And so it begins (The Masked Singer and Jane Eyre rewatch)
It already feels like a tradition that the new year starts with the fever dream of The Masked Singer. I watched the first episode on catch up in two parts.
Joel’s suit seemed awful to me, Davina’s dress made me think of bin liners, while Rita looked relaxed until she stood up and it appeared she’d been influenced by kabuki or something, Jonathan was looking snazzy until he stood up to reveal leather trousers, which no. So, well done, Mo for wearing a flattering black and tan suit. Bless them for trying when this and the next episode will be all about the costumes. I had a very 2022 chuckle that the escorts were wearing masks.
The audience were what we in the rest of the UK call a ‘full English’. I’m going to put some of their voting decisions down to overstimulation at being out in a large gathering (or it must sound different in the studio to what comes over in the transmission.)
Mushroom was a woman, a confusing woman, that’s alk I got from her ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’.
Robobunny (was brought up on dubbed Japanese catoons selling toy ranges) really pushed the duality of their identity. In hindsight, he was clearly pushing his voice on the low notes and was more convincing in falsetto.
I’d have voted Mushroom through, myself.
Chandelier’s costume must have made some people think ‘I could just about do that as a fancy-dress costume.’ Definitely an older lady, and I got Shirley Bassey stuck in my head, even though I knew it wasn’t her.
Doughnut really wasn’t a singer, so that was a pity stand from the judges.
Again, I disagreed with the studio audience voting thrugh the worse male singer over the better female singer, two rounds in.
Costume props for Lionfish and Fireworks (I imagine Fishlion will turn up in series 12.)
Brave but confindent from Lionfish to sing ‘Nessun Dorma’ in a non-operatic style. You’ve got to know what your voice is capable of to do that. The most ITV moment of this episode was when Mo Gilligan said - sincerely, I believe - that that performance reminded him of the Royal Variety Perfomance as if that were a compliment.
Firework could be a pop star, but doesn’t seem like the most versatile of singers.
I agreed that Lionfish should go through automatically.
So, the judges were called upon to save two out of the three singers without hearing them perform again. Listening back, I was less impressed by Mushroom and Firework. I’d have saved Chandelier first on the basis that I’d rather listen to her again, but the judges disagreed. Chandelier turned out to be Heather Small - a younger older lady than I thought. Cue the obligatory judges feeling embarrassed (in as much as the panel on The Masked Singer can) for voting off a proper singer this early, especially Mo who’d guessed her for someone else.
I watched episode 2 live, not that it made any difference,
TMS is the kind of show where it’s for the best I have something else to hand while watching, otherwise there’s a lot to get annoyed with. The time to really concentrate is the performance, and kind of the packages, although I don’t find them that helpful because I rarely know that much trivia about the celebs.
Joel’s blue suit was SO MUCH better, Jonathan’s jacket was too bright, Rita was dressed as ‘what Rita Ora thinks a glam businesswoman looks like’, Davina looked far more like herself only sparklier, and Mo wore something tasteful again.
Round 1: Rockhopper (!? Me neither, but sure, let’s go for specific types of penguins) vs. Traffic Cone (whch was a funny concept but quite a pathetic costume compared to al the others.)
Rockhopper came across as someone who loves karaoke, but not a proper/professional singer. (Yeah, I disagreed with Rita on her area of expertise.)
Everyone was delighted to hear ‘Never Going To Give You Up’…until Traffic Cone started to sing.
I didn’t much care who was voted through, but noted that the audience (unknown if it’s the same one) voted for the man over the woman, but then Rockhopper irked me with their reaction.
Both Poodle and Snow Leopard lookd great. Poodle was OWNING the character and is clearly a singer (possibly the best one so far, given that, as QueenBee and Sausage respectively, Nicola Roberts and Joss Stone always impressed.) I have an idea of who Poodle is.
I really liked Snow Leopard’s voice, though I thought they were more an actress than a singer, and was leaning more towards Rita’s suggestion that she was tiny Judi Dench than, well…
Poodle deserved to go straight through, but I was hoping Snow Leopard would be saved and could sing ‘Send In The Clowns’ at some point.
I love pandas, and Panda was cute, but I kind of loved the Bagpipes concept and the bagpipe version of Seven Nation Army.
