Let’s face it – awards shows are usually pretty boring.
The only things keeping people watching is the suspense of wondering whether our favourites will win their awards, and curiosity about whether any of the live performers will actually manage to sound good on a television soundstage.
This year’s Juno Awards failed horribly on the first point, but were surprisingly successful on the second.
Now we all pretty much expected torch crooner Michael Bublé to be the biggest winner and preteen heartthrob Justin Bieber to get the most attention, so that’s not why we’re complaining about the lack of mystery.
No, the big problem was that CTV decided to delay the broadcast for most of Canada in order to get it into the primetime market. This meant that those of us who logged on to Twitter (or any other Internet source) as the show started already knew who’d won all the categories, which pretty much spoiled most of the fun.
Back in 2007, CTV also attempted to delay the broadcast in many markets in order to air an episode of the Amazing Race, but in that case, protests over how late it was going to play forced them to back down. At least this time they had it running in an appropriate time slot, but it feels like they missed the point of “live” television events like this.
It’s much easier to forgive flubbed lines, dodgy performances and technical glitches when we’re watching it in real time. More importantly, it’s that sense that we’re all experiencing the event simultaneously that makes it an actual event, and not just another mediocre variety show.
On the bright side, compared to the generally disappointing performances at this year’s Grammy Awards, the Junos were remarkably strong.
Not only were the audio mixes pretty decent for this kind of thing, but the musicians were actually singing in key (for the most part). There were very few backing tracks helping out the talent, and we didn’t catch anyone lip-synching.
If we can pull this off in Newfoundland, why the hell can’t they do it properly in Hollywood? And by this, we’re not making fun of our eastern cousins, but rather remarking on how they seem to be able to do so much better with a much smaller budget. Sure, the stage was tiny by American standards, but aren’t these things supposed to be about the music anyway?[rssbreak]
