OMG Episode 1 : The Review

Not One, But Many Moments Of Glory!

Phew! Episode 1 has aired and I'm betting the producers are breathing a sigh of relief. This morning its the Programming and Promotions people who are holding their breaths waiting to see what the ratings are like for last night's show. I'm thinking, forecast should be : Good. Cos the show delivered.

Its a little hard to review a show just watching it in the audience, especially when its not a full live recording. There are a lot of breaks in between, you kinda lose a little steam, (which is what the wubby is for - keep the crowd's energy up!) and its not really representative of what the audience at home will see/feel.

So I waited to watch it on tv last night before committing to a review and boy am I glad I did. Watching it for the first time on tv, edited, with good (ok, better) VTs (the videos they show before each peformance) in between each segment as well as backstage interviews with the contestants after each performance, I found it to be a much tighter show. I have to admit, the contestants look a lot more impressive up close on my tv screen (as opposed to about half a theatre away, with a Zaki yakking into my right ear and an Iskandar yakking into my left! Love you guys still k!) - each gave a totally different vibe when watched uninterrupted by gossip and bitching!

Ok, lets dissect one by one, in order of performance :

(sorry haven't found any youtube vids of last night's episode yet - if you have 'em POST 'em and I'll put 'em on the blog k!)

Desert Roses :

Absolutely loved them. They were sizzling hot. And on tv, you can see all the small jiggly movements really clearly (in the audience, you kinda just see 'em sashay left and right mostly, and you think ...erm...ok so?). I'm talking about the 'isolations' which is key in belly dancing. Plus their makeup, which looked terribly overdone in person, looked fab on tv, and the black and red combo outfits were as Gurms said "THIS IS ALREADY TOO SEXY!".

I'm glad they're through, they promised to deliver even more for the next ep - can they do it?

Fave part was when Beatrice spoke in half English and half Mandarin - hilarious - "FD yi zhing nose bleed le"! (FD's is already having a nosebleed (because they're so sexy))

OMG! rating : 7.5/10

Danny Koh :

"More showmanship than actual technique." Someone on Twitter said. "He just...ate fire. Thats all." I say, "Hellooo, he ATE FIRE!". True that there was a fair bit of posing and flashy walking around the stage and again posing, but I guess thats what Jeanette meant when she said he had a lot of 'showmanship'. Like FD said, he "brought a show to us, for 90 seconds, and that's what OMG's all about". It was a little painful watching him roll the fire on his arm - yeowtch! - but Danny says its okay, he's used to it, so I just try and remember that every time I see him do that.

Fave part was when Irene said, "I wonder what it would be like to go on a candle light dinner with him - hello darling *voomf!*"

OMG! rating : 6/10

The King :

Not bad waaat this guy. He has a good voice. I actually quite enjoyed listening to him. Visually, he had the wig, the sideburns, the one-piece rhinestoned suit. His moves were pretty much there too. Personally I liked watching him with the sunglasses on, it gave him a bit more of an attitude.

Good enough to get through to the next round, but how is an Elvis impersonator (or Tribute Artiste as Beatrice puts it - she's so classy!), gonna up the ante for the next coupla rounds? Can he keep going til November? He'll have to perform half of Elvis' repertoire to get to the end.

OMG! rating : 5.5/10

Jeremy Tan :

This 19-year old is actually a circus talent. He's got so many tricks up his sleeve (I learned this when I interviewed him), Diablo is but one of the many circus tricks he is adept at. In my opinion, although the Diablo is technically challenging, it wasn't visually as arresting as say, fire tricks. You can't really see how fast the Diablo is spinning, or even that it IS spinning at all. Perhaps if the Diablo was lit, had LED lights or was on fire (something Jeremy apparently also does), it would have been a more impressive show. He made it look so easy and I don't know if that was perhaps his undoing? That it looked too easy?

I have to agree with Beatrice's comment about structuring a routine that tells the audience when each trick starts and ends to rope in more applause for each difficult trick.

OMG! rating : 5/10

Bottle Flipz :

I thoroughly enjoyed this performance too. The music (Starstrukk, ah, reminded me of the Idols) and the bartenders' attitudes, especially Shah who kept flirting with the crowd, really made this a 'show'. I especially enjoyed the tricks and bottle passing back and forth and of course, the fire at the end. It was very entertaining and fun.

Beatrice says it was her first 'wow' moment of the night. Jeanette loved that they engaged the crowd. I'm now wondering how they're gonna up their act for next week.

OMG! rating : 8/10

Jumping Jewels :

These 'skippers' say if they win, they're gonna spend the $50k on ice cream. Thats a lot of ice cream. I wasn't exactly thrilled by their choice of backing music, very loud la. But I guess you need that kind of music to really pump up the adrenaline for a sport like this.

