Saturday night saw the curtain draw on the ITV hit primetime show, Britain’s Got Talent. As ever, the final was as captivating as ever, and it drew one of the greatest live performances ever seen, by the winners, gymnastic artists Spelbound.
Spelbound’s performance was absolutely stunning, inch-perfect and was summed up by judge, Amanda Holden saying they would ‘perfect to open the 2012 Olympic Games.’ Series four of the show though show rapid signs of decline, which has left a few to question whether it has reached its peak?
Firstly, Saturday’s final drew figures of just over 14million viewers. Not too bad, but it was a staggering 5.2million less than the 2009 final. ITV were expecting a hit, but surely not quite as steep as that. The audition round also failed to draw in the audience crowds, which suggests that the normal people are getting a bit bored with the show.
Secondly, the judging has gone very stale on the show. No wonder why Simon Cowell has already decided to not do the audition round next year. At times, the other two judges, Holden and former editor of the Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan were putting acts through just to annoy Simon. When Louis Walsh stood in, whilst Cowell came down with the flu, the Irishman allowed some shocking acts through into the judges’ selection stage. The semi-finals highlighted this, with the first two on the road: Last Monday and Tuesday, full of dreary, drippy acts that simply had no talent whatsoever. It was all a bit of a joke. Especially Holden, who seemed to love everything and almost throw herself at any bloke around her, she seemed pretty desperate. Perhaps it’s time she was replaced, because although she maybe a top-quality actress, her criticising judging skills are far less to be desired.
Thirdly, without Susan Boyle, the show was always going to struggle. I think some were expecting to see one of the contestants produce a ‘SuBo’ moment like last year. That was simply never going to happen, as she was a ‘one in a million’ contestant. Largely, because of the staggering media interest last year. Again, it was interesting to see the lack of media coverage the show got this year. Maybe the critics are tired of the same old routines. It must be noted on my Facebook and Twitter pages, that whereas everyone was talking about the show on their statuses in 2009, there was a lack of this when I explored this social networking buzz on Saturday night. Lastly, Ant & Dec’s dry-witted humour has always been funny and a joy to watch, but sometimes it went far over the top in the last series just gone by. You can’t really ditch the pair, simply because ITV can’t afford to lose them, but at times, I even found the Geordie duo to be fairly tiresome to watch. The humour they portrayed on Wednesday night, after the murders in Cumbria wasn’t very satisfying. Okay, I understand that the show must go on, as must the acts. However, things could have been toned down a little, especially with the traumatic events going on last week.
On the positive side, there was plenty of talent in Saturday’s final and the final ten acts, were the right ten to make the final. Twist & Pulse were surprising and creditable runners-up, considering they went first in the running order, normally a significant disadvantage in previous finals. Drummer Kieran Gaffney was third, as he bounced back brilliantly from being rejected at the auditions stage in 2009. Other highlights on Saturday night were 40-year old Christopher Stone’s opera voice. He is surely destined for a career in the West End, rather than the accounting job he currently has. Another act, which will have received a lot from this programme, is impressionist Paul Burling. Burling, a former failure on the holiday park tour, was a revelation with his celebrity impersonations. He was unlucky to miss out on a top three spot, but definitely has a lot of potential for the future now.
Although Saturday’s final ended up being a joy to watch, the series in general has been a major disappointment and similar to Dancing on Ice this year, showed minor cracks and signs of its age. Simon Cowell has already said that a revamp is needed and I feel it does need some major tweaking, to win back the people and especially, the media. It wasn’t a diabolical watch, but changes will have to be made, maybe some controversial ones, to keep Britain’s Got Talent afresh. Otherwise, I am totally convinced that it already might have reached its peak performance.
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