There are a couple of shows that are exceptions to this. One is Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. which still has a few weeks before season 3 starts; and Ink Master. I, along with M and J, have watched every episode of every season of Ink Master, up and including the episode this week. As such I have some observations (which others have probably made) and some suggestions (which nobody in a position to do something with them will ever read) to make.
First off let me start by saying, while I have watched every episode, this season (season 6) is the first season where I didn't do so either live or within a day or two of airing. In fact, J and I just binge watched the first 9 episodes on her last couple of days off and then caught the 10th (and current) episode a couple of hours after it aired. Now why do I make this point? Well, mainly because the show isn't holding the same interest for me (or J, or even M) that it once did - and that's the main reason for this post.
For those that know me, they may well be surprised that I watch this show at all since I'm not a "tattoo person". M has 4 or 5, P has 2, J and I each have one, and M2 has none. For me it's not so much about the tattoo's, but rather the amazing art work that these people can come up with and bring to life. I've never been artistic, but I've always been amazed by those that are and Ink Master did a great job early on illustrating this. The "early on" part of that last sentence brings me to my main issue with the show as it exists today.
The first season, the show was truly about the tattoo's and that seemed to be the focus. As the seasons have progressed, the priority seems to have shifted to just how much drama can be shown. This has manifested itself in many ways;
- The primary one being interactions "in the loft" where the artists stay. Early on, especially in season one, those were simply to "flesh things out" a bit and were not really the focal point of the show. You'd see the artists discussing their lives, the challenges, or even the tattoo's they had done. Now don't get me wrong, there was always "some drama", but it didn't seem to be the focus. As the seasons have progressed, the video of the loft interactions has become less about the artists and the tattooing, but more about infighting and drama among the artists. I know this may sound funny since it's always been a "reality show", but early on it didn't feel like the stereotypical reality show, and now it does and that's disappointing.
- The introduction of the "human canvas jury" in season three has been nearly as bad. Obviously a huge part of the show has always been the judges critiques of the artists work. But in the first couple of seasons this was almost always done without any of the human canvas's present. That's still the case for the most part; but starting with season three, all of the human canvas's now meet to discuss the "worst tattoo of the day". Now, this is heavily edited as is the rest of the show, but the vast majority of the video that they do show focuses on the "group" tearing into each tattoo. To me, this is nothing more than another way to "increase the drama" as almost without fail when the artists are done with their tattoos, the human canvas is shown as being very happy with the work. Having this "jury", to me is about on the same level as tossing a single steak to a pack of hyenas. Having a bunch of people sit there and pick at something that you've just spent 4-6 hours having permanently placed on your body - well at it's core isn't much more than a group bully session. Now, I realize that these people should know what they signed up for, but do they really need to do this? From what I can tell, for the most part it doesn't have much (if any) impact on the actual judging anyway. I think if somebody is really and truly not happy with their artists work, they could simply bring them down and let them say their piece to the judges in lieu of this "jury" idea; for that matter they could let every canvas do that - after all the judges go out of their way to tell the artists how important it is to work with their clients and make them happy, so why not get the actual opinions of the canvas's, without it being clouded by the tear downs that come from the jury session?
- As much as I dislike the whole human canvas jury, what bugs me even more is how the eliminations go. Early on, it was pretty cut and dried - the judges gave their critiques and the artists responded to those, and then a decision was made. In fact in season one, part of the reason for Bili being eliminated was not taking responsibility for his shortcomings. Somewhere along the line, at least for most of the artists, it's turned into "throw everyone else under the bus" when it comes to critiques. Instead of defending their own work on it's merits, they are more concerned about trying to pick apart the work of the others up for elimination. I'm sure the "powers that be" find this to be "compelling television", but I don't. In a lot of ways, I shouldn't be surprised as society as a whole has morphed from an era where personal responsibility was a way of life, to an era where there is little or no personal responsibility. Maybe I'm just getting old, or maybe I'm just naive, but this has always bothered me and to see a show I like taking this route bugs me. Perhaps this is simply the personality of the particular artists that have been chosen for later seasons, but I *strongly* suspect that it's more of the "powers that be" encouraging this, or at least editing things so that it comes across this way.
