Reality (TV) Bites

Thayne was eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance last night. I think I'm gonna skip all the thoughts about bad partnering, the luck of the draw, strange camera work, popular taste, and so forth.

It does occur to me that competitions are, by nature, unfair. They're designed to be Darwinism at its purest. Survival of the fittest...natural selection...someone has to rise above everyone else, be the top of the food chain. Unfortunately, the "fittest" doesn't always mean the best...it may mean the luckiest at a specific moment. If the lioness stubs her toe and the wildebeest blindsides her while she's distracted, that doesn't mean wildebeests are better hunters. This one just got lucky.

So why do we watch? I can think of two reasons.

1. We love a good Cinderella story. At the beginning of the American Idol competition, some average schmuck with a life no better than ours gets a lucky break. By the end, they're a star. I think we all want to experience that kind of transcendence. By watching (and participating with our votes) we get a vicarious thrill.
   
2. Blood sport. We like to think that we've evolved from the days the Romans threw the Christians to the lions. But then, why is professional boxing one of the highest priced pay-per-view offerings? Football, Hockey, shows like American Gladiators and "professional" wrestling...they're all about watching a person/team decimate (clobber, humiliate, whatever) their competition. Beauty pageants, televised dance competitions, awards programs...all of these also feed into our need to rank things. This movie is more valuable than that one, let's give it an award. This seven-year-old girl is prettier than that one... It's kind of obscene. If ten Broadway musicals open in a year, that's a pretty remarkable thing. If half of them are actually good, even better. Still, only one will win the Tony Award for Best Musical. And somebody thought each was worthwhile enough to invest millions of dollars in a production. So if only one wins, does that make it the best? Not necessarily. Does that make it the most popular? Sometimes, but again, not necessarily. In the end, the winner of the competition gets the fame and glory and the "losers" get the consolation prizes...and life goes on. Hopefully the runners up keep plugging away and doing what they love--with or without the spotlight.

I guess I'm glad Thayne's been in the bottom three couples the past few weeks. It's given him several opportunities to do what he does best--just dance. The solos were breathtaking. Last night's had me in tears. And, though it was obvious from the outset, the judges' comments made it clear that he has a real future. Best of luck to him.

So does the whole competition matter? Naw. But that's what we all say when our favorite gets sent home. And really, while the outcome doesn't necessarily reflect an accurate hierarchy, for the participants, the show itself does matter. Every one of the contestants gets a chance to be seen. Hopefully each of them takes that gift and uses it to keep following their dreams.

Besides, I'm too old for all the pressure. It'll be nice to watch now without the emotional investment.

One last parting shot:


P.S. To quote [title of show]: "I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than a hundred people's ninth favorite thing."