Fame, Episode 8: Drama and Drumbeats

Two left – my boy Alex and Allyson – America has made the decision and only one will be moving on… drumbeats… Allyson is moving on. “What?” I yell out loud. Alex is eliminated? “No!” I say as I suddenly realize that I actually care about a performer on this show. Alex seems surprised and Allyson looks like she is going to faint. She had mentioned in the clip shown at the beginning of the show that she had her bags packed. I am stunned. Alex praises the other contestants and smiles that smile of his as he walks off into the sunset with Debbie. I am not happy.

Allyson is doing Faith Hill’s “The Way you Love Me” and she is terrible. Sorry, Allyson, but there is no way that you should have stayed while Alex was eliminated. Her singing is flat and totally uninspired. She hardly moves either – I think she is afraid that her plunging neckline blouse (à la J’Lo) would come unglued and fall off.

Debbie “ha ha”s again and Joey embarrasses Allyson by mentioning that she was really checking Tyce out in the rehearsals. Allyson quickly tells Joey that she has a boyfriend but thinks that Tyce is an incredible performer and she has taken his class in New York. Whaaaaaat?

Debbie acts like an idiot as she reminds us of the prizes. No surprise prizes tonight. I don’t care; I am still bummed about Alex.

Joey welcomes Tyce, who swaggers out on the stage. Now we get to learn a little bit more about him in a film clip. You see, he has to catch up – all the others did this weeks ago. His mother took him to his first dance class and he was terrible. He kept it up, though, and when he was ten, he was watching the TV show Fame and learned the dances. He wanted to be on the show then and tells us that he’s here for a reason – the Universe brought it to him. Yeah, and who else?

If you didn’t have a chance to read my article on the subject, Diorio, who is 32 years old, comes to the show with a long list of professional credits including having worked with both Debbie Allen and *NSYNC. I will refrain from further comment.

Finally, we are going to see this wonder boy. He has selected Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and guess what? He can’t sing. That’s right - while his dancing is superb, his vocals are not impressive, and certainly he is no competition for Harlemm and Serena. This makes me feel much, much better! He does all these irritating “ha”s in it and finishes off with an arrogant, self-satisfied smirk.

Once again, Debbie is out of control. She has just about turned me off on her forever. Joey asks Tyce what he would say to the others if he won the competition. Tyce says he doesn’t really think about winning (yeah, right) and would praise the others for their hard work and talent. I think he really believes that he is going to win this thing. But wait, he is about to get his comeuppance!

At long last the judges, who have been silent all evening, are going to have a chance to speak. Joey asks Johnny, “Who do you think can be a star?”

Carnie tells Moy that she let her down vocally and agrees with Johnny about Allyson. She goes back to Moy though and says she was particularly let down by her. But Harlemm - no one gives her consistency like Harlemm, and she heaps praises upon him, ending by telling him that he is “absolutely magical.”

Finally we hear from JoJo. He thinks Shannon, Serena, and Harlemm “are out of the world.” But he thinks that if Harlemm keeps doing what he is doing he will win it. He was let down by Brandon, who he didn’t think tackled the Usher song like he should have, and he thought Allyson’s performance was her worst to date. He says she seemed to be having an off night but this wasn’t a good night for that. As for Tyce, well, JoJo tells him that he is one of the top five dancers he’s seen, but that he is in the bottom five vocally. “Who do we kick out?” he asks, adding that he is glad he isn’t voting. “Welcome to Fame,” he ends, addressing Tyce. Welcome to Fame, indeed.

I pretty much concur - and for what it’s worth, I do not think that Allyson or Moy should make it through next week. Neither of them has ever blown me away, while Brandon has been fairly consistent and is certainly personable. As for Tyce, well, I agree with Johnny. He will probably make it to the finals, though, just because Debbie wants him to. But what do I know? I certainly haven’t been able to call this one!

And finally, there’s Alex. Did he ever really have a chance in this competition? He was competing against people with years of professional experience and at least one of the contestants has been performing for longer than Alex has been on the planet. How fair is that? As it is, I am sure that this has been a great experience for him and that he has learned a great deal about the business and made some important connections. Maybe he can audition for the next American Idol! Hey, if Morgan can go from Most Talented Kid in America to American Juniors, why not? Anyway, of all of the people in this show, I actually cared about what happened with him. Alex, for that I thank you! Good luck.

Donna Reynolds is a freelance writer and technical writer from Syracuse, NY. You can e-mail her at dlrturtle@earthlink.net.

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