that nobody knows about." How specific! And from the way Shayna flashed her eyes at him, I’m guessing she was campaigning to become his down-low showmance. Beyond re-establishing our characters for those just joining, the exercise sought to make some one-to-grow-on after-school-special statement about the shallowness of judging by appearances, how we tend to sort others and ourselves according to types (the jock, the nerd, the funny fat guy), blah blah blah. Never mind the fact that the show probably cast each of these kids because they easily (and willingly) conform to Breakfast Club clichés. There’s a guy on this show named Ether. He wears a nerdy sweater and a nerdy haircut and nerdy disposition, and so everyone deems him "the nerd," although the show seems to want to make you feel vaguely guilty for basically agreeing with that assessment, even though it provides Ether with no other opportunity to be anything else except "the nerd." All right, HSM: GITP! Stop trying to be American Teen already! You’re not a documentary–a faux-reality reality show! Pull the Disney stick out of your ass and be the ridiculously cheesy guilty pleasure you’re supposed to be!
Other thoughts (after the jump):
1. The sight of Nick Lachey and "the faculty" lavishing "thestudents" with gift bags from K-Mart—and hearing Nick Lachey trymightily to make the word "K-Mart" sound exciting– made me scoff-snortso hard that snot flew out of my nose.
2. How about High School Musicalimpresario Kenny Ortega wiggling out that funky dance move! On thesurface, the dude looks old enough to be… well, old. Who knew there wasSolid Gold inside that guy?
3. The impromptu music jam, withOrtega dancing about like a snake charmer, beckoning the contestants tosing/dance for him? So creepy-awkward. I would have paid 20 bucks tohear what Lachey was thinking as he gamely smiled and snapped hisfingers as he watched the spectacle unfold. My guess? Either "I usedto be cool once—right?" or "Remember the paycheck, remember thepaycheck, remember the paycheck…"
4. The whole Almost Famous/"Tiny Dancer" sing-along at the end: painfully contrived…. but at least we’re one step closer to total cheese-o-rama.
Still no Vanessa Hudgens. Should I abandon hope?
Yeah, I kind of thought the same things. The first impressions game took way too long and every five minutes we heard “I want this so bad” okay, we get it. It was really becoming more of a friendship movie than actual competition, so when they announced that the competition would be starting, I was like, what competition? Oh right that one. I dont know if I’ll tune in next week. But I most likely will because now Im freakishly interested as to who will win.
i think that it fells that it has not started yet. I hope it gets more down to detail when they get it really goin on.
Hey, Mr. Jensen. HSM #1 was vapid, meaningless, and not even as elevated as “sophomoric,” so this little “reality” show is already way better than that. Sure, it’s cliched and overly sweet, but they seem like pretty good kids with genuine dreams. I’m counting on Bailey to ruin the saccharine-laden good will, and I’ll take Ether any day over Zac.
I hear Bailey say, “I want this more than everyone else.” How come we never hear someone say, “I wonder if I want this at least half as much as most of the other people?”
Something else that is funny to me is the black faculty teach when she said, “You have to give 110%.” I could just see at least one or two of the students thinking, “I don’t think that means what she thinks it means.”
I guess I enjoy new programming (occasionally I swapped to watch UFC or Big Bang Theory) and the stories of these kids. “You get to join the chorus” is nicer than “You’re fired!” I have not heard them call it the most dramatic campfire ceremony ever, but give it time. I wish they had not sent home both of the cutest girls, but Homeschool girl was shy and forgot her words. Surfer girl really over-acted her part and looked like a total dork. Big guy was off key and uncomfortable in solo pieces. I think Tierney is beautiful and talented. She or Stan/Jock could win, although ego may be problematic.
After every commercial they keep repeating the last 1-2 minutes from before the commercial. That makes the show seem like there is even less content. I’ll probably keep watching, occasionally. It is something my children can watch and there really is not much else (new programming) on those nights.
I have a feeling that there will be a guy and a girl winner at the end of this (at least that was probably the plan before the ratings tanked) and they would become the High School Musical The Next Class. it didn’t work for Saved By the Bell, and it will not work here.
Remember that they all are competing for a part in a music video, not a HSM installment itself. Their 15 minutes of fame will last all of 3 minutes.
Three words: Writer’s strike approved.
ha, im suprised.
just so the preview for it.
a chick that goes to my college was in like the top 10?
crazy.
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