Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
We totally forgot about the premiere of “Carolina Star,” a local version of American Idol that aired on our local TV station. Here’s what one loyal reader had to say:
Ash, no mention of the embarrassment that was the first episode of “Carolina Star”?
I would imagine the camerawork got more laughs than the comic host, Tom Chalmers. The judges were just as unfunny as he was, not to mention there wasn’t much constructive criticism from them. I think when the show was concluding they said something to the effect of “they were all great.” Yikes. There may have been 2-3 people with any talent, and that’s being generous.
Seems like they’d have 3 judges who know something about music. I mean, the show is sponsored by 3 different radio stations. Mark Andrews is a legit pick I guess since he’s with 104.3. Kevin Geagan is a used car dealer for goodness sake! But, of course, his dealership is sponsoring the show. Heidi Daugherty had her picture taken with Kelly Clarkson, so she’s obviously qualified. Okay, I won’t hate on Heidi since she was the eye candy and only reason to watch.
And if you paid attention to the commercials you were in for a treat as well. Auto Advantage put 2 guys in chicken outfits in their newest 3-4 commercials (one ineffectively using a bullhorn). Also, the Orange Peel had some ads for upcoming concerts. The best bit of that was for a Stephen Stills concert (of Crosby, Stills & Nash), but all 5 still photos they showed were of Crosby.
Word has it that 2 of the “Carolina Star” judges (Daugherty and Andrews) were beating down the door to WLOS late Saturday night to try and have show pulled because they didn’t approve of the final product. From what I heard, the executive producer of “Carolina Star” (he or someone else took his name off the website http://www.carolinastar.net/index.html) could not be reached and since he was the one who fronted the money the show aired as scheduled.
Maybe they’ll get lucky and find him so they can get the whole show yanked before the next episode airs. Or maybe they found better videographers and another host.
Here’s what takes the cake… this is what they’re saying on the website now:
“The very first episode of Carolina Star aired on Saturday, April 13th and has recieved rave reviews from viewers throughout the Carolinas.”
The 2 typos (corrections: “received” and “14th”) are their handiwork.
@Linda, that was the funniest post I have ever read in my life. I literally cried.
I missed this little piece of tv history, but believe me I would have gladly tivoed it so that I could use it to vomit and keep the bulimia going.
the painting contractor story is not the only skeleton in that closet, and sadly not even the worst.
the funny thing is that they do not even update their website. slackers. AND WITH A NAME LIKE CLOGGO YOU NEED TO BE IN THE HOSPITAL.
WHAT A MARVELOUS WONDERFUL THING HAPPENED SAT NITE! A LOVELY BREATH OF FRESH AIR CAME FROM MY TV. I LAUGHED SO I HARD I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL WITH A RUPTURED GUT! HOW CAN PEOPLE NOT LIKE SOMETHING THAT WILD? I HOPE THIS SHOW COMES ON EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE INSTEAD OF THE LOCAL NEWS THE FACT THAT IT WAS POORLY PRODUCED IN SOME PEOPLES EYES JUST MADE IT BETTER KUDOS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HELPED MAKE THIS WONDERFULLY SURREAL!!
search google for cloggo horton
as a viewer of the first 2 shows i have to say that there were a few talented people. heidi and kevin do not know talent and the jeff guy is arrogant and thinks he owns the earth. the show sucks if you ask me.
