Techtite's TV Reviews!

"Long on the acting class and short on the action, this series is incorrectly titled at best, and surprisingly dull at worst."

---from the review

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Next Action Star 2 ? I'd only listen to someone sell me the idea of watching Next Action Star Part Deux, if they made some major changes. First of all; the TV movie that the "winners" got to star in? Good...yet not great. It's obvious the winners were willing to give the movie a chance; too bad the writers, director, and cinematographer did not. In short; the only thing good about this movie was special guest star Billy Zane, and the contestants of this game show(!). Be this as it may; enough with showing us all the "acting classes." If these people have to endure a class, more power to them, but the viewing audience sure doesn't have to. Third, make the reason for someone's ouster something of more consequence than three head honchos squabbling about who's their favorite cutie pie. I'm surprised that some "votes" for who stayed didn't come down to a simple game of rock/paper/scissors. Oh; and the title is Next Action Star. That means action scenes galore, am I right? Beef up the action scenes.

Next Action Star

A Review by Techtite

Here's a reality TV concept with a lot of promise...and yet it inevitably flickered away, like a disappointing firecracker. Next Action Star was a great idea, and its promos were superb, only to offer...well, let's just say that whatever these people were cast for, it wasn't to be an "action" star. Is that a good thing? This show seemed to think so.

Here was the sales pitch: 14 people out of thousands would be chosen to live in a house in L.A., auditioning every week for the role of "Next Action Star." These looked, in the show's promos, to be hard-edged competitions, where these "action" stars would be performing all their own stunts. The promos showed car chases, explosions, and guns blazing; everything that makes a typical action flick such guilty fun. The mood given was that this was the next action-savvy thrill in reality TV.

The producer of this series is Joel Silver, which apparently affected the choice of this show's "grand prize." Instead of giving away a major load of cash, the winner gets to be in a Joel Silver TV movie, as the lead star. That's a pretty neat prize, but it would also be where things start to turn sour. Why? Simple: while you can give any Average Joe a cash prize, you can't simply give them a movie role. Suddenly, this supposed "reality" TV series was not simply a matter of casting contestants with a fair amount of guts: it was a matter of casting actors. So, jumping ahead; this show believed that actual "actors" would audition for a reality TV show, with no cash prize. Uh huh...sure they would.

I can imagine how hard it is to find a decent actor, let alone finding one for a reality TV game show. Be this as it may; did we have to see it? An entire two-hour premiere was wasted as we watched a trio of casting directors act like they were just da-bomb, ribbing every entrant into their studio and acting like they never miss an episode of American Idol. Yeah; I know that a trio of judges ribbing every average Joe that comes in front of them, is suddenly the latest "it" thing in reality TV. We've seen it everywhere from Idol to that gratefully canned Idol spin-off, Cupid (which was, FYI, produced by Simon Cowell). It isn't much of an "action" moment though, is it? No, it isn't. This series' entire first episode was nothing more than boring casting-for-the-show drivel.

What's worse for the winners of this casting call is that, in order to be in this movie, they don't just perform stunts: they have to go to acting class! What's worse for the viewing audience: we have to go with them. Now, I have nothing against the acting coach who prepped these kids as actors. He seems to be good at what he does. However, when you enter a series thinking of big explosions and guns blazing, a mere classroom just doesn't cut it. What's worse is how this "classroom" was actually a featureless movie set, consisting of a bunch of chairs and four black walls. Are you excited about this series yet? Yeah me neither.

Then we get to the actual stunts; the "screen tests," as they called them, to be the Next Action Star. Now, I've seen a lot of reality TV, and I've seen average people doing pretty daring things. In Fear Factor, I've seen contestants drive their own stunt car out the back of a moving truck. In The Amazing Race, I've seen people bungee jump from amazing heights. In Survivor, I've seen...well, I've seen people eating rats. This show took so much time trying to show us that the typical classic movie stunt was just film tricks and movie magic, that it became hard to feel any thrill factor. Where's a car crashing through the back of a moving truck? Where's the big explosions? Where's the action?

Yes, I get what someone was trying to say here. They wanted everyone to know how much hard work it is to be the next actor in an action movie. However; we know that. A couple of chubby dweebs are not going to survive on a deserted island beach without help. A couple of white collar schmucks are not going to instantly become The Donald's new "apprentice," except on reality television. It takes hard work to make it big in the real world. However; as much of an ambiguity as it sounds, there isn't much of the real world in reality TV. Someone behind this TV series forgot that, and that is Next Action Star's biggest problem.

                                                                    ---Techtite

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