A look at The Next Best Thing

Commentary with a Co-Ed
by Ashley Gouveia

The summer season doesn’t only produce high temperatures, it also creates a ridiculous amount of reality TV. If you want to watch a show that is just about competition then check out The Next Best Thing on ABC.

Three judges try to find the best celebrity impersonator in the country, and we, the viewers, get to help. I don’t know about you, but I love celebrity impersonators. Especially the really good ones. So when I tuned in last night for the semi-finals, I was generally pleased with what I saw.

Twelve contestants took the stage and tried to impress the judges and the audience with their acts. At the end of the night, five were chosen to move on to the finals.

I already have my favorites. My absolute favorite of the night, and probably of the competition, is Donny Edwards aka Elvis Presley. As a huge Elvis fan, I was so impressed with his impersonation of the King. His rendition of ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ was so spot on, I could have closed my eyes and thought I was listening to the real Elvis. He had his moves down, too. Donny is definitely a front runner.

Another one of my faves was the Lucille Ball impersonator. She had the mannerisms of Lucy, and she looks so much like her. That’s what I found was missing from some of the other contestants. The mannerisms or voices were good, but they looked absolutely nothing like the celebrity. Or they had the look but nothing else.

For example, the Bono impersonator. This guy could have been his twin, but when he tried to sing, it didn’t work. He didn’t choose a great U2 song to perform, but his Bonoisms were great.
Someone who wasn’t great was the Material Girl herself, Madonna. This woman may have looked somewhat like her, but the voice was nowhere near the real thing. So I wasn’t shocked when Bono and Madonna got the boot.

When I heard someone was going to impersonate Celine Dion I said “Uh-oh!”. It’s so hard to try to copy Celine because her voice is so powerful. I feared the worst, but the woman wasn’t a terrible singer. She just didn’t sound like Celine. So that got her out the door at the end of the night.

The Nest Best Thing is a fun hour of good reality TV. It kept me entertained to the point where I too felt like Ann Margaret when faux Elvis performed. I’m definitely tuning in for the rest of the semi-finals when it returns on Wednesday.


Commentary with a co-ed is a weekly column new each Wednesday. Comments are welcome!

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