Creationism

I know that's a word. And I also know that I've used it out of context.

What this post is about... (now that's cheesy) is the lack of imagination. I know I've talked/typed about this before, but that was solely in India, and the whole Bolly-Holly-Tolly-Molly issue.

This is completely different. This is a combination and greed, resulting in a massive lack of anything original.

To take an example from TV. There's this show called 'Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?' airing in America. This is a fantastic idea. Absolutely wonderful, for a game show. Apparently it was Howard Stern's idea, which then aired on NBC or FOX or one of those networks. And I am in absolute awe of the idea. Of pitting a 'qualified' adult, against a 'mere' fifth grader. This is the stuff success is made of.

But then other countries, and other people get wind of this idea. And they're greedy. They are really greedy. They smell success. And they want a slice of it.

They take the idea from these guys, and exactly how they do it, I'm not sure. I don't know if they acquire the rights, or if they just steal the idea. But they do manage to steal the idea, and import it into their country. Now's the fun part. They change the name of the series. And they keep the set exactly the same. There are six kids in "Are You Smarter..." and one of them is fat, and three are girls, and one has curly hair, and one likes orange juice, the other likes to eat worms... that sort of thing. And the panel for the new show? Six kids, three girls, one fat kid, one who likes orange juice, one with curly hair, one who likes to eat worms, and so on.

In the original, the panelists walk in, greet the kids, and then take their place. In the ripoff? The panelists stride in, enthusiastically greet the kids, and then take their place. Hence the difference.

Another example I can readily cite, is American Idol. Pop Idol is a fantastic idea, just like all the other 'hits'. Have a round of auditions, to get people on the show, and these people should atleast be half talented. Then get them to go a number of rounds, lasting a number of weeks. At the end of these number of weeks, with a participant eliminated each round, by popular vote, the winner will be chosen, and will be awarded something really big musically.

That's a really original idea, something on the lines of 'Rockstar : INXS'. Then people from America wanted to earn money, so they wanted people to watch TV, so they wanted this show, because it seemed to be hugely popular.

So they got it. And it was a huge hit. But it had exactly the same format as Pop Idol. They even stole a judge of there. And so people started to watch American Idol. And so did the rest of the world. And they loved it. American Idol had set a standard. It had beat Pop Idol at its own game, and it was now the standard. But people from other countries began to get greedy. And they wanted money. So they wanted people to watch TV. And they copied this design.

Down to the last detail. The intro song is the same, they've got three judges, exactly the same, completely forgetting that Pop Idol had four judges, and that was the original. And one judge is mean, a la Simon Cowell. And one judge is a sissy, and one judge is more or less non-controversial.

But people seem to love it, and seem to claim each countries version as their own. Me? I think Indian Idol is rubbish, and is completely run by politics. I don't watch it, because they don't sing songs I like, but last season, a guy who sung like a monkey on coke won, because he came from a place where the TV ratings were low, and they wanted to boost TV ratings.

If you're going to make a ripoff, make it well.

But here's an example of something I think is absolutely fantastic, and not about to be stolen any time soon :
http://www.ultimateshowdown.org/