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Post #247261

Author
booah
Parent topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/247261/action/topic#247261
Date created
22-Sep-2006, 3:27 PM
Briefly back off topic, I work at Viacom (believe me, I'm not bragging), as a Master Control Operator (I basically watch outgoing TV feeds in a control room to make sure they don't go to black-- I'm not involved in the production of the programming). So when The Little Talent Show's first episode debuted recently, I first thought, wow this is bad, even for MTV. Then my second thought was, holy crap, I think I know that guy! Then the name was revealed as Garrett, and lo and behold, I recognized him from seeing him in some of his films and from this board. I didn't know that the show had been originally titled something else, but knowing how MTV operates, it's no surprise that they, heh, *recobbled* a project and re-edited it beyond recognition. It smacks of being altered in the editing room. Most of their "reality" shows have had all their "reality" stripped from them anyway ("retakes"? WTF?). Well, this is all coming from a channel called "Music Television", which literally airs about 10 videos a week.

So, I feel your pain. Shows being hacked into demographic-friendly, short attention span snippets of what they're actually supposed to be is par for the course for these channels. I *knew* that there must've been more to the show than what was aired, because many of the participants got little to zero airtime. Plus, your stuff in the pilot *was* definitely the funniest, and I assumed there had to be chunks of the Rounds on the cutting room floor. The finished product is 20 minutes of mostly nothing, whittled down from what could likely be a funnier series. As an employee, I'm saddened that they operate this way creatively. And as a viewer, I'm disgusted that this supposedly "irreverant" network more often than not plays it safe. There are entire series planned out (some that actually sound interesting) and promos for them are aired, and then they're cancelled before they see the light of day. Don't wanna upset the status quo too much. If you were Janet Jackson and you showed your boobie, your boobie'd have its own show by now.

Sorry to hijack here, but I just wanted to mention that I had seen the show as it aired, and say that it's too bad it wasn't what it could've been. If I was in the production dept, I'd try to score the raw tapes of the show or something, to liberate the unseen gold that surely awaits on those raw reels of tape, now sadly destined to become forgotten dust.