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Reality, tape delayed

Jan 26, 2007 Brainwaves, In The News

Critics made quite a stink about Simon Cowell’s “bush baby” comment last week, saying that the judges were too cruel to the contestants. Today, following the airing of Tuesday’s show from Memphis and last night’s New York auditions episode, one report states that Cowell “showed his softer side” this week.

Now to be fair, it’s not explicitly stated as such, and maybe I’m just off my rocker, but the way the blurb is written, I detect an implication that the critics induced him to be nicer.

Which is technically impossible, considering the episode was taped last August.

I seem to recall the same hints last summer when, after critics slammed Survivor: Cook Islands for spliting up their initial four teams based on race, they were reorganized into mixed teams two episodes later. Same deal: the articles went nuts shortly before and shortly after the episodes aired — two months after they were initially filmed. Maybe I’m just reading too much into all of this, but it seems like spin to me.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007 at 2:06 AM and is filed under Brainwaves, In The News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
  • Perhaps, but I'd find it difficult to believe they'd have been able to pull off such significant changes to a game like Survivor without having the contestants raise hell after the fact when the episodes aired. I know such technology exists, but I doubt they'd modify the game like that.

    I can reasonably see the possibility that American Idol was re-cut, and Survivor has a ton of stuff that gets edited in post, but I can't fathom changes to that extent. Thus, I'd have to assume that the changes to the format (splitting up the racially based teams) was done independently and long before there was any criticism.

    -- Pauley
  • kirsten
    Ummm,
    You would be amazed at the ability certain software gives to digitally recorded TV shows in the re-editing process. They CAN change "previously recorded" stuff significantly, without call backs of the actors! And this includes what you think you "hear" them saying, and the tone and timbre of what they say. I've talked to some very very talented people out here in the industry who do this very highly technical stuff everyday for the networks and studios and, believe me, you would be stunned at what they can do! See the movie "Forrest Gump" for an inkling! (That was 2 generations of editing software ago!)
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