Ooh la la la - Electric dreams are here

Among the rut i.e Reality TV (or TV 2.0) there have been a few stellar shows - American Idol seasons 1 & 2, Apprentice season 1, Project Runway, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen etc. offer good entertainment. A few other shows were good in parts but did not give me any repeat viewing compulsion.

Reality TV has now decisively spread its tentacles towards the motherland. It is now only a matter of time before a group of starlets, wannabes, has-been-s, 15 second famers, socialites etc. are locked up inside a mansion and the Thamizh version of "Big Brother" ("Periya Thambi" if you will) is announced to the world. Or am I too late with that? Maybe it is already out there.

"Ooh la la la" on Sun TV (I watch the episodes on oohlalala.in) is like a wave of fresh air-conditioned air during a matinée show in a Chennai theatre. It is a band hunt where the majority of participants are 20 something musicians - the most creative of the artistic kind. At the moment, the show is trying to narrow down the number of groups and up the ante. I pity the judges - Vasundhara Das, Shivamani and Paul Jacob - who have the task of favoring one eye over the other at times. At the moment, the judges are quite bland compared to the theatrics of their counterparts in some of the fore mentioned shows. The one good thing is that they are talents on their own accord. One can see their interest in seeing these youngsters succeed. Vasundhara Das just seems so happy to be there. Paul Jacob being the band leader of one of A.R.Rahman's early day bands - Nemesis Avenue (love that name) - has the additional job of coaching the bands featured in this show.

The elimination format could go for a revision. The idea of slotting into groups of three and eliminating two from each has been tried and tested in the Cricket World Cup. That whimsical format resulted in Kenya being a semifinalist at one stage. Last Sunday's show allowed two rounds for three bands in Group A.

Little Masters were found to have a good rhythm set but paled only in comparison with the other two bands in their group.

V3 and Agam seemed to have chartbusters right away. They should be finalists and not competing in an elimination round this early.

Water Cooler talk at Oho had the majority siding with V3. I am all for Agam - unlike the judges I feel that their identity is their plus point not their versatility. Besides, I do have a vested interest in their success.

If someone has to be eliminated from the show it should be the two hosts or at least their mannerisms. It should be done very early in the show. Probably even before the show. The audience will know a commercial break when they see one without these two doing their version of Kathakali every time.