CBC's Over the Rainbow

[Artemis@BC]

(I'm starting a separate thread for this since no doubt we will want to argue for our faves once the voting begins.)

Anyone else going to be watching this show? It's the same concept as How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria from a couple of years ago, which was in turn based on Lloyd Webber's UK talent search shows for Maria, Nancy, and Dorothy. And not only will Over the Rainbow be casting Dorothy, but they're looking for Toto too!

I really enjoyed Maria so I'm looking forward to this one too. The Mirvish production of The Wizard of Oz is set for December, so they're cutting it a bit close!

CBC doesn't have a date listed yet, but since the live show tickets are available now and the first show is Sept 16 ... I thing it's a reasonably safe bet that the first episode will be Sept 9 (where they choose the top 10 from the current top 20) and the first live(ish) phone-in-vote show will be Sept 16.

http://www.cbc.ca/overtherainbow/index.html

[WildRose]

CBC thinks we'll watch this instead of "Battle of the Blades". I still haven't forgiven them for cancelling my favourite show - no way I'm watching it's replacement

[Artemis@BC]

CBC thinks we'll watch this instead of "Battle of the Blades". I still haven't forgiven them for cancelling my favourite show - no way I'm watching it's replacement

Well, JMO but ... that's the very definition of cutting off your nose to spite your face. And from what I've heard, it wasn't "CBC" who decided to put BotB on hiatus ...

Anyway, Over the Rainbow now has a premier date of Sept 16, 8:00, with the first elimination on Sept 17. I guess they'll be somehow fitting all the background choosing-the-10-finalists stuff in over the course of the series rather than as a separate episode.

[Skate Talker]

Sorry but I'm with WildRose on this one - and no nose-cutting going on here as I wasn't particularly interested in the show even before it was touted as being a wonderful example of what we would get to watch after the ditching of BotB.

[Artemis@BC]

Well, I'm watching, even if no one else is.

To me, it's a 2-way race between AJ and Cassandra. AJ has a more traditional look and approach, with lots of polish and versatility. Cassandra is a bit quirkier, could really offer an interesting interpretation.

The rest ... well, they did well in their audition pieces, but are falling short in the live performances. And given where this is eventually going ... not good.

The format is incredibly cheezy, of course, but I can live with that. I just wish they were doing more than just songs. The part of Dorothy involves more than just singing, she really has to carry the show -- and that's not something you can assess very well in this particular format.

I also want to see more of the Totos.

[victorskid]

I agree about the top 2 contenders but there are a couple of other "possibles" to me, including Danielle. I didn't watch this on "first run" but CBC replayed the first two episodes yesterday afternoon before last night's episode.

One thing they sort of glossed over was the fact that they would have had to take the time to get passports for the girls who were picked to go to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's place

[Artemis@BC]

I agree about the top 2 contenders but there are a couple of other "possibles" to me, including Danielle.

Yeah, Danielle was a maybe for me in both episodes, and Jessie a maybe in the 1st ep but not so much in the 2nd. But then again, remembering back to Maria a few years ago, the eventual winner of that one started off fairly weak (IMO), but got better and better as the competition progressed. So there's still time for some of the other potential Dorothys to up their game.

One thing they sort of glossed over was the fact that they would have had to take the time to get passports for the girls who were picked to go to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's place

Yeah, I wondered about that too. Then I wondered if there was some kind of loophole because it's a "private island" -- it's possible there were no customs for them to go through, and therefore no passport requirements.

[victorskid]

I didn't watch the Maria series. I just happened to see the reruns of this one yesterday afternoon and got intrigued. I'm a fan of musical theatre, generally.

I live in Ottawa and there's one of the girls from here, Stephanie. She's a bit of a "maybe" for me too.

[4rkidz]

I had tickets last night for the show but wasn't able to use them I enjoy watching parts of it as its like an appetizer before the actual live theatre show.. certainly last year enjoyed watching the sound of music more - because of the CBC show..

[Jenny]

CBC thinks we'll watch this instead of "Battle of the Blades". I still haven't forgiven them for cancelling my favourite show - no way I'm watching it's replacement

Me either. And I'm quite sure I'm not missing a thing - I realize that many love it, but musical theatre is unappealing to me, and performance contests on tv have been done to death IMO.

BOTB was a great concept that brought people together and showcased our beloved sport to a whole new audience. It was very well done, a lot of fun, uniquely Canadian, and it's sadly missed.

[Artemis@BC]

I agree, BotB was a superior show. That's not going to get much argument on a figure skating forum. However that doesn't mean this show doesn't have its own merits. Obviously if you don't like Broadway, this isn't your thing. But it is mine. And I'd rather this kind of talent competition -- or Broadway or Bust -- any day over Dancing with the Stars, Idol, The Voice, X Factor, etc. etc.

I was merely pointing earlier that if the only reason for not watching Rainbow was because it "replaced" BotB, that's a rather pointless and spurious argument. Aside from the fact that the decision to shelve BotB was not primarily CBC's, you could actually argue that the Rainbow concept actually predates BotB -- the first iteration (in Canada / on CBC) of this concept was How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria, which aired in 2008. The first season of BotB was 2009.

But yes, I too would be a very happy puppy if they brought BotB back ...

[Artemis@BC]

Right decision made again last night for sure ... but oh my, flying away in the moon? Could it get any cheezier?

I was sad to see the Westie eliminated from the Totos too. Probably the right choice, based on what we saw, but I love Westies and their sweet, intelligent faces.

[victorskid]

They did the same moon departure with the first elimination - definitely cheez-whiz time!

I agree that the right decisions were made though.