This show is turning into a caricature of itself, aping its most dramatic moments, exaggerating their reenactments under the guise of a
photo-shoot challenge, then at the last minute adding in some shoes and purses - because, you know, this
is a modeling competition. There were TMs of yore aplenty, though not those who'd had the best pictures but those who in years past had offered up fleeting moments of entertainment, e.g., stolen granola bars, fainting during the judges panel, lesbian kisses, and "flesh-eating bacteria." "Top Model All-Stars" this was not, i.e., no previous winners were present, though there was a runner-up or two. (An A-plus goes to the student-viewer who really knows their
ANTM history and can name the Cycle 1 model who
first refused to do the nude shoot, after whom Shannon just followed suit.)
Seeing the former wannabes got me thinking about my faves: Where's Mercedes? And Shandi - someone please tell me the Most Improved Player of
ANTM didn't go back to Walgreens. Hey, that reminds me, no one reenacted
her drama. I suppose it would be difficult to capture the whole cheating-on-boyfriend thing. But how was the mere presence of Cycle 7 twins Amanda and Michelle a dramatic moment?
The inadvertent lesson learned tonight was how sorely lacking this cycle is in sheer
modeling talent, as evidenced in several of them being upstaged by the former contestants. I think this could also explain the dearth of the word "fierce" (not that there's anything wrong with that). It was said only once tonight, and surprisingly its use has waned as the season has progressed, perhaps because none of these ladies has the goods that would inspire Tyra or Mr. Jay or Miss J. Ruffles to passionately exclaim it.
The evening's Cycle 8 drama concerned its many mommies. After Renee was able to channel her roller-coaster mood swings into some acting chops for
Napoleon Dynamite's "Vote for Pedro" Efren Ramirez, she and chosen "friend" Dionne (now "easily bought" as Jael wisely noted) received a twofold reward: first a flimsy T-shirt, then a visit from family. How convenient was it that the two winners were both teary, guilt-ridden mothers? I expect this reunion to be reenacted during a photo challenge in Cycle 9. Now we know that their children (and Renee's husband, who I believe is a military man stationed in Hawaii?) truly exist - not to mention the fact that Nata's baby is the real thing, too! Well, little Angelina (dear god, first K-Fed, now Angelina?) only made a 2-D appearance via a photograph. But that's because Natasha didn't win the challenge, not because the show "skipped over" her and didn't think she missed her baby as much as they did. Again, something got lost in translation.
I got a chuckle out of Dionne's reaction to her 2-year-old daughter's hair. She fixed it and it looked really cute; I wonder if she could give the now-weaveless Brittany some styling tips? At least Brit's 'do isn't that clownish shade of red anymore. Her pic with the twins was good, too, though it revealed that she's not as tall as I'd previously thought. The judges made a bit more sense this week: Dionne and Natasha are both improving; Jael was finally scolded about her speech; and Brittany continues to soar (unlike Jaslene, who's fading). Whitney needed "a great picture," words that escaped Tyra's own lips when addressing the reason Whitney was again in the bottom two. These days, what this show has become makes me doubt that "great pictures" has much to do with the judges' decision. But Whitelle hadn't really produced one fabulous image over eight weeks, so she was sent home.
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This show is turning into a caricature of itself, aping its most dramatic moments, exaggerating their reenactments under the guise of a photo-shoot challenge, then at the last minute adding in some shoes and purses — because, you know, this is a modeling competition. There were TMs of yore aplenty, though not those who'd had the best pictures but those who in years past had offered up fleeting moments of entertainment, e.g., stolen granola bars, fainting during the judges panel, lesbian kisses, and "flesh-eating bacteria." "Top Model All-Stars" this was not, i.e., no previous winners were present, though there was a runner-up or two. (An A-plus goes to the student-viewer who really knows their ANTM history and can name the Cycle 1 model who first refused to do the nude shoot, after whom Shannon just followed suit.) Seeing the former wannabes got me thinking about my faves: Where's Mercedes? And Shandi — someone please tell me the Most Improved Player of ANTM didn't go ba...
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