For 18 seasons I have been a loyal America's Next Top Model fan. I've followed the show through high and low points, but I'm just not sure I can do it any more.
My confidence was shaken earlier this year when executive producer Tyra Banks abruptly fired Nigel Barker, J. Alexander and Jay Manuel --three friends who had been with the show since the beginning and helped make it the international success it has become (there are now 20 international versions and the show is seen in 100 markets).
Now the modeling competition has returned for its 19th Cycle, also known as America's Next Top Model College Edition--although at least one of this season's contestants actually attended a local beauty school, not a four year college.
Since last season's insipid British Invasion, Top Model has gone through a lot of changes, not the least being the addition of a "social media correspondent" who reads aloud Facebook comments, and the ability for viewers to vote on their favorite models.
(Find out more about the changes, why they were made, what they mean and who wins--and loses out--because of them.)
Personally, I find the changes so annoying I'm literally forcing myself to sit through episodes. Even the guilty pleasure I'd normally get from, say, watching a Harvard Divinity student refusing to pose nude but happily calling ANTM judge Kelly Cutrone the C-word has been soured.
Every time new photo director Johnny Wujek appears on screen I miss Jay Manuel; when YouTube sensation P'Trique pops in I can't help but wonder where Miss J. Alexander is and when blogger BryanBoy reads Twitter feeds I mourn the death of print publications and resent the American public's seeming need to dis-empower true experts in exchange for promoting the uninformed opinions and vile outbursts of foul-mouthed internet surfers.
The only thing I don't miss about the old Top Model is the over-the-top, special effects driven, campy fantasy land that Tyra Banks seemed to be slipping more and more into during the last few years. But I long for the days of classic America's Next Top Model, when the drama was a natural offshoot of naive girls facing the challenges of the competition rather than manufactured drama.
After all, its when the ANTM contestants are left to themselves that they fight about who's the bigger b-word or melt down about how having a hair cut will make them look like a lesbian; which are exactly the kind of scenes that (at least should) spark conversations among viewers.
What do you think? Do you like the new Top Model? Take the poll below.
You can watch America's Next Top Model on CW Fridays, 8/7PM Central.
Photo © CW.
Comments
I actually really like the new season of Top Model. I was initially very cynical and in fact, did not vote on any of the models’ pictures prior to the airing of the show. I wasn’t even going to watch this season and skipped the first three episodes. But out of curiosity I decided to watch first episode on the CW’s ANTM website.I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw and decided to watch the next two. Overall, I wouldn’t say the show “improved” but that this attempt to make the show fresh again is more successful than the British invasion and the All-star episode. Some things I really like:
1. All of the models are drop dead gorgeous. There aren’t any mediocre girls that have been cast just so the average girl can relate to her. They all look like they like the real deal. In my opinion, this is the most “beautiful” cast ever on Top Model.
2. I like that the girls that get eliminated get to continue competing in the competition. Sometimes, in previous cycles, I would wonder how an eliminated girl would have done (or how she would look) in the photo shoots that occurred after her elimination. This season we can see all the models in all of the pictures. It will be interesting to see if a girl that was eliminated early turns out to have taken some gorgeous pictures later on.
3. I like the fan feedback. Yes, it is a bit gimmicky but many fans were concerned that Tyra’s judgement was biased and that she favored some girls to win over others (especially black girls and girls with a sob story). Some have nicknamed her “Tyrant”! Now, the fans have their own say and affect the outcome of the eliminations.
4. While I was peeved off at the idea of firing Nigel and the Jays. I have to say that I really like the new cast. Nigel and the Jays were great but maybe they overstayed their welcome and things were getting to be a bit predictable. Their replacements add a fresh point of view.
Thanks for the well-argued critique. I really appreciated your perspective and it gave me another view point on the show. Thanks!
Carrie, I agree with you.
This is one of my favorite cycles so far.
All the girls ARE beautiful and I’m pretty sure this is the prettiest cast yet.
Having been able to vote all summer, I feel like I know this cast more than I ever got to know the other girls of past cycles.
I do miss Miss Jay. Not so much Nigel and Jay. But like Carrie said, the new cast is good, too.
I would say, though, that this cycle is an improvement from recent cycles. I think we can all agree that the British Invasion was the worst yet. The All-Stars cycle and Cycle 16 were a waste. No one besides Ann had a chance of winning Cycle 15.
