Karaoke Television

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Karaoke Television (KTV)
Genre reality game show; music competition
Creator(s) Stewart Krohn
Starring William Neal, Neil Hall (1 season), Maureen Dawson (Kids' KTV)
Country of origin BLZ
No. of episodes about 65
Production
Executive producer(s) Stewart Krohn
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Channel 5
Original run February 20, 2001 – Present
Links
Official website

Karaoke Television, usually called KTV for short, is a live-action music competition airing on Great Belize Television (Channel 5). It premiered in February of 2001 and is scheduled to return in 2007 for its sixth season.

Contents

[edit] Origins and format

KTV, according to host William Neal, originated from a karaoke competition hosted by Channel 5 the previous year during its annual "Gimme 5" Christmas special. [1] Neal claimed the show was not looking as much for real singing talent as for stage performance- giving a good performance for the audience. Auditions for the first season were held for most of February, primarily at Channel 5's Belize City office.

The first show aired on February 20, 2001, from the Bellevue Hotel "King Street Station" (though the hotel was located on Southern Foreshore). Six contestants (later trimmed to five) appeared and sang a selection played by the karaoke director (originally Richard Villanueva, later replaced by a team featuring former champion Louis Maskall). The best performer was selected by a group of judges and advanced to the semifinal round; in all ten semifinalists were selected. In the semi-finals, the contestants again sang a song of their own choosing and the top two advanced to the final round. In the final, each contestant sings two songs and composite scores are totaled for a grand champion. In later seasons the semi-final round was altered to include a "lightning round" in which the contestants selected a song they had not rehearsed and sang a portion of it to the judges. Small prizes are regularly donated and awarded to all participants; typically, the winner receives souvenirs and a cash prize from Channel 5. The grand prizes have changed from season to season; a karaoke machine was awarded in 2005, while in 2006 the main prize was a bedroom set.

After Neal left the country on sabbatical in 2003, veteran broadcaster Neil Hall took over for one season. A children's edition of KTV aired later in 2003, and it took the 2004 season off, much to the dissatisfaction of fans. KTV resumed in 2005 with Neal as host from a different venue, the Bliss Center for Performing Arts Palm Court (Neal was now director of the Institute of Creative Arts, successor to the Belize Arts Council).

As hosts often enumerate on each show, the contestants are judged on three categories: Peformance (worth 40 points), voice quality (40) and clarity of lyrics (20), for a total 100. The lightning round performances in later seasons are judged out of ten. While points are not awarded for props and style, attire and stage presence have proven somewhat important in the judging of KTV.

[edit] Weekly winners of Karaoke Television

[edit] Season 1 (2001)

Bellvue Hotel, Southern Foreshore, Belize City.

[edit] Season 2 (2002)

Club Calypso (Princess Hotel), Newtown Barracks, Belize City.

[edit] Season 3 (2003)

Club Calypso (Princess Hotel), Newtown Barracks, Belize City

[edit] Season 4 (2005)

Bliss Center for the Peforming Arts Palm Court, Belize City.

  • January 18: Leon Banks, song unknown
  • January 25: Lorraine Bennett, song unknown
  • February 2: Felicita Arzu, song unknown
  • February 9: Hubert Goff, song unknown
  • February 16: Angelo Fabro, song unknown
  • February 23: Reecie Pollard, The Greatest Love of All (Whitney Houston)
  • March 2: Herbert Wiltshire, song unknown
  • March 9: Thomas Cayetano, song unknown
  • March 16: Melonie Gillett, song unknown
  • March 23: Ronald Casimiro, song unknown
  • March 30 (semifinal 1): Lorraine Bennett, Angelo Fabro
  • April 6 (semifinal 2): Reecie Pollard, Melonie Gillett
  • April 13 (championship): winner Angelo Fabro, runner-up Lorraine Bennett

[edit] Season 5 (2006)

Bliss Center Palm Court, Belize City.

[edit] Kids KTV

Note: Aired in October and November 2003.

  • Week 1 20/10: Donna Neal (juniors), Wilson Grinage (seniors)
  • Week 2 27/10: Tanisha Bodden (juniors), Lucien Dawson (seniors)
  • Week 3 02/11: Marlecia Lizama (juniors), Tracy Gomez (seniors)
  • Week 4 09/11: Godwin Sutherland (juniors), Shiniki Leslie (seniors)

Championship 16/11:

[edit] Champions of KTV by season

  • 2001: Reina Villanueva (Belize City) (presumably no relation to Richard)
  • 2002: Rohjani Perriott (Belize City)
  • 2003: Louis Maskall (Sandhill Village)
  • 2005: Angelo Fabro (Corozal)
  • 2006: Patrick McPherson (Sittee River Village, Stann Creek)

[edit] Notes

  • Usher, from the first season, is the youngest contestant to have appeared , being in her teens. Due to her appearance Channel 5 commissioned an under-18 tournament two years later.
  • Channel 5 has re-aired all first-run episodes on Sundays at 8:00 PM since the show's premiere (occasionally moved up to 4:00 or 4:30).
  • Several contestants have appeared more than once (not counting semifinals and championship appearances). However, no champion has returned to defend his or her title during the show's run.
  • Channel 5 experienced two separate technical incidents during the 2006 season. First, on May 2 the show was pre-empted for the first game of a national side basketball qualifier series against Mexico (Belize lost), then the scheduled June 27 championship episode was moved to Wednesday, June 28 due to inclement weather. Ironically, though no showers threatened the 9:00 PM start time, twenty minutes into the program a driving storm sent everyone scattering into the Bliss Center Auditorium. Channel 5 hurriedly went to break and covered the delay with clips from past shows and reruns of UPN comedies All Of Us and Girlfriends until the show resumed around 10:30 PM. The rest of the show went normally and McPherson was crowned champion at 11:30 PM that night, after which Five went immediately to a newscast repeat.
  • Channel 5 has edited clips from past shows into short music videos and re-aired them during lulls in programming. Casimiro, Fabro, Gillett and host William Neal (ad-libbing Bobby Brown's My Prerogative during a break in the championship episode in 2005) are frequently featured.