David Archuleta on SIS.
First, it was really cool of David to have taken the time to guest on the GMA-7 talk show inspite of his busy and hectic sked as the big show is already on Saturday. How he would have to fit in the scheduled practices and seeing other scenic parts of the country is all part of time management.
What I'm griping here is the overall treatment and how his guesting on the show was done and "managed". Here are my gripes about it:
1. When the show opened, they had Gma talents sing his first hit single, "Crush". - this was horrible as some of the talents did not only give the song any form of justice or conviction but to quote Randy Jackson...the singing was way too PITCHY! The 3 girls who call themselves La Divas were also way off. The arrangement of the song didn't even fit the girl's range so much so that when Kyla did her part, it was too high for her to sing it. (duh, where's Ricky Minor when you need him?)
2. Throughout the show, they also had their own talents come out and sing songs that were associated with David, from his rendition of Angels on Idol, to his singing "And I'm Telling You" to Kelly Clarkson then during his first visit to the show on its first season as a fan. The writer's didn't bother to include in the hosts spiel to translate for David what was going on and David would be left just listening to mediocre renditions while flashing his boyish smile. The only one who did any justice was Kyla, who sang the "And I'm Telling You".
3. But apart from having them sing, the hosts would ask for David's opinion how the talents fared. Jeez, guys the show isn't about GMA talents but about David; his influences; his musicality; his memories on Idol and where he hopes to go at this point in his career. These are the questions that should have been asked not lame and shallow questions like, "who are your idols, or who did you listen to growing up". True that we need to know these things too but c'mon please re-phrase them intelligently.
4. Also when David was singing, as the crowd was really in the "super kilig" mode, he could hardly hear himself singing. On top of that, they didn't give him an earpiece so he can hear himself. Either that or the show doesn't have the budget for it. (GASP!)
5. Along with that, the show's hosts and the subsequent talents who would come out to sing would pose and have a photo-op moment after each number that they do. (in tribute to David). What the frak? Didn't the director foresee or even bar this from happening? It may look cute at first but when it becomes "routine" for each and every GMA talent that comes out to sing, it just gets irritating.
At the end of the hour long show, did we leave knowing more about David? Well, apart from him naming his musical influences growing up that ranged from Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and to his current favorite Jason Mraz; all we could do like David is smile back at him and at the show which failed to unravel and enlighten the audience as to who David is both as a person and as an artist. And although he is still on the road to fully flesh his own artistry, we can sit back and watch him and grow....and smile.....and hope that any future guestings of international talents would be handled more intelligently and not fawned on.
And as a nation, i hope that we be aware also of that. That WHAT and HOW you say on LIVE TV subliminally affects and influences your viewers. One would want viewers leaving the show with a sense of inspiration and awe not left with the polite smiles of people and the histrionics of the crowd all blurring the main purpose at hand.
