December 22, 2007
On last night's The Next Great American Band finale, The Clark Brothers emerged victorious and won a recording contract with 19 Entertainment as a reward. They beat out other top three finalists Sixwire and Denver and the Mile High Orchestra to take the crown. Impressive all season, The Clark Brothers were known for their incredible musicianship and unparalleled passion during their performances. The Clark Brothers are comprised of Ashley, Austin and Adam, three of eleven children of a traveling minister. They learned to play music while on the road with their father, and they perform a combination of bluegrass, country and rock.
December 21, 2007
The Next Great American Band wrapped up its first and almost certainly final season tonight. The outcome wasn't a huge surprise to anyone who watched the entire season, and it was a fairly well-packaged final hour of TV. I'll tell you one thing – I'm going to miss Dicko. He might be better than Simon Cowell, in that he can be just as acidic with his wit, but he's also less of a curmudgeon. So, if you want to find out the winner of The Next Great American Band, just look below...
December 20, 2007
Notice the question is “Who should win?” not “Who will win?” Those questions should be one and the same, but with what we've seen from The Next Great American Band's voting audience this year, I really have no idea which band is going to win. None. Since they haven't shown us who the bottom two or bottom three bands have been in the voting at any point this season, there are no informed predictions we can make regarding tomorrow's final outcome. It's between Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, Sixwire and The Clark Brothers. Viewers are split, but there is one band that has stood out above all others on The Next Great American Band.
December 19, 2007
The Next Great American Band, despite the constant criticism from everywhere, had its fair share of good to great performances. The show had a lot of talent flow through its ranks. Unfortunately, these performances were pretty rare. Realistically, the top five performances could all be songs by The Clark Brothers, but I'm going to be fair and limit one song per band on the list. This means that some deserving performances will be left off the list and, just to incite the ever-frisky Denver fans, I have included exactly zero performances by Denver and the Mile High Orchestra. Sorry. I wanted to give Franklin Bridge some love, but after looking back at all The Next Great American Band episodes on which they appeared, I couldn't find one defining performance. Perhaps that's why America gave them the boot.
December 18, 2007
Given the quality of The Next Great American Band, I had a lot of performances to choose from for this list. It's sad, but true. The Next Great American Band will go down as a failed experiment, and FOX and company have done all but admit this. A handful of the top 12 bands have no business making the finals of any band competition, let alone a national one. For this list, I allowed myself only one performance per band. Otherwise, it might have been all Rocket performances.
December 14, 2007
Tonight was the final competition night on The Next Great American Band, and it's about time. I'm not sure if I've talked to anyone who is truly loving the season of American Band. It's certainly the worst series to come from the American Idol production team. The show has its fair share of talent, and it was a worthy attempt at a new reality show. A reality series for bands is an idea with potential, but it might have been inherently flawed. I can't point to anything about the show's execution that didn't allow the show to live up to its potential. Each of the three final bands performed three songs tonight – one picked by the judges, one picked by FOX, and one picked by the band. Next week sees the final episode of The Next Great American Band.
December 11, 2007
Much has been made about the poor ratings received by The Next Great American Band. When the idea for American Band was first announced near the tail end of last season's American Idol, the potential seemed limitless. The Idol team could do no wrong. You had Idol, So You Think You Can Dance and America's Got Talent – all big hits in their own right. If it worked with singing, a talent show, and dancing, why wouldn't it work with bands? Then, prior to the beginning of the Fall TV season, FOX announced the time slot for The Next Great American Band: Fridays at 8pm. Fridays are where TV shows go to die. Why would FOX place a big event show by the creators of TV's biggest hit (American Idol) in the worst possible time slot?
December 7, 2007
The top four bands performed one original song tonight on The Next Great American Band, along with one Queen cover. Now, the Queen cover would pose problems for any band given Freddie Mercury's almost unparalleled vocal range, but the bands did pretty well with the task, all things considered. The originals, on the other hand, were a big disappointment and point to the real reason these bands have yet to hit pay dirt on their own – their songs aren't all that good. Covering songs well is one thing, writing good songs is a completely different skill.