X Factor USA judges Britney Spears, Simon Cowell, Demi Lovato and L.A. Reid. Photo / Supplied
"Judge not, lest ye be judged," said God, or some other joker who wrote down what he reckoned God said. It's one of his better lines, like the one about the rich man and the eye of the needle. What then would he make of Simon Cowell?
It's been interesting
to compare New Zealand's Got Talent with the big overseas judge-based shows, The X Factor and The Voice, and even America's Got Talent which Prime has craftily programmed on Sunday night's just after New Zealand's Got Talent.
There's something a little special-needs about the local product, especially the judges. Is it too judgemental to refer to them as the smiling goof, the model/mum's-bum and the affable bullfrog? Mostly Jason, Rachel and UB40 are likeable chimps, but there's no killer instinct, no Simon Cowell, which disappointed me at first.
Now I'm starting to think that all is as it should be. With a population of four million as opposed to 300 million, the last thing we need to do is to bash our poor performers over the chops with brutal first world honesty. The fact they can round up a few dozen people who can sing and stand up at the same time is a near miracle.
You may have noticed that many of the best ones appeared on Prime's version of New Zealand's Got Talent a few years back, so obviously we have talent, just not very much of it, hence the recycling. What we're looking at is an inclusive day-room rather than a coliseum, with psych nurse Tamati backstage to lend the bewildered a helping hand. Against the glare of the shiny overseas version, it can all seem a little backward, third-world almost, but that's actually who we are. As someone once said, we are the Masterton of the world.