To be honest, when I watched this in studio, I wasn't at all impressed, but watching it on tv, with the diffrent camera angles, it looked a lot more exciting than it did in studio. You could really see their energy, which is good. I would have liked to see them move faster, like in those American jump rope movies, where the feet go so fast they're blurred, and you don't even SEE the ropes! But I guess they're probably saving that for next week.

OMG! rating : 7/10

David Lin :

The 'quietest' performance for the night. Inspired to be a singer-songwriter after a close friend passed away, David performed Coldplay's "Yellow". I got a lot of mixed reviews about this on Twitter. But everyone agreed he's cute. Including the judges. He reminded me a lot of Idol alums MJ Kuok and Teddy Teow. Someone else said he reminded her of Idol alum Douglas Wong. I guess its maybe a combo of all three. He's all sweet boy-next-door with charming good looks to win over the fans.

His singing needs a little work, but at least his performance was honest and sincere. Jeanette said he had boyish appeal. Irene wants to put him through round after round just based on his looks - very unbiased Judge ;). FD likes his voice, and wants to hear David's original music next week. Beatrice said he's 'Suede meets K-pop' and wants him to come back next week and really take their breath away. Looks like the judges all but confirmed his spot on the podium.

Fave part was Michelle Chong's 'wanna hug, don't wanna hug' thing. What was that about?

OMG! rating : 6.5/10

Jai Ho :

Tons of energy! This Bollywood dance troupe really impressed with their colourful costumes and energy. Lots of showmanship here. I actually really enjoyed it. This performance made FD go 'Wow!', and they got THREE 'Wows' from Beatrice.

Jeanette's comment about everyone having the same energy level was spot on though, because mid way, you could see a few of the members on the sides and the back, kinda lost a bit of steam. The girls in front and Rock (the sole guy in the group), definitely had their game on throughout.

OMG! Rating : 7.5/10

Luminiq Crew :

I have to be honest here, when I saw this group in studio, I couldn't make much sense of it cos it looked soooo messy. But on TV...PHWOAR! SOOOOO ENTERTAINING! The flips and tricks all looked so much better on tv, I guess cos I never knew where to look and once edited, I managed to catch all the important tricks.

Irene said this was her favourite act of the night. And Jeanette said the concept of the dance made the choreography interesting and she loved it. Beatrice was so taken up by it that she thought she saw a football. :)

Good job guys!

OMG! Rating : 7/10

Chii Kwang & Dawn :

How can you not adore this dog? She is SOOOO CUTE! But I have to agree with the judges on this one, after a while, the routine did seem a bit repetitive. Granted she's won many competitions, perhaps the course could have been more elaborate? Actually, she did much better during rehearsals, she was perfect, no mistakes at all. Its a pity she tripped up on the actual show itself.

OMG! Rating : 5/10

RESULTS :

The 2 contenders who didn't make it through to next week's show are Chii Kwang & Dawn and Jeremy "Diablo" Tan.

summerr says :

Unfortunately, compared to the rest of the contenders, despite being non-human, Dawn's performance didn't really stand out. She's well-trained, obedient and VERY cute, but it just didn't wow as much as the others did.

As for Jeremy, I think perhaps a different strategy may have served him better. Perhaps a combo of his various circus talents instead of just the Diablo. Or maybe he should have had something on the Diablo to make it more obvious that its spinning furiously. A stroke of bad luck also meant that Jeremy had to perform with his glasses, instead of his usual contact lenses. IMO, he looked a little uncomfortable with the glasses, having to frequently scrunch up his nose to keep them on. Unfortunate too that he hardly had time to connect with the audience - can we blame that one on the glasses too?

Oh well, its a competition. I wish these two contenders well, hopefully its not the last we'll see of them. As for the remaining 8 up on the podium....I cannot WAIT to see who'll be challenging whom next week, and when challenged, what "A" Game are these contenders gonna bring? Can they defend their spot on the Podium for Immunity?

Jeng Jeng Jeng!

What did the Judges have to say about the show so far :

Irene : I am very proud to be Singaporean, but most important thing I noticed is that we are not biased, we have a lot of foreign talent here tonight, so I would like to see MORE foreign talents come here to challenge them.

Beatrice : I love this show, we've not had two items remotely similar to each other.

Tune in to Episode 2 of One Moment Of Glory next Wednesday, 18 August, 8pm, only on Channel 5! In the meantime, if you missed the show (wth, where WERE you?! Only excused if you were at Padang k!), you can catch up at xinmsn.com!

Also stay tuned to the blog for the profiles of the 8 Contenders over the coming week as we get to know them a little better :)

xoxo, s.

ps. Have you seen this new trailer? Love it. Good job to the trailer producers who did this! And I love Beatrice's funny face and Irene's "liddat lah"! Such a contrast with FD's "serious face". :)

:: Pics courtesy of Shawn Pang and the Channel 5 Marketing Team. ::

:: Ratings are based solely on my whim & fancy, no scientific methods were employed, no braincells were harmed, or used for that matter ::