Most ITV moment of this episode, Davina feeling she needed to translate ‘I’m an introvert-extrovert’ as ‘she’s a shy person who likes showing off.’ (Or words to that effect.) Oh, Davina.
Panda was a competent singer and rapper. I thought Alesha Dixon until I saw her standing next to Joel and Alesha’s taller than that.
Bagpipes’s Scottish accent was fake, but I accepted that could be a double bluff. A great song to get the audience gong (also THE DANCERS AS HIGHLAND CATTLE), but you wouldn’t call it a singer’s song. All I could tell was that he’d obviously listened to the original a lot.
Most genuinely surprising thing that happened: the audience voted the woman through automatically.
Time for the judges to pick - I wonder if they go for the person they’ve thought they’ve guessed, although a lot of the guesses in both episodes were ridiculous (and Rita and Mo talked a lot of absolute garbage.) I was sad that they went for Snow Leopard, but it turned out Jonathan was right and it was Gloria Hunniford - good on her for sassing them for unmasking her.
So, next week, there’s a theme, and it’s Movie Week. How very Strictly/X-Factor/Pop Idol of them.
I saw that Jane Eyre (the Ruth Wilson version) was being aired, and decided to rewatch it - I’ve had a hankering to do so for a while, but on the strength of this first episode, I can see why I didn’t buy it on DVD.
The opening section features Georgie ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe’ Henley as Jane as a child, and it whzzes through most of the high points you’d expect, but in a somewhat frantic music video take on its Gothickness way. (I know Jane Eyre is Gothic in the way that most Brontë books are, but I’ve subsequently watched the Mia Wasikowsta version more, which plays it down.)
Still. I was reminded of Why Jane Eyre Is Imoortant as a character and novel, as she insited on her selfhood, as both child and young woman. But whoa, this adaptation adds a lot - I remembered the natural history, which I quite liked as an addition. Because it’s a Sandy Welch adaptation there’s a repeated motif of material flying out of a window. Ruth Wilson is fine (if too pretty) as Jane, ditto Toby Stephens as Rochester. IIRC this version doesn’t have the Gypsy woman incident; I always respect versions that include that (the Orson Welles one and The Autobiography of Jane Eyre did.) I know I posted about this the first time I watched it, so I’ll go back to that once I’ve finished the rewatch.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/482661.html.
Joel’s suit seemed awful to me, Davina’s dress made me think of bin liners, while Rita looked relaxed until she stood up and it appeared she’d been influenced by kabuki or something, Jonathan was looking snazzy until he stood up to reveal leather trousers, which no. So, well done, Mo for wearing a flattering black and tan suit. Bless them for trying when this and the next episode will be all about the costumes. I had a very 2022 chuckle that the escorts were wearing masks.
The audience were what we in the rest of the UK call a ‘full English’. I’m going to put some of their voting decisions down to overstimulation at being out in a large gathering (or it must sound different in the studio to what comes over in the transmission.)
Mushroom was a woman, a confusing woman, that’s alk I got from her ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’.
Robobunny (was brought up on dubbed Japanese catoons selling toy ranges) really pushed the duality of their identity. In hindsight, he was clearly pushing his voice on the low notes and was more convincing in falsetto.
I’d have voted Mushroom through, myself.
Chandelier’s costume must have made some people think ‘I could just about do that as a fancy-dress costume.’ Definitely an older lady, and I got Shirley Bassey stuck in my head, even though I knew it wasn’t her.
Doughnut really wasn’t a singer, so that was a pity stand from the judges.
Again, I disagreed with the studio audience voting thrugh the worse male singer over the better female singer, two rounds in.
Costume props for Lionfish and Fireworks (I imagine Fishlion will turn up in series 12.)
Brave but confindent from Lionfish to sing ‘Nessun Dorma’ in a non-operatic style. You’ve got to know what your voice is capable of to do that. The most ITV moment of this episode was when Mo Gilligan said - sincerely, I believe - that that performance reminded him of the Royal Variety Perfomance as if that were a compliment.
Firework could be a pop star, but doesn’t seem like the most versatile of singers.
I agreed that Lionfish should go through automatically.
So, the judges were called upon to save two out of the three singers without hearing them perform again. Listening back, I was less impressed by Mushroom and Firework. I’d have saved Chandelier first on the basis that I’d rather listen to her again, but the judges disagreed. Chandelier turned out to be Heather Small - a younger older lady than I thought. Cue the obligatory judges feeling embarrassed (in as much as the panel on The Masked Singer can) for voting off a proper singer this early, especially Mo who’d guessed her for someone else.
