New television shows for the old
VETERAN singer Jerry Lawson (in black) and his group of senior singers, Talk of the Town, at the “The Sing-Off” photo:nbc
We watched some new shows that caught our fancy on TV last week, so we’re profiling them here in case you may want to try them on for size, too:
First and most viewable was the a cappella singing tilt, “The Sing-Off,” telecast on Sundays on Velvet. The show is a delight, because all 10 of its finalist singing groups are topnotch. The production’s talent scouts should be complimented for selecting such gifted bets, whose high level of talent makes each week’s elimination truly nerve-wracking.
In fact, last Sept. 2, when the Pitch Black group was eliminated, many viewers were disappointed because it was exceptionally gifted and deserved to survive for some more telecasts—perhaps even all the way to the tilt’s “final-finals!”
Other eventful developments on the show involved the “survival” of Jerry Lawson, a veteran singer, and his group of senior singers, Talk of the Town, and the participation of the Whiffenpoofs, the original a cappella group from Harvard University, which is credited with “inventing” the group singing format, sans instruments, more than a century ago!
Another plus point of the competition is the obvious expertise of the members of its board of jurors, whose astute and perceptive notes are keenly appreciated by contestants and viewers alike.
Another new show that we’ll keep watching out for is the celebrity game show “The Marriage Ref,” which has star comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Tina Fey evaluating married couples’ problems and offering solutions for them.
Comic jurors
JERRY Seinfeld, comic juror of “The Marriage Ref”
Since the jurors are comedians, the advice they give is more tongue-in-cheek than Simon-serious, but more relevant tips can still be gained by viewers from watching the show.
We’re particularly glad that Jerry Seinfeld is facing the TV cameras again after a long hiatus. His sitcom was such a big hit for many years that everyone was caught off-guard when he decided to conclude its run even while it was still a top-rater.
In fact, the show’s producers offered him a whopping bonus of $200 million if he would agree to do the sitcom for one more season. But he nixed the opulent offer, because he was already wealthier than he had ever dreamed of being!
Well, he’s finally come out of retirement to do this new show, so his diehard fans must be ecstatic.
However, we wish that he had opted to come back in a show that would require him to do something more challenging than cheekily advising couples how to settle trivial issues, like the husband’s reluctance to wear his wedding ring!
Stand-up forays
Some months ago, Seinfeld also did some live stand-up performances after many years of inactivity in that most demanding of all comedic modes.
We hope that he will soon edit his stand-up forays into a TV special that will remind viewers of his truly exceptional gifts as an entertainer whose act takes “ordinary” life and experiences and transforms them into comedic gems!
