ABC's 'Rising Star' is Falling Dud

This last Sunday night I joined 1 million others and downloaded the free "Rising Star" app on my iPhone. I was sort of overcome with curiosity about "the first game of it's kind," a TV program that allows the viewing public to "further a singer's career" via your smart phone.

Voters can raise the wall to keep the singer in the competition

I have to admit. The idea is really great. I mean what do people like to do with their downtime more than watch TV? Be on their phone! And, if you're terribly lazy (like me), do both at the same time.

Additionally, having a say in who stays and who goes...well that really is intoxicating. Even if you're main goal is to down vote every single singer (May or may not have done this a few times).

If this isn't feeding your narcissism and laziness enough, the producers will choose a lucky group of voters and display their Facebook or Twitter profile picture up on "The Wall."



Sounds like a pretty awesome deal to me. So why did the show only get $5 million viewers (that's bad I guess)? Some are saying it's due to the competitive programing that aired at the same time (Like America's Got Talent).

It could be partially blamed on poor timing. But I think there's a much larger reason this show is going to be a Summer belly flop:

The idea is good; the content is bad.

Let me explain.

All marketers know that if you want people to buy more of your product, you have to show, not tell. ABC told us a lot but didn't show us anything.

Most of the commercials and promotions kept telling us that this was going to be a very "interactive" game. This was going to be the best competition ever because instead of waiting for a results show or watching the judges tear apart a beloved singer, you could just voice swipe your opinion.

This was stated so many times it became painful. But when we actually got to the show, you know the part where it's supposed to be "highly" interactive, they just kept talking about how to vote.

YES WE GET IT. SWIPE TO VOTE. WE ARE COMPLETE MORONS. Somehow, despite our ability to understand somewhere in the first 200 or so times you explained how the show works, we needed to be reminded 200 more times throughout the show and even in the commercials that ran during the two hour time slot.

Due to the lengthy explanation of how the show works and how incredibly creative ABC is for coming up with this brilliant idea (Oh wait, there's a show in Israel by the same name that's been going on since last year? ) we got exactly three minute and a half performances in the first hour of the show.

In other words, I got to watch a long and lengthy promotion for Rising Star (I was already watching it...I don't know what more they wanted) with three "highly interactive" swipes thrown in there somewhere during the first hour... I'll admit, the second hour was slightly better.

In addition to the "Rising Star" worship going on, Josh Groban, the world- renown singer and show host (?), was adorkably bad. Don't get me wrong. I think he did a much better job than most people. He was as charming as possible and as approachable as he could be. But there was something... lacking.

He was smirk-funny but not laugh-out-loud-funny. He didn't say anything overly original. There were a few times he may have been ad libbing, but it seemed like most of what he said was being read off a prompt.

Also, the judges of the show, Brad Paisley, Ludacris, and Kei$ha really didn't add anything to the time. They didn't make any insightful comments or tell a hilarious story. (Well K-Dollar Sign for an S told a hilarious story about stalking Prince that had me on the floor laughing except for that time that it didn't)

If it sounds like I'm being harsh, judging friends and coworkers by these standards would be super rude and rather hypocritical....

But remember, this is supposed to be entertainment. And it's really not. It's just a recycled idea for a competition show with nothing unique, other than the huge wall and stuff.

All in all, the show's producers seemed to so enthralled with the overwhelming idea that "You can vote on your phone!!!" that they forgot to make the show entertaining.

I just don't see "Rising Star" staying around. It's not rewarding enough for the viewers. Sure, we get to be part of the process. But the show itself is so horribly boring.

Maybe ABC should stick to making really good and not-stupid-at-all shows like "Wipeout."