I dunno, I thought that the first episode was pretty funny. It's a nice homage to a classic show. You can look back at Chuck Barris' (RIP) original show as the start of 'reality' tv where people willingly debase themselves just to be on tv.
If I had one complaint, it would be that it wasn't cheerfully sleazy enough to match the original, but this cake scene from episode 2 gives me hope that it will get better (worse?).
Seriously, if you never saw the original Gong Show, check it out it was the nadir of 70s 'jiggle' television. I recall one act where two lovely teenage girls came out in tank tops and short shorts and suggestively ate popsicles. That was it. That was the whole act. Genius.
The woman is beautiful and wears a very sexy outfit with a tiara. The cake set-up is by another woman and the cake coverage is really good and stays on her face for the whole clip (no wiping it all off while the judges talk). With so few modern mainstream American pie/cake scenes, this is great!
Plus, you get the gorgeous Elizabeth Banks, who got pied just a few years ago, who has a palpable excitement with the mystery of the cake ("Oh my God, is the cake gonna go in her cooch?")
And of course Mike Myers speaking for many of us here: "I might have an erection right now."
SStuff said: And I'd rather see Banks doing this than Pitch Perfect 3. [SPOILER: She's still doing Pitch Perfect 3.]
At least they threw her in the mud when she was directing PITCH PERFECT 2. Although the mud scene in the actual movie is atrociously edited. So never mind. Stick to getting pied, Elizabeth Banks.
Oh, and speaking of fucking up revivals of late '70s jiggle shows, what do you want to bet the new BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS comes and goes without a single messy or even wet scene?
(I assume the above is also true of GLOW. Anybody seen all of GLOW and want to confirm that for the record?)
How do you audition for this show? We are going to have Amy and Penelope sit across from one another and pie each other in the face as Beethoven's 5th symphony is playing.
KK, I actually thought the cake consistency was one of the weaker elements! If it had been about 25% gooier/stickier, that coverage would've been epic. Still, 10/10 for effort & execution on the part of the opera singer.
Now I know what Sidney needs to replicate when she returns.
(FYI, I'm one of those who gets MORE frustrated when a clip is like 90% of the way to being epic, but gets let down by the technical elements... Usually, a prop department that doesn't know or care about 'WAM appeal.' Obviously. The Elizabeth pie clip would've been one for the ages if they'd used even halfway decent pies. Because she was ready and willing on her end. Imagine the pies from the infamous YT "Bullying" clip being used instead. )
MG, I have no idea what the screening process is like. I do know most of these network "talent" shows are super-staged. I might've told this story already, but: The impetus behind our "America's Got Talent" parody from ages ago was that those same models really WERE on AGT. They were presented as "hot girls who clearly aren't talented" and played for a laugh. The reality? They were in town for a different event and the producers begged them to do AGT. They didn't show up with any "act." The producers just said, "You're four girls who look good in bikinis. Just come out and do whatever you want, and the crowd will boo you, and the judges will make snarky comments, and that's it."
That said, this being the Gong Show, where the lack of talent kinda IS the point, they might let you get on legitimately. Who knows.
AS, I think what I liked about the cake so much was the depth, it was formed and smooth (not lumpy and mishapen), I like white cakes, and the consistency looked like it was made out of pure butter cream so her face smooshed into it easily and deeply.
I was too young to remember much about the original.... Weren't there a lot of pies in the show? But never for the females? Maybe JUST for Chuck Barris.... Was that one of his "things"? (Like, not to the Soupy Sales level, but a recurring bit....)
One clip I only saw once (and I'd really like to see again, if only to try to replicate it) was maybe 10 seconds in a montage. I'm sure the original show was much longer. Chuck had already been creamed with pies, and a matronly lady comes out holding a basket.... When he tries to stop her, she pulls eggs out of the basket and smashes them on his head. Being egged on TOP of being pied was a level of humiliating I'd never seen before as a kid. (And honestly, STILL haven't really seen in a female mainstream clip.)
I'd be curious how she responds. On the surface, a female clown who sticks her face into a cake on national TV = Prime WAM model territory.
BUT she's also an artist/activist from Los Angeles, and female artists/activists aren't always down with getting naked & hogtied and covered in grease for the enjoyment of male fetish fans.
[All said jokingly BTW! You should see some of the REAL emails I've gotten from husbands/"managers" of interested models before...]
myohpie said: How is it going with the gong show lady?
You've never corresponded with a model before, have you?
I think my record is 11 months from the initial "this sounds awesome, I want to do it!" to "oh I don't want to get a pie in my face." (And yes, the first message she responded to said straight up that she would get pied in the face. )