Lindsay Diokno watches two more episodes of HSM: Get in the Picture. We can't thank her enough.

What can I say? My brother's in town, so I'm a little behind on my reality TV. That's probably not a bad thing.

Let's start with Sunday's episode, which I couldn't wait to watch -- each of the contestants stands up and has the other contestants tell him/her what they think when they see him/her. It's supposed to be a lesson in looking vs. seeing (looking is superficial, seeing goes deeper to who the person is … I guess), but what it boils down to is a montage of identifying each contestant as a high school movie stereotype -- the jock, the arty kid, the dumb blond, the player. It's like watching the brainstorming session for She’s All That. The surprising/hilarious moment? Everyone was STUNNED that one kid actually SAID he viewed another kid as a “dumb blond.” Whether the comments were positive or negative, soft or harsh, all the kids were still judging each other, and that's about right for a show with high school students.

Continue reading "'High School Musical: Get in the Picture': the first two eliminations" »

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Lindsay Diokno watches another episode of High School Musical: Get in the Picture:

So the second part of round II of casting calls is the same as the first round -- there's a dancing segment, a solo segment and a duets segment. The final 10 get cut down to the final six.

First, this second batch of judges seems a lot more critical than the first batch, and I'm kind of pumped about that. Yeah, they're young kids with fragile egos, but there's also such a thing as positive criticism to help you improve your performance.

Continue reading "HSM: Get in the Picture (part II, round II of casting calls)" »

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Lindsay Diokno's thoughts on High School Musical: Get in the Picture:

Today was the second round of casting calls, and I'm not feeling really strongly about any of the semifinalists, so I'm gonna talk about a few other things instead:

-- We met the other three faculty members on tonight's show. Jen looks a lot like Ellen Burstyn, and I'm already on Team Regina because of the faces she makes during bad auditions. It's nice to know that someone's willing to be a little more real about the lack of talent or personality in some of these auditions.

-- Why do these kids seem to know no music other than oldies, Edwin McCain or Disney songs? I love oldies, but I'm over hearing them get butchered or "redone." Classic songs are classic because they were good to begin with. I said it about American Idol contestants, and I'll say it again; quit putting your personal stamp on a really great piece and just perform it.

-- The "dramatic tension" before commercial breaks is really choppy and does nothing for me. Also, maybe it's editing issues, but it seems like a lot of kids from the on-the-spot auditions made it, while many casting call kids got the boot.

-- The only contestant that stood out for me was Christie from Hawaii, who talked about the struggle of being blond and blue-eyed in Hawaii's population. God bless her heart, I know she was being sincere, but hearing someone talk about the challenges of being blonde and blue-eyed is ... it's a little odd, that's all I'm saying.

-- MAJOR lack of Lachey tonight. What gives?

Maybe tomorrow night will have a little more oomph? The preview showed fighting, a key element to reality shows.

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Guest blogger Lindsay Diokno on High School Musical: Get in the Picture:

The second half of the Eastern auditions went quickly (thankfully) and mostly painlessly, with the contestants going from 30 to 20 to 10 to six.

First, the kids were taught a dance routine, which went by FAST. I assume this is when the kids went from 30 to 20, because there were only 20 by the singing portion. Then the contestants performed a song from High School Musical, and I'm a little stunned at how many kids got through to semifinals with those vocals. I'll attribute the off-key performances to having to sing a cappella. Finally, 10 are called out to perform duets, and six are chosen from that batch.

Before we talk about the duets, the only one I think they shouldn't have cut was the feisty Estefenia (forgive me if I spelled that wrong, I have no DVR and couldn’t rewind to catch her name). She was a very good singer and had "stage presence," but the judges felt her accent affected her delivery too much. I found her to be a likable version of America's Next Top Model winner Jaslene.

Continue reading "'High School Musical: Get in the Picture': six finalists" »

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Guest blogger Lindsay Diokno's thoughts on the new High School Musical: Get in the Picture:

Having never watched anything remotely related to High School Musical before last night, I'm not sure what I should have expected, but what I saw wasn't much.

The gist of this ABC reality show is … to be honest, I was a little confused about what they win, so let me use ABC.com's words:

"This summer's reality show, Disney's High School Musical: Get in the Picture,' will award one prize winner the chance of a lifetime -- he or she will literally 'get in the picture' when that person stars in a music video shown in the end credits of the feature film, Disney's High School Musical 3: Senior Year, opening this fall. In addition, the winner will also receive an exclusive talent hold agreement with ABC and a recording contract for two singles with Walt Disney Records, one of which will be a version of the song from the music video."

So … the winner doesn't get a role in the movie, and he or she records a version of a song that may only be in the movie during the end credits. This is after weeks of music camp with six "faculty" members teaching these kids how to sing and dance. Sign ME up for this "chance of a lifetime" that will surely launch my career. Actually, I wouldn't mind auditioning for HSM if host Nick Lachey gave me a hug.

Continue reading "The reality of 'High School Musical: Get in the Picture'" »

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