Hey - On the Lot - Are you kidding me???

Hey - On the Lot - Are you kidding me??? Rant by Mike Liebner

On The Lot is NOT HOT!     I mean come on! This amateurish variety/reality tv show is about filmmakers producing material and being judged and criticized. It really should not suck - but it DOES! BIG TIME!

From the first episode to the most recent, ON THE LOT looks like it was produced by the rejected “directors” who did not make the cut! The ejected amateur directors certainly could have done better than this train wreck of a primetime tv show.

Come on - Steven Spielberg - Mark Burnett - were either of you anywhere near the show to give a nod of approval??? Have your “assistants” or “PA’s” even previewed the episodes before they aired to make sure your levels of quality had been attained? I do not think so!

Let me get this out of the way - I went to Cal State to study film and tv and was a Radio TV Major and got my B.A. degree. I made films and learned from some of the best people in entertainment. I may not be producing tv shows as a professional, but I still know enough about the industry to say this show has been neglected in so many many ways production and writing wise.

On the Lot is a GREAT CONCEPT with so much promise! It could be the KING of REALITY TV SHOWS - not the boring poorly paced dud of a show it has been.

On The Lot has been a major disappointment for me from day 1 and I tell ya I really wanted to like this show. I still want to like it, but whoever is producing the show and calling the shots has no clue about what compelling tv is all about. As the episodes drag on I urgently want to tell TIVO to delete… but I can’t… when the episode ends I get angry I wasted my precious time when so much GREAT TV is on my hard drive waiting for me.

Just because the names Spielberg and Burnett are attached does not make a good show. I’m a big fan of Survivor, the Apprentice and even like Pirates but On The Lot is an amateur production.

So - why do I keep watching? I really want to like it and have been curious if anyone important was watching and if the feedback might cure some of the ills.

So - what exactly is pissing me off so much about this show???

On the Lot is nothing more than a glamorous game with no personaility orcharacter. In fact my biggest gripe is we hardly see the contestants interact. At leaset Rick Star gave us some “at home” footage where they mingled and created drama amongst themselves. On the Lot is strictly “Sonny and Cher”/”Dancing With the Stars” Format. Stale, sterile, overly commercial and lacking of any sincere interaction. It’s all grand and phony.

It’s also very poorly done.

In the earliest episodes I could NOT believe that at the beginning of each show the hostess (mighty hot by the way) COULD NOT BE HEARD over the screaming applause of the studio audience. How amateur is that???

You’d think after the first break when they came back they’d have adjusted her microphone or added a boom mike or something! But get this - ONLY last night did I finally see her HOLDING a microphone. Why did it take 5 episodes for them to figure out the hostess could not be heard over the audience??? That is amateur.

And the pacing of the show is miserable. Every possible cliche that could be drawn upon is brought out as to drag the suspense on and tease the audience. HINT - this is NOT working on this show! Please do not insult me by setting up something and making me wait till after the break or worse - till teh end of the show to give me the answer. That alone is ruining the pace. It’s dragging out what should be done - bing boom bam!

If you have good clever content - ie writing - you do not need to trick the audience into being drawn into suspense. This is NOT Survivor - it’s a Hollywood version of “Has Been Rock Stars Ahole Dancing”. It’s more like Americas Funniest Home Videos than the quality show it could be.

Poor Carrie Fisher. I like her a lot and respect her but I can tell she is UNCOMFORTABLE on this show. Each episode it shows more. The amateur producer finally figured out last night that when they introduce the judges they drag it out too much. Finally last episode they introduced Carrie Fisher and quickly panned to Gerry Marshall instead of dwelling on Carrie being uncomfortable as the camera watched for what felt like minutes. OK, maybe someone is watching (or listening).

I could go on and on about the flaws in this show but it is not worth ranting any more. I think I git the point across. The thing I want to know is - is anyone else out there disappointed besides me?

Tell us what you think!

Reality tv show pacing needs to be quick and abrubt. This is not film. It’s not a long winded talk show. It has contestants - judges - and an audience.

And that brings me to the most annoying factor… the voting. Why if the audience can’t vote till the end of the show do they promote the voting numbers before??? This is so lame and takes away what little excitement there was and turns it into a commercial for the cell companies.

I’m sorry - but next episode is make it or break it for me… If they don’t tighten it up - I’ll simply fast forward through this one or dump it.

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