But even with this foundation, the show trudges through its opening hour. Tonight, the cameras follow tryouts in six major cities, as thousands of women audition to make it past the first cut. The five eventual winners will form a group, live together, record a CD, shoot a music video and finish the season by performing a concert. So many women are auditioning that there's no opportunity to become attached to any of them. A few people get brief bios, but no one is treated to the cheesy Olympic-style personal profiles that convince the viewer to pick a favorite and root for her.
Some auditions are painful to watch.
Voices are starkly off-key. Unprepared contestants offer up forgotten lyrics. Juanepia Barfield, a dancer from Georgia, chokes at her audition and the camera follows her exit from the building in slow motion. The grating voice-over narration attempts to create drama where there is none. The most tension comes from a stage mom who is positively flabbergasted when her daughter doesn't make the initial cut.