First Karen Lee Batten in the earlier rounds, then Toya Alexis, and now Jenny Gear. It’s a clear sign that the Canadian public isn’t voting on (just) the basis of talent (either classic or, in the case of Jenny, original).

I don’t think that Karen should have made it to the end, but she should have got a lot farther than she did. Also, while Jenny was my personal favourite, and I would have been really happy to see her go all the way, I don’t think that purely on voice she should have made it – but she should have been in the top 3 at least).

Hands down, Toya was the most talented of any of them. Nobody else in the competition had a voice to compare to hers. She should have won it or, at least, got to the top 2 spot.

Instead, the voters keep doing something really strange. They don’t pick the most talented. Instead, they seem to be picking the most “sexy” or “popular”. Or, perhaps, even picking the one that lives in their home city/province despite anything else. (It would be interesting to see the statistics of where the voters live vs. the people for whom they’ve voted. Everyone left comes from a different province. How much do you want to bet that the winner of the show comes from the province with the greatest number of voters? Jenny Gear was from Newfoundland. Let me think about the population there… Or am I being too cynical?)

Which makes the production of the show into a bit of a sham because it’s not advertising itself as what it really is. The judges sitting up there do talk about stage presence to some degree but, mainly, it’s the singing that they’re critiquing more than anything else. But, if the voting is any indication, they’re out of sync with things and not representing what other people are using as their criteria for judging. At least one of the straight talent judges should be replaced with some kind of “pop culture image” judge so that there’s more contrast in terms of what the show’s about – raw talent and (apparently) public identification. That judge shouldn’t talk about how well the person sang, but about how well they sold themselves to their demographic and whether their stage performance helped or hindered their “popular” fan base.

Without acknowledging this and, in fact, implying that it is just about talent (as is implicit in everything that goes on) is unfair and I feel cheated by the kind of “bait and switch” that the show seems to have supplied. (Plus I can’t help but wonder what kind of mixed signals it’s sending to the peformers themselves.) Not that I shouldn’t have recognized this before, of course. But if I should have, then certainly the producers should have – and re-styled the show’s presentation to take all of this account.

Oh, and if all of that brings down the professionalism of the show’s production, what can I say about the running lame jokes and the recurring L’Oreal plugs? I’m now about ready to shoot “funny man” John Dore if I ever see him on the street (I’m hoping it’s really just the lines he’s given rather than any genetic inheritence on his part) – as well as to go on a personal mission to stay as far away from L’Oreal products as possible (they may be good, but nothing turns me off anything more quickly than blatant over-advertising).

I actually cared a little bit about this show at one point – now, I’m afraid, anything still to come is just airtime filler.