Sunday, July 1, 2012

Craft Wars = Ridiculousness

From my last post you know that I thought the idea of the show Craft Wars on TLC was pretty ridiculous.  And now that I've seen it, its been confirmed: RIDICULOUSNESS!

The reality-show formula of expert panel of judges meets contestants vying for prize, round 1 eliminations, public critiques and ridiculous challenges is still alive and well in Craft Wars.   There is nothing new or clever in this show, the challenges are a bit extreme for the time limits and the judges scold contestants with statements akin to, "everyone knows you can't do THAT!"  I love crafting because there aren't any rules, boxes or norms--its whatever one can achieve however they achieve it.    Hasn't this show boxed in the craft world a bit with such commentary? 

Let's not overlook the commercialism in this 'reality' programming.  Its a marketing heyday for Michaels Craft Stores under the guise of a competition.   You'd never find me on this show!  The contestants are puppets exploited in TLC's quest for ratings.  The title for the show is awful & ratings are achieved by juvenile interviews, contrived drama and matter-of-fact commentary by the judges in a field which is everything but matter-of-fact.  Can we structure a show in a way that might yield true television-worthy moments, candid and meaningful information and real emotions?   And must every reality show have a panel of three judges?  Is that another hard and fast rule I'm not familiar with?

For a show supposedly all about creativity, Craft Wars isn't very creative at all.  A tired reality-show formula and a contrived war premise makes this a flop for me.   

No comments:

Post a Comment