For those of you younger than a "certain age," once upon a time when the Diva was but a divette-in-training, there was a TV show called Happy Days that was probably the most popular show of its time. But as so often happens in the world of entertainment, the audience and characters got older and no one had the guts to end the thing on an up note and so the show stayed on the air well past its prime. There was an episode in which one of the main characters somehow got involved in a water-skiing competition in which he had to ski-jump over a tank containing a live shark. The situation was so ridiculous (and by that point the audience sooo did not care) that this particular episode of Happy Days has become kind of a marker for when anything popular has outlived its welcome. This is what it means when you hear that a TV show (or singer or reality celeb) has "jumped the shark." It means they have gotten so desperate for ratings and acceptance that they go to ridiculous lengths to get it. (Now, if you did not know what that phrase meant before, you are obligated to give the Photo Diva credit when you explain it to someone else. And I'll know if you don't do it. I'm like Santa that way. I know if you've been bad or good... Just sayin'...)
So, when the three-plus hour yawn fest (a.k.a. the Grammys) was over my first thought was: has the annual telecast jumped the shark?
Since about 2004 (when Prince and Beyoncé performed together magically) the show has been moving towards more performances and less acceptance speeches. At first I thought was a good idea. After all, the home audience would be more entertained and it would give performers an opportunity to show off their talents to potential new fans. But most of last night's performances were lackluster at best and the acceptance speeches were too few and too far between.
To me...that's a bad thing.
Sure, the opening number tribute to the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin was good but could have been so much better if they had left off country darling Martina McBride and up-and-comer Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) and let Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera and Yolanda Adams really belt away at Franklin's greatest hits. I know where they were trying to go with this grouping — to show Franklin's influence on all genres of music — but it just came off as a bit too forced and ending it with "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" was way too cliché for my taste. At least everyone was on key and remembered the words.
Real "highlights" were scarce but included the incredibly talented Bruno Mars with B.o.B. and Janelle Monae (although Monae's crowd surfing mid performance seemed out of context), the suprisingly enjoyable Usher/Justin Beiber/Jaden Smith number (and unlike the Super Bowl we could actually HEAR Usher sing), and the not too horrifying Eminem featuring Rihanna.
The biggest highlight for me, however, was Mick Jagger paying tribute to the late soul icon Solomon Burke by soulfully singing "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" and strutting around and owning the stage like only Mick can in his first (really?) Grammy performance. I could have watched Mick and guitarist Raphael Saadig all night. You younguns could learn a thing or three from Gramps.
But like the lack of on-air winners there were just not enough remarkable performances for a three plus hour show. Well, there were a few other "remarkable" performances...but not in a good way.
Long-time folkster Bob Dylan's performance of his fabulous song “Maggie’s Farm”— backed by Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers — was unremarkable except for the fact that Dylan's vocals were buried in the mix (not that I necessarily want to hear his voice up front and center but it's a respect thing) and performance artist Lady Gaga emerging from whatever-that-was for a song-and-dance tribute to Madonna's "Express Yourself"...er...I mean...her latest single "Born This Way"...had me baffled as to why this blatant rip-off was even allowed to air. If I were Madonna I'd be pissed...
Even the much anticipated performance (at least for me) of my favorite song of 2010 — "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green — was turned into a Technicolor joke by the outfit (which was a cross between 1970's Elton John and Bingo from the The Banana Splits...Google it), C-List Muppet bandmates (where's Animal on drums?) and Gwyneth Paltrow in her Louboutin stilettos towering over Cee Lo while standing on top of the Liberace-style piano. I think I am the only one who noticed that Cee Lo left out the line "But that don't mean I can't get you there" which made me think... A) he forgot his own lyrics (which is even worse than Christina flubbing somebody else's lyrics at the Super Bowl) or B) the sensors thought it was too dirty (which it kinda is).
Overall the 2011 Grammy show was pretty disappointing and I do believe they may have actually jumped the shark. It might not be too late to save it though. There's still entertainment value somewhere in there. My suggestion would be to bring back more of the acceptance speeches (Soul singer John Legend and Philadelphia hip-hop band the Roots were big off-camera winners and I would have loved to hear them accept their awards) and lose some of the mediocre performances (sorry Katy Perry).
Since about 2004 (when Prince and Beyoncé performed together magically) the show has been moving towards more performances and less acceptance speeches. At first I thought was a good idea. After all, the home audience would be more entertained and it would give performers an opportunity to show off their talents to potential new fans. But most of last night's performances were lackluster at best and the acceptance speeches were too few and too far between.
To me...that's a bad thing.
Sure, the opening number tribute to the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin was good but could have been so much better if they had left off country darling Martina McBride and up-and-comer Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) and let Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera and Yolanda Adams really belt away at Franklin's greatest hits. I know where they were trying to go with this grouping — to show Franklin's influence on all genres of music — but it just came off as a bit too forced and ending it with "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" was way too cliché for my taste. At least everyone was on key and remembered the words.
Real "highlights" were scarce but included the incredibly talented Bruno Mars with B.o.B. and Janelle Monae (although Monae's crowd surfing mid performance seemed out of context), the suprisingly enjoyable Usher/Justin Beiber/Jaden Smith number (and unlike the Super Bowl we could actually HEAR Usher sing), and the not too horrifying Eminem featuring Rihanna.
The biggest highlight for me, however, was Mick Jagger paying tribute to the late soul icon Solomon Burke by soulfully singing "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" and strutting around and owning the stage like only Mick can in his first (really?) Grammy performance. I could have watched Mick and guitarist Raphael Saadig all night. You younguns could learn a thing or three from Gramps.
But like the lack of on-air winners there were just not enough remarkable performances for a three plus hour show. Well, there were a few other "remarkable" performances...but not in a good way.
Long-time folkster Bob Dylan's performance of his fabulous song “Maggie’s Farm”— backed by Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers — was unremarkable except for the fact that Dylan's vocals were buried in the mix (not that I necessarily want to hear his voice up front and center but it's a respect thing) and performance artist Lady Gaga emerging from whatever-that-was for a song-and-dance tribute to Madonna's "Express Yourself"...er...I mean...her latest single "Born This Way"...had me baffled as to why this blatant rip-off was even allowed to air. If I were Madonna I'd be pissed...
Even the much anticipated performance (at least for me) of my favorite song of 2010 — "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green — was turned into a Technicolor joke by the outfit (which was a cross between 1970's Elton John and Bingo from the The Banana Splits...Google it), C-List Muppet bandmates (where's Animal on drums?) and Gwyneth Paltrow in her Louboutin stilettos towering over Cee Lo while standing on top of the Liberace-style piano. I think I am the only one who noticed that Cee Lo left out the line "But that don't mean I can't get you there" which made me think... A) he forgot his own lyrics (which is even worse than Christina flubbing somebody else's lyrics at the Super Bowl) or B) the sensors thought it was too dirty (which it kinda is).
Overall the 2011 Grammy show was pretty disappointing and I do believe they may have actually jumped the shark. It might not be too late to save it though. There's still entertainment value somewhere in there. My suggestion would be to bring back more of the acceptance speeches (Soul singer John Legend and Philadelphia hip-hop band the Roots were big off-camera winners and I would have loved to hear them accept their awards) and lose some of the mediocre performances (sorry Katy Perry).
