I came across "The Tester" while I was browsing through PSN's free TV downloads, and it sounded interesting. 12 passionate gamers battle it out in a contest to earn the right to be Sony's next professional game tester and a $5000.00 signing bonus.
Considering it's gamer-centric theme, I thought the show would revolve around playing videogames, but it doesn't. Instead, it's more like "Survivor". Contestants are challenged weekly with various solo or team-based themed tasks (focus, imagination, communication, etc) and voted off the show by a panel of judges until 3 remain to compete head-to-head, winner take all in the final round.
As is the nature of reality shows, the goal is to entertain the viewer, and in that The Tester succeeds. There are many "I'm laughing at you, not with you" moments as contestants blunder and crack under pressure. When Barmy was eliminated in the first episode, his crying and pleading to his family that he will perservere beyond his failure was a bit over the top and led me to believe that his family was being held hostage in a remote underground bunker.
Where The Tester fails, though, is in conveying a believable sense of fairness between contestants. Star, a reknown professional gamer known for her Guitar Hero skills, was given free pass after free pass when her poor performance landed her on the chopping block, resulting in someone who actually performed better than her getting the axe.
This bothered me, and reminded me of why I turned my back on reality TV a while ago. Producers want drama, not fairness. They want intrigue, not reality. To me, it seemed that Star was spared to keep a balanced male:female ratio, and also possibly due to her steam-punk image. She looks interesting. She looks like a gamer. "Let's keep her on board as long as possible until she has to be removed to ensure she has absolutely no chance of winning this thing." And that's what happened. She was strung along until getting axed on the last show before the final challenge.
After I watched the finale, I searched YouTube and found an interview of Star regarding her experience on The Tester. In it, she reveals that she didn't even submit an application, but was recruited through MySpace by the show's producers, and then rushed through the process to be a part of the group. It's now obvious to me that she was to be more than an objective candidate, but a "Star" to help drive interest in the show.
Ultimately, I believe the 3 finalists picked to "survive" by the judges panel were the right choice and deserved to be there, but I could've done without the injustice of seeing other emotionally invested gamers have their dreams dashed in favor of keeping the inferiorly talented Star. Yes, I was entertained overall, but watching that left a bitter taste in my mouth, as does all reality TV nowadays. Hopefully Season 2 is more fair, or at least better at covering up the favoritism.
image links:
No comments:
Post a Comment