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TV review
We watched the show "The Singer in a Mask" and understood very well how Israeli television is dying
A day will come, and in the dictionary they will add the entry "TV junk" and next to it will be an illustration of Ofira Asaig catching her head in shock.
What was supposed to be a harmless "Guilty Pleasure" became a worthless rating anchor, whose whole purpose is to present an imaginary "rating war" while all viewers have already left for Netflix
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The singer in the mask - Israel
Living Room Fellow
Sunday, 17 October 2021, 08:07 Updated: 08:19
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Rosenblum (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)
Before something that feels like thousands of years ago, while "Keshet Broadcasting" was one of the Channel 2 14th franchises, I met Ron Leshem, who was then the franchisee's VP of content.
A snooze like me, I expressed my disgust at the fact that most of the channel's content relied on reality.
It should be understood, for the sake of proportions, that these were the days before "Big Brother."
Israeli reality was still in its infancy at the time, with cute retrospective shows like "The Ambassador," "The Kitchen" and "Uri Geller is Looking for the Heir," but above all, the channel's flagship program shone: "A Star Is Born."
Leshem, one of the most brilliant content people in Israel, listened politely, but made it clear to me that he was proud of the successful poetry reality. In those days the rule in the program was that contestants must choose songs in Hebrew, which caused many forgotten past hits to return to the playlist. Young people who have never heard Zohar Argov suddenly saw "Sea of Tears" on the broadcast broadcast in Israel. The human drama of Harel Moyal and Harel Skaat brought Dubi Zeltzer and "Here I Am" to a crazy mass of viewers along the way. The truth? I was convinced. It may not be the most original and high-quality TV, but hey, how many times do you get to hear Alexander Penn's "Confession" on Channel 2's prime time performed entirely by a singer like Marina Maximilian?
Looking back on those days, we were naive.
The split of Channel 2 and Keshet's takeover of what was left of the linear broadcasts in Israel turned what is still mistakenly called "peak hours" into a trash can.
All the magic that can be recognized in retrospect in the first seasons of "A Star Is Born" with an accurate casting of young and talented singers, who were nurtured and professionally accompanied by experienced artists, was replaced by a kind of TV commercial fragrance by Asi Ezer and Rotem Sela.
It is not clear when the commercial break ends, and the covert advertising content begins.
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To the full article
The singer in a mask (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)
Beneath all the shallow and superficial television of the commercial channels, at the very bottom of the barrel, beyond the smeared gum that is "Ninja Israel", after Eyal Shani's lyrical speeches in "Master Chef" and beyond the heavy shadow of "Wedding at First Sight" - which proved no human value Not to be sold for ratings - if you scrape off the remnants of the poisonous mold and smelly mildew, there you will find the "singer in the mask."
A day will come, and in the Ibn Shushan dictionary they will add the entry "refined television garbage" and next to it will be an illustration of Ofira Asaig catching the face in shock.
What was supposed to be a harmless "Guilty Pleasure" became a worthless rating anchor, broadcast day after day on the leading channel in Israel, with one goal - to set foot on the wheels of competitors who broadcast "Survival" at the same time.
In love and war everything is allowed, but do we really have to be predictable, boring and mostly unrelated to reality?
The singer in a mask (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)
Korea is evolving and becoming a content powerhouse, with only recently the "Squid Game" becoming the most popular series in Netflix history, following a historic Oscar win for Bong Jun-ho's "Parasites" in 2019. In Israel, Avi Nir and his men decided to put all their chips on a silly Korean reality show, which is all anti-content. There is nothing left of the beautiful Zionist vision of "A Star Is Born" when the ridiculous characters sing mostly songs in English (as in "The Next Star" and other Hebrew poetry reality shows), and also from the exciting experience of watching a singer sing nothing remains, While my French side blinks in excitement and amazement.
On paper, each of the characters who fill the screen in "The Singer in a Mask" deserves to star in prime time. Ido Rosenblum is the hand in poker that we will always be happy to host at the table, Shahar Hasson is one of the funniest people in Israel, Static's human groove does not fall short of Jordi's, and the truth is that the combination of Ofira Asaig and French sides together should provide many magic moments. In practice, none of this works. A clear case in which the whole is smaller than the sum of its parts. The conversations feel staged, the stakes are sometimes so ridiculous that it's hard not to think they're being filmed and something in the whole business' editing feels squeaky, and sometimes not even pleasant to watch, with internal jokes (mostly at my side's expense) that are unclear how they got on the air.
At the beginning of the program, Ido Rosenblum promised that this season the program will feature 18 of the most famous people in Israel.
To some extent, this promise only proves the low point that Sagittarius has reached.
From a channel that produces stars (from Mint Tayeb to Neta Barzilai), leads trends (the second screen of "The Next Star") and sets an agenda (whether through the news editions or the satire of "Wonderland") - Keshet has cleared the main slot on its program board for 18 Celebs whose whole purpose is to position themselves as celebrities.
Big Brother gives a million shekels, "The Factor" sends the winner to the Eurovision Song Contest and "Singer in a Mask" receives a standard mark: "One of the most famous people in Israel."
You can not just count on followers on Instagram and that's it?
French and sturdy, the singer in a mask (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)
Bottom line, it does not matter at all. Everything that is broadcast on Channel 12 will receive a nice percentage of ratings - probably in the crooked method by which ratings are measured in Israel. Whether it's an original drama series, an innovative show or a hallucinatory reality show from Korea, the numbers line up at the end. This "rating war" is for internal and commercial purposes only, as is the decision to go for a lot of short commercial breaks rather than a few long breaks. Surprisingly, the competitor channel took exactly the same approach. In practice, and well know the people request, the future of television is not there. Israel is part of a world of great and rich content. Israelis can watch Netflix, Amazon and Apple. They watch HBO content at the click of a button, with content sometimes appearing in Israel even before California. All of these are of course just the legal content.
In the industry, the question returned yesterday: "What more will they expect, in surviving a singer in a mask?", But in reality - no one really debated. Anyone who wants to watch both shows will watch both. One will record, the other will watch VOD and another will complete the app on the tablet. The concept of "flick" no longer exists, as does the well-known secret in the advertising industry: the target audience has long since not watched commercials on television, probably since there is the option to watch Delay and run the breaks. This rating war is a collection of Don Quixotes fighting windmills, not noticing that Rosinante is drowning in quicksand and Sancho Pancho went on to look for other masters.
Thirty years ago, when Channel 2 was established, Alex Giladi coined the famous sentence according to which the channel will broadcast television content "for Masuda Cohen from Sderot and also for Moshe Rabinovich in Yavneel."
If one ignores for a moment the patronizing scents of that sentence, the idea behind it was pretty simple: make a TV that will appeal to everyone.
Simple, but not innocent.
The result at the time was to turn to the lowest common denominator, embodied in the spirit of Dudu Topaz and his megalomania plan.
How it ends in the end everyone knows.
The situation today, in a way that should worry everyone who cares about Israeli television, is much worse.
It is a glorious, slow, long and photogenic dying process - with Ofira Asaig in the background shouting: "No, I'm lol."
In small
If we already had to watch this TV horror, then it's clear that this octopus is Eldad Yaniv, right?
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