You mean there are reasons other than the fact that it’s pretty much totally contrived silliness burdened by contestants who really end up no where doing nothing as models?
“America’s Next Top Model” is back for cycle 22 (8 p.m. Wednesday). And really, no one cares.
How did the Tyra Banks reality show go from global juggernaut to tired TV trope?
That’s the question asked in a study: “Things Fall Apart: The Dynamics of Brand Audience Dissipation,” which — I’m not making this up — is all about “ANTM.”
Marie-Agnes Parmentier, a marketing professor at the University of Montreal and co-author of the study, looked at online conversations of diehard fans. Their chatter can definitely boost a show’s popularity as they share great moments. Remember “B—- poured beer on my weave”? Ah, good times!
But around 2010, the show’s ratings began to sag. The decline coincided with changes in ANTM’s “pillars of success,” Parmentier says – its initial emphasis on high fashion and its panel of beloved judges.
New judges, she says, were “perceived as inferior.” New gimmicks struck fans as “baloney.” (I remember thinking just that when models had to avoid a giant swinging pendulum while walking a runway.)
By ranting online, “the most avid, attentive, and active fans–can play [a role] in destabilizing a popular brand,” the study notes. Their unhappiness could have caused “the defection” of other viewers. And the media picked up on and echoed the critiques.
Parmentier herself has given up on the show. “I watch an episode once in a while and feel like it mutated into something very different,” she told me.
Having screened the cycle 22 premiere, I would agree. It’s a not-so-hot mess. Wannabe models ride a bus to Hollywood Boulevard to model ugly swimsuits before a boisterous crowd.
A male contestant is sad when someone breaks his tiara. A female contestant confesses she has had her breasts enlarged.
The only interesting twist is that the show has its first deaf contestant — Nyle DiMarco, a rugged-looking lad with a buoyant personality. (And he’s got local tie-ins: He lived in Frederick, Md., and attended Gallaudet.) But when Tyra says he seems goofy, you can tell he won’t be around long.
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