In order to support my people, last night I tuned into Jamie Foxx: Unpredictable, the music special he did on NBC. I had gotten the email saying that the network was trying to sabotage the special because he wouldn't have white guests on it, so I figured I would make a statement, even though I don't have a Nielsen box on my TV.I wanted to like it...I tried hard to like it. Truly, I did. He had great dancers, a PACKED house, actual live theatre with talented actors and great guests. But by 8:30pm I was flipping the channel. I want to support my people, but sometimes we have to be honest with ourselves...this special was NOT good.
1. The short theatre vignettes were bad. I mean really bad.
"He's going to be somebody, Lord. If you and I have anything to do with it, he's going to be somebody."I felt bad for the actor who had to say that line. I actually asked out loud, Who wrote this script? Ella will tell you, she heard me. This made me really upset as a theatre person because I could see those scenes could have been interesting. Instead they were only cliche.
2. He doesn't have a big enough repetoire of songs to last an hour. I mean, his album just came out. People aren't going to be jumping out of their seats for his songs the way they do for Stevie Wonder's songs because we just don't know them.
3. The song that he did with a fake pregnant woman was ridiculous. First of all, the woman was in heels. Sarah Jessica Parker is the only pregnant woman I've ever seen in heels while being pregnant and she clearly has height issues. Secondly, the staging of that song was boring! All she did was walk around and rub her belly and Jamie just walked around her and sang. What a snooze! Thirdly...there is no thirdly. It was just a cheesy number.
4. He didn't have Kanye West there. I'm sorry, but you can't reference all the songs you did with Kanye and not actually have Kanye there. That was a misstep.
5. Mary J. Blige's mic was not as loud as Jamie's. Don't think we didn't notice that, Jamie. True, Mary's a stronger singer than Jamie...she's a stronger singer than most people...so it was really apparent during their duet that he came out sounding louder than her. And when she had her solo verse...a travesty...she was still not as loud as Jamie. That was tacky.
I guess NBC fooled us all because they are showing it again tomorrow night...so much for sabotage. I'm not going to be there...that's for sure.
3 comments:
I wonder if Kanye stood him up...is hatin' on his fast success or something. Probably not, but it's entertaining to think so.
It's coming on again Friday. I'l watch again just to see Stevie and Common. Jamie's skills are impressive. I think a 1-hour music special was kind of premature. Who at NBC okay'd that?
I never heard about the special or the controversy. Have I been living in a cave or something?!
Thanks for the review. Too bad that it was so awful. It reminds me of not wanting to look at the accident on the freeway but being unable to turn away. If I'm in a rubbernecking mood, maybe I'll check it out.
You're right about the timing - he needed to have more songs in the public mind to be able to pull off an hour. When you don't have a few hits that are yours alone under your belt, it's hard to get people to sing along (even in their minds) with you on your TV special. NBC missed the boat and rolled Jamie under the bus at the same time.
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