Here’s how they introduced Fox’s new docu-soap, “Nashville”: “A high-stakes drama, it features an attractive cast of dreamers and dream makers in Nashville, Tennessee. The unique new series follows a vibrant group of young people as their hopes, lives, and loves unfold in a town that can make or break you.”
Wow.
I don’t care.
Okay, no, sorry, I guess I do. Or, at least, as a music fan, I guess I’m supposed to, anyway. The thing is…and I think the man referenced in the subject line of this posting would agree…that no matter how this series pans out, it’s not gonna be anywhere close to the reality of what it’s like to be a struggling musician. I mean, just about everyone on the panel for this show was pretty. And by that, I mean that you know someone at Fox determined at some point how unattractive was too unattractive, and that the music you’re gonna hear is gonna be about as mainstream as humanly possible. And because of these factors, I just don’t see what this show is going to offer me that I can’t experience vicariously by talking to, say, Mike Farley. Or, for that matter, about 3/4 of the bands who are my friends on MySpace.
Still, I’ll give credit to contestant (or whatever they’re calling them) Jamey Johnson, who, when the panel was asked if they’d seen the film “The Thing Called Love” and how accurate it was, replied, “That movie was pretty authentic. I think it had a great plot to it, but by and large, you just don’t move to Nashville and get everything handed to you. You’ve got to work for it, you know. I think that movie kind of depicted that, but it didn’t really show how long it takes. I know guys that have been in town for seven or eight years and they’re just now getting their first song cut.”
Yeah, but why do I suspect that this show won’t take nearly that long before every member of its cast ends up with a record deal?
Sorry, I don’t really have a lot to say about this show that’s particularly complimentary, I realize. I mean, I’ll check it out and see how the first episode plays, but I’m going in with the reasonable presumption that it will in no way live up to the actual reality of the life of struggling musicians in Nashville…and I’m betting I’ll be right.
