Taking the Stage on MTV

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 12:08am

Yeah, yeah I know this is OT and a post was made on the OT board. But I wanted to see if any of the exclusively main board posters/lurkers (of which I am one) have seen the show and/or have an opinion on it.

I wont even get into how obviously planned and scripted the show is and say this, which is a repost of a discussion I made on the shows IMDB board:


Being a graduate of a creative/performing arts high school I was excited for this show for bringing the arts and arts education to such a popular, influential channel like MTV. I was also excited cuz I knew I could basically watch it and get a laugh at my (and my former classmates) expense over the obvious "drama kid/high school drama" that would ensue.

But each episode shifts the focus more and more towards the personal high school BS these kids are going through than the whole performing thing, which is what makes this show different and what it's about anyway right? I wish there was an equal amount of time showing them working on their craft. Also, the majority of the main cast are seniors and there hasn't been a single mention about what their hopes and plans are for college.

What make me the most disappointed is that the entire show is only about dancers and one vocalist. Leave it to MTV to produce a show about art majors and yet, it just focuses on mainstream interests: female acoustic/singer-songwriter/indie-poprock and this sudden dance craze (Dancing with the Stars, Dance Crew, So You Think...). Don't get me wrong, that's my favorite genre of music and I admire dancers [SYTYCD is a guilty pleasure of mine]. But why did they leave out the five other majors at that school? They couldn't give a piece of the spotlight to an actor, a cellist and a painter?

Though I still gotta admit I love watching Aaron around Mia. It's just so sadly schedenfreude. Anyone who survived high school sees that and knows that he'll be silently gaga over her forever but, even if he does speak up, he's unknowingly trapped in that thick iron bubble known as the "friend zone", from which there is no escape. lol.




I'd like to discuss this, the question really of "Were the other majors left out because the average American MTV viewer couldn't care less about techies, classical pianists and musical theatre that isn't Legally Blonde or Wicked or [insert popular show here]?" but feel free to talk about anything else pertaining to the show (yes, even how fake it is) or what have you.



discuss

Updated On: 4/11/09 at 12:08 AM

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 2:32pm

I've caught a few episodes of the show, so here's my two cents...

It seems like that they wanted to create another Hills. (Think about it: in The Hills we see Lauren at "work" but most of the time it's about the drama going on between her and one of her friends).

It is irksome that they clearly don't focus on musical theatre kids (or theatre kids in general). I think it's an unfair representation of the body of students. If it was truly about the school, they would have incoporated at least one actor or techie, because as far as I'm concerned, it would be a helluva lot more entertaining than watching a snippet of ballet class and then listening to girls with boy problems.

Perhaps the theatre kids didn't want to be involved. Perhaps MTV thought they shot their drama kid load with The Search for the Real Elle Woods. Whatever the case may be, it was quite a disappointment to see a show that A) was more contrived than The Hills and B) didn't show at least one scene of a production in rehearsal.

Updated On: 4/11/09 at 02:32 PM

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 3:09pm

Well they have shown scenes of them rehearsing for all those showcases, but cmon they're just showcases, talent shows. The school's wikipedia page says they do seven mainstages a year! What about them, were none of the cast members working on any of them?

[dramadude]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 3:24pm

What a bore! There are so many art forms other than dance, let alone so many other diversities of students at that school.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 4:56pm

Well they have shown scenes of them rehearsing for all those showcases, but cmon they're just showcases, talent shows. The school's wikipedia page says they do seven mainstages a year! What about them, were none of the cast members working on any of them?

That's exactly what I'm getting at and what I can't figure out. The way it's filmed it's as if no theatre kids go to that school. They had a whole episode about "mash up" groups...but you can't tell me that down the hall there weren't a bunch of theatre students rehearsing a scene for a mainstage show, or an improv group having a meeting.

But, it's horribly contrived so maybe that's why there's little to no coverage of these mysterious theatre students.

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 5:09pm

What's really messed up is the ONE time they showed any actors doing anything was that mash up show, but according to the two girls (one is friends with Mia) they had only recently recieved the script and weren't off book in time. They stumbled through terribly durring the dress rehearsal, it was pretty awful, and the director ultimately cut them out of the show.

Wow, thanks MTV for only giving us that.

[yankees1253]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 5:28pm

I watch it too and theres way too much drama. They should be working on their dance, music, and acting...the only one I see praticing is Jasmine. I feel Mia will def end up with Aaron or Tyler. They should have the next season from nyc, and yeah without a script.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 4/11/09 at 11:00pm

When I first saw commercials for it, I was so excited because MTV is finally showing kids in the arts instead of sports. However, I couldn't even sit through it because it was exactly like an annoying reality show.

And I think the reason why MTV doesn't show theatre kids is because a lot of people think it is "dorky" to do theatre, even though it is not.