Wednesday, December 19, 2007

'Clash of the Choirs' something to sing about

With the holidays and the writer's strike altering prime time television as we know it, there's really not a lot to watch these days. But earlier this week, I stumbled on a new jewel of a reality show called "Clash of the Choirs" on NBC.

The show features several choirs from across the country competing against each other. The twist on this musical fanfare is that celebrity singers get to hand pick and direct the groups. They include Michael Bolton, Patti LaBelle, Nick Lachey, Kelly Rowland and Blake Shelton. On top of that, America gets to vote for who they think is the best one, with the winning choir donating the $250,000 prize to a charity.

At first I thought the show would be mediocre, especially after hearing Lachey and Rowland's teams Monday night (on Tuesday, Rowland's team didn't make the cut and Lachey's choir improved). But then things got exciting with Michael Bolton's and Patti LaBelle's vocally-rich and entertaining choirs took the stage. I'm pulling for either one of these teams to win during Thursday night's finale.

The only drawback of the show is that after every performance, the camera goes to the celebrity directors to get their response a la "America Idol." But the directors don't really offer anything of substance, like advice on how to improve or what the group did wrong, if anything. Instead, it's just the run-of-the-mill, pat-on-the-back "Great job." How can anyone really learn from such an experience if they don't get good feedback?

Despite this flaw, the show is well-worth tuning into just to hear these amateurs sing their hearts out.

Catch the show at 8 p.m. tonight and Thursday on NBC.
— January Holmes

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