.Malaysian Dreamgirl Ep7.

Malaysian Dreamgirl Episode 7 has only one agenda.

If you've watched it then you would've known what I'm talking about.

In every reality TV, there are a few main ingredients:

1. Drama
Drama is mainly created to entice audience. Emotionally, we are more attached to dramatic events occurring in the realm of life whether fictional or non-fictional.
2. Suffering and humiliation
As we can see from many reality shows, we have the pre-interview part where suffering and humiliation of many contestants are brought out for improvements in rating and generating interest. While this plays true for all reality TV, the concept in itself plays around individuals who are more than confident in their ability. That's why we keep pinning it on the contestants for their lack of intellectual decision.
3. Actual Representation of real life events.
The main attraction of Reality TV is the actual chronological events occurring during the whole play. This keeps the editing simple and the story straightforward. However, we must note that producers and editors have in some way distorted the chronological time line to create drama, generate intensity and procure suspense.

Episode 7 revolves around 1 and 2. The bashing of Cindy. Almost 4 out of 6 cuts in the show all involve Cindy's bashing. Except for the critical events like competitions and promo events, all the other film time is given to what I would call as "Cindy's bashing". I have no qualms with such like events but girls tend to be more sensitive than others. Or in this case, for one girl... insensitive.

However, with prominent film time given to the anti-Cindy group, there leaves less space for other contestant's personal growth.

For one thing, the lack of focus on Valerie and Eyna really pisses me off since one of them is no longer in. I don't believe I saw Eyna's personal appearance in the whole show. What are their thoughts on Cindy? And what about Cindy's thoughts on other contestants? All that she points out is "I can't get along with all of them". Is she pissed off at one person more than the other? Or is she just generally pissed. Also the other girls comment on her on-screen accent shows us how much this show lacks the reality feel.

The show is lacking focus. What we need is to find a reason for one of them to be the Malaysian Dreamgirl. Not a thousand reasons for one of them not to become a Malaysian Dreamgirl. We need to know more about their growth, their changes, how they respond to pressure, communication skills and their ability to cope with people of different backgrounds.

Throw them into an impromptu interview, put them in a volunteering situation with old folks, ditch them in the middle of the road back. See how they respond, how they react, what they do. These are definitely more interesting than the "bashing Cindy" agenda.

The title is also confusing. Are we looking for a Malaysian Dreamgirl or a Malaysian Model? The show focuses mainly on prepping them up to become the next top model. Photoshoots, Model Walk, more photoshoots, more model walk.. bla bla bla.

Diversify.

p/s: all things said. these are my 2 cents only. I respect the people who produced and created this show. They were innovative but I'm pointing out improvements, everyone has spaces for them.

p/s/s: all things said again... I still love Fiqa.

Edited [31st March 2008]: Episode 8 rocks! Nothing I can say at all about this episode except, catch it!

My previous views on this show.