When gimmickry upstages talent

CABICO AND SMITH. Unexpectedly sassy and gifted team-up.

We were finally able to catch a telecast of the new “Superstar Duets” TV singing tilt last Sunday, Sept. 11, and can share these initial reactions:

On the plus side, the tilt’s best suit is its penchant for featuring some  “surprisingly good” talents, like last week’s unexpectedly sassy and gifted team-up of contenders, Nar Cabico and Samboy Smith, who gave their competition an unexpectedly tough time.

More “discovery” initiatives along these lines should be encouraged, because they delight and surprise viewers.

In general, however, while “Superstar Duets” occasionally has other good things going for it, what gets in the way of viewers’ enjoyment is the fact that it is coming off as an ungainly mix of “serious” musical competition and gimmicky entertainment.

The “gimmick” part is accentuated by the fact that quite a number of its featured contestants are gay comedian-singers who try to look like female singing faves (like last week’s “Adele”) and actually sing like them—not lip-syncing, but using their own prodigious voices.

The musical achievement is admirable, but the gimmickry dilutes or distracts from it, and viewers are left at confusing cross-purposes, unable to savor the impressive achievement on its own terms.

Vocal styles

Quite a number of gays in local show biz now do their own “female” singing, even imitating the vocal styles of some famous chanteuses like Celine Dion. Instructively, one of the “diva” performers featured in last week’s “Superstar Duets” competition was named “Celine Dionisio.”

Perhaps “Superstar Duets” has gotten into the confusing fix it’s in,  because it has fiddled around too much with its format.

In the past, another GMA tilt became popular by simply getting singing stars to perform duets with talented “unknowns.”

This time around, instead of leaving well enough alone, “Superstar Duets” has decided to up the ante by adding the “fake diva” gimmick to its format’s mix, with some gay singer-comedians pretending to be famous international singing stars. The result has been off-kilter and confounding, thus “complicating” viewers’ reactions.

This is all supposed to be uniquely diverting and “funnily impressive,” and sometimes it really is. But, it gets in the way of viewers’ full and untrammeled enjoyment, so it should be re-thought-out and simplified.

It also makes judging the tilt much more complicated and “iffy.” What is being judged—the singing achievement, or the comedic gimmickry—or both? Would “straight” singing thus be inherently less remarkable than the “mixed-up” variety?

It’s an ultimately untenable, “unjudgeable” situation and predicament that should be simplified and resolved. Or else, ultimately—nobody wins.