And I also do like the voting. As Carrie said, I do feel like Tyra is biased towards the black girls and girls with sob stories. Tyra’s reason for Alexandra not going to the final two in Cycle 14 was because she didn’t have a story. Some girls have a good life and just want to model, Tyra. They don’t all have to be rape victims, poor, or abused.
But anyway, I’m liking this cycle. It’s the first cycle EVER that I’ve had like 6 favorites.
I have only watched a few shows, because for some reason the channel was interrupted. I think it looks to much like the Singing talent shows where the audience (family & friends) get an opportunity to vote for friends instead of true talent.
There are so many ways to improve the show, however I don’t know if this will work…We will see when the final polls are announced.
I gave up on ANTM after the all-star season. There were so many ways Tyra could have choosen to improve the show and firing 3 cast members was not the answer in my eyes.
One thing I’ve never liked about the show was that the previous winner was never given time to shine before the next “winner” was chosen. Even Miss America has a year to wear the crown so ANTM just becomes a revolving door of women who will most likely never become top models.
Glad to hear the new cast is actually pretty because I was always disappointed in Tyra’s picks.
Great article by the way. Very well written and amusing.
I absolutely do NOT like the new format! I will continue to watch this season to see who wins but I probably not watch next season.
I was looking for the “HELL NO!” button, but alas, it was not there.
This season is pure gimmick. Gimmick with the fake and manufactured drama. It surprises me (and this is probably more commentary on the state of our educational system in the USA, than it is on anything) that “college” age girls (most of whom have long since past the age of childhood naivete) could act so _stupid_ when it came to trumped up and dubious nature of the drama.
Let’s take “Kristin” for example. No one seemed to like her, and yet somehow–whenever the drama would crop up–someone was always there to take her side. How about Laura who chooses Kristin to share in the Tyra Suite and then whispers in Kristin’s ear? Why on God’s green Earth would _anyone_ (anyone in their right mind that is) treat Kristin with anything other than contempt? I’m surprised Laura risked putting her face so close to Kristin’s… I would have assumed when she bit she was poisonous.
Honestly, the only real answer to the question was that the girls were told to act a certain way in order to manufacture the drama in an effort to raise ratings. We all know we just can’t help ourselves. We may want to look away from the accident as we’re passing by, but we’re natural born gawkers (there’s even a website!).
It’s just like ANTM staff picking Victoria– the chick, who, in her audition said if people didn’t like her they were racists! How _dare_ you not immediately recognize and accept my Jewish and Native American Indian heritage! Pssht. One house full of stuck-up, barely past the high school of it all prima donnas + a few socially inept and gangly, awkward barely past the phase of feeling comfortable in their own skins and you have the perfect recipe for disaster.
[cont]
Oh, and is it just me, or has Tyra gone even further past selling out? For years we’ve heard Tyra go on one long rant after the other about how, as young ladies entering the modeling industry, they never had to sell out. It was about getting a good picture, not about the sex of it all. It was about selling beauty, not themselves. And now, with the Good Ship Tyrapop on the verge of going down, the models are naked in their third shoot, they’re tooching all over the place, and it’s one stripper pole away from becoming something we all need a wad of dollar bills for.
I think the biggest switch, the I-have-no-idea-why-this-woman-is-even-on-my-tv “maven” (read: old crone), Kelly Cultrone, is probably the worst “improvement” of them all. You know, there were plenty of people who didn’t enjoy Janice Dickinson (back in the day), though I wasn’t one of them, but at least Janice had a sense of style. She gave harsh criticism because she knew it was necessary. She saw the non-models and quick them to the quick to either get them to grow up fast or to get them _out_. Kelly Cultrone wouldn’t know fashion (ask any old mirror!) or popular trending if it smacked her across the face.
All in all, the enterprise has sunk so low I don’t think an expedition of world class divers could find it. That’s probably fitting. Modeling out of Davy’s Jone’s locker is next, anyway. We had zombie’s (another really great opportunity _missed_ out on), so why not tat, bloated corpses, their fingertips nibbled off? I think Kristin would be _perfect_ for that shoot.
Like I said, the Harvard-chick had it right from the start… hell, no, Tyra. Hell no.
Way to go Jenn! You tell them. I’m so tired of where this season has gone. I literally have to leave the room it comes on in our house. I’m not sure which focus group sent them down this path, but I wish we could have a do-over…and not with the addition of male models like they have planned for next season.