I watched episode 2 live, not that it made any difference,
TMS is the kind of show where it’s for the best I have something else to hand while watching, otherwise there’s a lot to get annoyed with. The time to really concentrate is the performance, and kind of the packages, although I don’t find them that helpful because I rarely know that much trivia about the celebs.
Joel’s blue suit was SO MUCH better, Jonathan’s jacket was too bright, Rita was dressed as ‘what Rita Ora thinks a glam businesswoman looks like’, Davina looked far more like herself only sparklier, and Mo wore something tasteful again.
Round 1: Rockhopper (!? Me neither, but sure, let’s go for specific types of penguins) vs. Traffic Cone (whch was a funny concept but quite a pathetic costume compared to al the others.)
Rockhopper came across as someone who loves karaoke, but not a proper/professional singer. (Yeah, I disagreed with Rita on her area of expertise.)
Everyone was delighted to hear ‘Never Going To Give You Up’…until Traffic Cone started to sing.
I didn’t much care who was voted through, but noted that the audience (unknown if it’s the same one) voted for the man over the woman, but then Rockhopper irked me with their reaction.
Both Poodle and Snow Leopard lookd great. Poodle was OWNING the character and is clearly a singer (possibly the best one so far, given that, as QueenBee and Sausage respectively, Nicola Roberts and Joss Stone always impressed.) I have an idea of who Poodle is.
I really liked Snow Leopard’s voice, though I thought they were more an actress than a singer, and was leaning more towards Rita’s suggestion that she was tiny Judi Dench than, well…
Poodle deserved to go straight through, but I was hoping Snow Leopard would be saved and could sing ‘Send In The Clowns’ at some point.
I love pandas, and Panda was cute, but I kind of loved the Bagpipes concept and the bagpipe version of Seven Nation Army.
Most ITV moment of this episode, Davina feeling she needed to translate ‘I’m an introvert-extrovert’ as ‘she’s a shy person who likes showing off.’ (Or words to that effect.) Oh, Davina.
Panda was a competent singer and rapper. I thought Alesha Dixon until I saw her standing next to Joel and Alesha’s taller than that.
Bagpipes’s Scottish accent was fake, but I accepted that could be a double bluff. A great song to get the audience gong (also THE DANCERS AS HIGHLAND CATTLE), but you wouldn’t call it a singer’s song. All I could tell was that he’d obviously listened to the original a lot.
Most genuinely surprising thing that happened: the audience voted the woman through automatically.
Time for the judges to pick - I wonder if they go for the person they’ve thought they’ve guessed, although a lot of the guesses in both episodes were ridiculous (and Rita and Mo talked a lot of absolute garbage.) I was sad that they went for Snow Leopard, but it turned out Jonathan was right and it was Gloria Hunniford - good on her for sassing them for unmasking her.
So, next week, there’s a theme, and it’s Movie Week. How very Strictly/X-Factor/Pop Idol of them.
I saw that Jane Eyre (the Ruth Wilson version) was being aired, and decided to rewatch it - I’ve had a hankering to do so for a while, but on the strength of this first episode, I can see why I didn’t buy it on DVD.
The opening section features Georgie ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe’ Henley as Jane as a child, and it whzzes through most of the high points you’d expect, but in a somewhat frantic music video take on its Gothickness way. (I know Jane Eyre is Gothic in the way that most Brontë books are, but I’ve subsequently watched the Mia Wasikowsta version more, which plays it down.)
Still. I was reminded of Why Jane Eyre Is Imoortant as a character and novel, as she insited on her selfhood, as both child and young woman. But whoa, this adaptation adds a lot - I remembered the natural history, which I quite liked as an addition. Because it’s a Sandy Welch adaptation there’s a repeated motif of material flying out of a window. Ruth Wilson is fine (if too pretty) as Jane, ditto Toby Stephens as Rochester. IIRC this version doesn’t have the Gypsy woman incident; I always respect versions that include that (the Orson Welles one and The Autobiography of Jane Eyre did.) I know I posted about this the first time I watched it, so I’ll go back to that once I’ve finished the rewatch.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/482661.html.