You know when an idea comes so far out of left-field that it’s impossible to tell if it’s completely inspired or completely stupid?
The organisers of the Emmy Awards have come up with one of these ideas, and it goes by the name of Emmy Idol. The awards will be punctuated by TV stars such as Donald Trump and William Shatner belting out classic TV theme tunes, which the American public can text-vote on to find the winner.
This is either the best or the worst idea we’ve ever heard…
For years, the ratings for the televised Emmy Awards have been in
freefall. That’s fair enough – watching filmstars slap each other on
the back is dull enough, so watching people off the telly doing the
same can only be more tedious, especially when about 9,000 awards are
given out to people nobody recognises.
We’ve found that betting on the results helps to liven things up hugely,
but the organisers obviously wanted to stage something so bizarre that
people couldn’t help but watch the ceremony.
So some bright spark came up with Emmy Idol. The official line being taken, by executive producer Ken Ehrlich is that:
"There are certain television theme songs that are nearly as memorable
as the shows connected to them. By jogging memories as well as
creating wonderful moments by having them performed on this year’s Emmy
show, we think we’re giving viewers one more reason to tune in and be
entertainment."
But
we’re not so sure. We think the whole Emmy Idol thing is going to be
one long deliberate car crash, designed specifically to be a giant
water-cooler moment the next day.
Tune in on September 18th to see Macy Gray (CDs) and a bloke from CSI sing
the theme-tune to The Jeffersons, or Kristen Bell from Veronica Mars
perform the theme from Fame.
Our two favourite performances, however, have got to be the two big
duets of the night. Firstly, Megan Mullally from Will And Grace and
Donald Trump will team up to bash out the theme from 1960’s farce Green
Acres. And then – surely the highlight of anyone’s viewing year –
William Shatner (CDs) and opera singer Frederica von Stade will sing the
Star Trek theme tune. Yes, the instrumental. God alone knows what
that’s going to sound like.
So far, so entertaining. But we can’t help feeling that, by 2025,
people will be watching this year’s Emmy Idol performances on clip
shows wondering what the hell those people were thinking.
What do you think? Is Emmy Idol going to be great or crap? Leave your comments below.
Read more:
Emmys has a new beat with ‘Idol’ package – Reuters
Emmys 2005 Betting Odds – Best Drama Actor (Part One)
[story by Stuart Heritage]