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Primetime Show Reviews
"Celebrity Duets"
Review by Danielle 8/30/06
“Celebrity Duets” is a new fall reality show on Fox that is in part created by
American Idol’s Simon Cowell. The two-hour live pilot episode featured eight
celebrities (mostly of small time fame), each paired up with two different
musical artists for two separate duet performances. The celebrity was required
to sing a song from the artist’s own catalog and style of music. The panel of
three judges consisted of Marie Osmond, Little Richard, and David Foster (music
producer). Though Simon Cowell’s well known “king of mean” influence came from
behind the scenes, it was missing in the judges panel. The grouping of judges
was obviously set up to include someone sweet and kind (Marie), someone off the
wall and most of the time unintelligible in his comments (Little Richard), and
David Foster (the blunt but never harsh like Simon third judge). The show was
hosted by Wayne Brady (most notably of Whose Line Is It Anyway?) and he was very
charismatic and was able to recover well during those moments when a live show
didn’t go as planned.
The first hour of the show gave the audience and viewers at home a very short
glimpse into rehearsal footage of each celebrity prior to their performance but
purposefully omitted any footage or mention of the musical artist they were
paired with until the performance began. For their first duet, each celebrity
appeared on stage first to begin the song and then introduced their musical duet
partner as they joined the celebrity on stage. Wayne asked at least one question
of the musical artist about their opportunity to perform with the current
celebrity and then the musical artist left the stage. The celebrity then stood
in front of the panel of judges to receive a critique of their performance. I’m
not sure if the wardrobe choices were of the celebrity or artist’s choosing but
the “attempt” was made to outfit them to fit the stereotype of the genre they
were singing in. Several of the celebrity contestants gave a much better
performance during the second duet as it seemed they were better paired with a
music style that fit their voices. During the second hour, we were able to see
more of the rehearsal time with the celebrity and music artist together since
the pairing was announced from the start and both celebrity and artist started
the duet on stage together. Only a select few celebrities were able to excel in
both styles of music though I believe those who did excel had similar styles
chosen for them.
Lucy Lawless (best known as Xena) first sang with Michael Bolton on “Time, Love
& Tenderness.” Her better performance was with Smokey Robinson on “Baby, Baby.”
Alfonso Ribeiro (former child star, “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”) first sang with
Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child on “I Knew You Were Waiting For Me.” The
judges also loved his performance with James Ingram. Carly Patterson (Olympic
gymnast) first sang with James Ingram but seemed very timid and didn’t project.
When she later sang with Lee Ann Womack on “I Hope You Dance,” the judges agreed
that country was more her forte. Cheech Marin first sang with Peter Frampton and
then later with Randy Travis. Leah Thompson (“Jane Doe”) first sang with Randy
Travis and though the judges complimented her effort at high harmony in “Forever
and Ever, Amen” she really found her niche singing with Michael Bolton on
“That’s Life.” Jai Rodriguez (‘Queer Eye’) was one of the knockout stars of the
bunch during both his performance of “Since I Fell For You” with Gladys Knight
and the performance of “Say My Name” with Michelle Williams. Chris Jericho sang
“Mendocino County Line” with Lee Ann Womack and it was one of the worst
performances of the night. His second performance of “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”
with Peter Frampton proved that he was meant to be a rocker. Hal Sparks (‘Talk
Soup’ & ‘Queer as Folk’) rounded out the first set of performances by singing
“Tracks of My Tears” with Smokey Robinson. While he seemed to be trying to
out-sing Smokey, he related more theatrically to Gladys Knight when they sang “I
Heard It Through the Grapevine.” After the second duet, the musical artists were
sent off the stage without small talk so the celebrities could be judged again.
Each celebrity’s performance was recapped back to back in a brief montage while
the judges gathered to make a decision. Wayne gathered the celebrities on stage
together and called off the names of those staying. As each celebrity’s name was
called, they stepped to the side until it came down to Carly Patterson and Chris
Jericho. Chris Jericho was announced as the one chosen by the judges to leave
and after being asked to sum up this experience, Wayne directed Chris to sing
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered” with the rest of the celebrities dancing behind him
as the credits rolled.
During future episodes, the audience and viewers at home will be responsible for
choosing the celebrity to be eliminated at the end of each show. The musical
artists will differ from show to show and in true American Idol form, each week
will feature a performance show and a results show the following night. You can
catch the next episode when it airs in its regular time slot(s), Thursday
September 7th and Friday September 8th both at 9PM-10PMET.
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