Lets add some anti-spin to some of the other reviews to carolina star I saw posted here and on some other websites about carolina star, lets start with you "uphill" or should we should we describe you as more of a "going down hill" type? I get the impression that mr "downhill" is earning his spot on a certain {auto disadvantage salesman’s ever so eager to please on knees man squad}. Now lets set the record straight, I disagree with what "uphill" wrote because the so called duke university graduate {who ever he may be} has a growing reputation as a scum bag who consistantly puts the unsuspecting at a disadvantage, it is a fact that he has been sued several times for seduceing hopefuls into scam type verbal contracts, and bogus verbal agreements, only to leave them high and dry once his tinkering bone has went limp noodle. He has also been known for falsely labeling his employees as contractors and subcontractors. Seems he has not learned much at duke as he continues to have his dirt bag counsel draw up shark tooth contracts to bleed out more desperate and falsely inspired unsuspecting hopefuls. My heart goes out to the contestants and for that matter anyone who has been unfortunate enough to be beguiled by these too good to be true troopers. Some dear friends of mine were made ill and taken complete advantage of by these scum bags who were totally negligent when it came to the much needed saftey requirements before they decided to fling many of their unsuspecting employees into their MOBILE SPRAY PAINTING AND AUTOBODY REPAIR SERVICE INCORPORATIONS, in short many people were unexpectedly exposed to harmful paints and paint products that they were not trained to know how to safely use, and they were not provided with any of the proper saftey equiptment that is certainly nessesary for that type of work, its seems one could expect more from a so called duke grad who since then has never paid any of many employees what he owes them and failed to carry any insurance on them as well. What a shmuck and a total dirt bag for clearly taking advantage of these young unsuspecting hopefuls. This group at auto disadvantage, the posse of misfits promised that the employees would make over 100,000 dollars a year, what a bunch of liars who never came through to pay what was promised and owed to those who slaved for these negligent pimps at the unknown and untold risks to their health, this guy has refused from sometime in 2005 up into this very day to pay for any of his former employees on going injuries and health problems. Now for those of you who know nothing of the auto disadvantage off shoots or the slew of other flap jack strap scemes that this guy and his plastic presentation man squad have crapped out, I’ll set the record straight, for all you fans of the truth Im preparing a tell all that will show you the facts about all the details and their subtile deceptions, everyone else who is interested stay tuned. Until then I will leave you with this, did any of you see kevin headbutting the microphone on the episode that aired 04/28/07? Did any of you wonder why he was doing that? Did any of you notice that the attractive, charismatic super model Heidi was trying to break the ice and have some fun with the contestants and the crowd by asking the tight@$$ (guess who) if she could say things like kicks ass, and F-ing kicks ass, I thought that helped add a really cool and not so watered down edge to the show when she added that to the menu. I thought it was cool how she threw that in so improv-like all while complimenting a female contestant that I thought did an good job singing as well. Thanks to Heidi there is definate hope for the judgeing after all. I noticed that kevin tensed up like a puckering blowfish, speaking of blowing does anyone remember Heidi’s comment to one young lady, "YOU CAN REALLY BLOW", Im senseing a very talented judge here in this department, and believe it or not folks its KEVIN GEAGAN. From what I have read and heard from a couple of guys directly involved with the show, kevin especially has amazeing talents here when it comes to taking a deep breath and just coming out with the magic throat talent, no joke they say he humms on a tune so sweet that it can bring tears to a fully grown mans eyes. Its my belief that kevin is bursting to show his hidden talents to everyone he can. I would not be suprised if on one of the future shows, we see kevin geagan troting up onto the stage and peeling some guys microphone back so he can no doubt humm his way into our hearts. Like the old saying goes if you don’t know the words just humm it, I heard a guy in a cowboy hat at the orange peel tell a young man, "if you forget some of your song just humm along, and remember if you are half as good at humming as kevin is, it just may be enough to take you to the next round son, and thats no sh#*#". Now I don’t know what kevin did to make the man in the hat believe so strongly in what he was telling that young man but I was dumbfounded and at a loss for words, he must really be good I thought to myself, trust me the towns people really belive in kevin. I think all you guys may be in for a very shocking suprise because kevin, "according to the carolina star website" kevin is an upcoming talent himself, perhaps he can blow natures musical pipe better than any of the contestants so far? I guess everyone will be glued to their tuned in seat until then! Has anyone else wondered why Heidi always seems to cover kevin and that other guys eyes with her hands when she thinks there is some hot, handsome guy singing on stage… thats got me kind of puzzled, can anyone out there possible help me figure this one out? I clearly remember kevin freezing up like a popcicle when she sarcasticly asked him if she could say "kicks ass" on tv, kevin then said, "no you can’t say that on tv," so Heidi in her most defiant move yet,(you go girl!) proceeded to say it again with even more brass for a second time, all the while wearing that pearly white smile. I think she’s great. Heidi’s awesome and without her I believe the show would tank, she brings life to the show because she is real and says what she really thinks. She has rhythm, sass, and did I mention (in a respectful way) she is a very nice looking woman. Woman up Heidi! It sure seemed to make kevins so called virgin ears itch, Im sure by his reaction that he would like to keep that kind of talk in the closet, along with everything else that may or may not still be in there, anyhow.. after Heidi’s comments it seemed as if he nearly imploded. I wonder if kevin has paid the judges what he promised them according to their… hmmm.. I wonder if he set them up a written… or…. was it a verbal contract?, Did anyone notice the details of the 10,000 dollar prize to be given to the winner? I suggest that the unsuspecting contestants beware of the FINE PRINT, does anyone know what 10,000 dollars looks like after tax cuts when they are having it written off under 1099 contract stats? Does that mean uncle sam gets a cut? As far as the so called record deal goes, Im not sure I understood the contract, does the winner get to keep a few bucks or will they be expected to pay for studio time out of whats left over after a chunk of change is set aside to pay their 1099 taxes owed on a so called 10,000 prize?
For those of you who cricized the Carolina Star show…well, I’d like to see your ass get up there and sing without accompaniment from a list of hokey songs. There are some very talented people in this thing…many of which have not even been on the air yet. Yea….the production sucks which is why they are changing it. If you want to see what the show is all about – go check it out at the Orange Peel. You’ll be surprized. Uhhh…I do agree about the cowboy though.
So, the show isn’t award worthy – but the contest is still a fun local, inexpensive evening of entertainment (expressed by someone who has been to all the shows thus far).
I was puzzled by the first show, in that out of the 300+ hopefuls, the producers chose to air only three who actually passed the audition. The second show was similar with only a few contestants shown who actually made the third round, which is live tomorrow evening 4-26.
The only thing I know for sure, since I have connections to someone still in the contest, the band, the ‘used car salesman’ (I believe a Duke graduate with a pretty good head for business, or so it appears), the other judges, and especially the contestants, are striving hard to turn an opportunity into a reality.
Despite the taped shows, all involved in Carolina Star are showing up for life and making a fun difference in raising the awareness that WNC has some awesome musical talent. Hopefully the shows will reflect that as competition narrows.
Well I say that the show sucked, how many people out there besides all of you agree with me? There was only a few (one maybe two) who could "sing" at all, I think the judges don’t know much about how to judge a talent show, their sickening sweet compliments seemed so much like kiss up bull crap, hey did any one see that cowboy dancing like a chip and dale stripper? What a weirdo, it seemed like watching a clip of some broke back mountain parody, he had a wild eyed look that made him look like he was jacked up on a cocktail of meth and moonshine, I wonder if he will huff some paint before the next performance in order to bring out his less way too intense phyco stage presence , I have a suggestion for a majority of the contestants and at least one of the judges (STOP SNORTING COCAINE IT IS MAKEING YOU SING AND JUDGE SINGING LIKE SH%#) Who filmed this piece of SH*#? Whats a fine looking house wife like Heidi doing up there with a couple of shmucks like that man sl*# and the other guy who seems to be complimenting women so that he can undoubtably increace his chances of finally getting someones phone number. All those backwards singers obviously ran off alot of otherwise normal folks, all I can say is WTF
wow. nothing like annonymous message board name calling. What a cool guy you mus be DAVO.
How is Matt Daugherty’s shocking and blatant inability to coach tied to my intelligence?
I mean, if we’re just gonna start slinging around wild and unfounded accusations…
…THEN STOP HAVING SEX WITH DOGS DAVO!!! IT SICKENS US!!!
A to the P, your an idiot!
Well crap! I guess there’s no excuse for how god awful a coach Matt Daugherty is then! oh well!
Heidi is Brad Daugherty’s wife, not Matt Doherty’s.
The best part is Heidi and Mark didn’t want it to air because they thought it would make them look bad, then it somehow gets great reviews/ratings.
Dear Heidi and Mark,
Never underestimate the ability of mountain folk to ignore production values.
Sincerely,
WLOS
A friend of mine told me that she saw this show the other night on WLOS, and it was terrible. So terrible, in fact, that she tried to wake up her boyfriend to show him the ridiculous crap they were airing. It was Carolina Star.
This morning, I was listening to 104.3 on my way to work, and they were reading the top 5 shows of last week (of course, you’ve got your ‘American Idol’ in their twice, CSI, etc.) and they began talking about the Carolina Star show – and surely it was in the top 10. What a joke. They are proud of themselves for that thing they call a show. And, what kind of audience are they trying to draw by airing it at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday nights?
The article fails to mention the best part of the whole show.
Daugherty’s low cut sweaters….
Matt may not be able to coach a team worth a damn, but I can understand why after seeing his wife.
It would be hard to think about basketball when you know that you’ve got someone like her at home!