- To further expound on the eliminations, the "woe is me" factor has really gotten out of hand as well. On the most recent season for example, one of the artists (Duffy) all but had a melt down both in the loft and in the elimination because she was missing her daughters birthday. To the judges credit - and I believe it was Chris Nunez that said it - they pointed out that she *knew* that her child's birthday would fall during the competition and if she wasn't prepared to deal with that then perhaps she should have rethought coming. I don't want to pick on Duffy, or even necessarily focus on her when it comes to this, as she's far from the only artist who's played the "woe is me" card.
- One last gripe about the eliminations. For the first season, the contestants probably had little or no idea of what kinds of tattoos they'd need to do; they were basically going in blind. But for subsequent seasons, especially these last couple - how on earth do these contestants act surprised that they might need to be able to do (in no order): black and grey, color, portraits, American traditional, Japanese, pinup girls, and so on? The judges have made it clear over the years that to be "Ink Master" you have to be able to do everything; but yet constantly I see artists that say "I don't do <insert tattoo style here>". Shouldn't these artists have made an effort to learned these styles before singing up to compete? Especially the styles that are near and dear to the judges (American Traditional for Oliver Peck and Japanese for Chris Nunez)? Season six has been even worse as I've watched multiple artists whine that they are having issues dealing with being told what style to do. Umm, have they never seen the show before? What did they think they were signing up for?
I have some other issues with the show that fall outside of the "drama" that I've focused on, so let me touch on a few of those.
- The first season finale has stuck with me throughout the show. The judges said that Tommy's pinup girl was the "best tattoo of the season", yet they awarded the title of Ink Master to Shane based upon his "body of work". That bugged me at the time and still does. But what really bugs me is that in seasons since then it seems like they've awarded overall victory more than once to artists that had the best final tattoo, but a lesser "body of work" over the entire season. Pick a set of rules and go with it.
- Product placement. Look, I get it, it helps pay for the show and Ink Master is far from the first show or movie to do it. But some of it is out of hand - I'm looking at the Taco Bell "Live Mas" stuff from season six as an example. If they are going to do this placement, at least try and do a better job of integrating it into the show. Some of the placements have included a special prize for an artist(s) - which at least to me makes it a little better; but others such as this seasons Taco Bell placement added nothing to the show in my opinion and as such turned me off more than a bit. As an example of what I think was good placement was the Star Wars challenge from season two.
- Lose the "team" challenges - at least for eliminations. This became a real issue here in season six when two of the best (possibly *the two best*) artists ended up facing off in an elimination in episode seven (less than halfway through the season). Not only did the season lose a good artists, but it also lost arguably the biggest "sh*t disturber"; so I suspect that the powers that be may rethink some things. I did admire Katie speaking up when the judges seemed to consider not eliminating either of the two artists in that episode as it wasn't everyone else's fault that the rules of the game came back to bite the show in the backside.
- The judging bugs me as well. Dave Navarro seems to focus on the specific challenge which I think is the way it should be; but the two tattoo "experts" (Oliver Peck/Chris Nunez) often "go off the reservation" and base their decisions on body of work, etc., which I don't think is right. Why have specific challenges if the artists aren't actually going to be judged on those challenges? Its like giving the other artists and the viewers a huge middle finger in my opinion.
- There have been occasional Ink Master specials and while most have been good, I did take exception to the Master versus Master show prior to season six. Four of the first Five masters came back, the exception being Shane from season one. Look, I don't have an issue with him not coming back, especially if that was *HIS* decision. But why not explain why he wasn't there and the other four masters were? Doesn't the audience deserve that? And the format agitated me as frankly while I'll admit I don't like Scott very much, to get into the finals he lucked out as I believe he had the 3rd best tattoo of the 4; but because the two best had gone up against each other one of them was eliminated. Now Scott did a nice job in the final; but in reality he really didn't deserve to get there. Now I know this is often how it goes in sports, etc. (see the NL Central race in Major League Baseball this year); but it still agitated me.
There are other things, but I think I've rambled on long enough. Now don't get me wrong, I do still like the show overall and have really enjoyed the early seasons. I just feel that the things above, if changed, could greatly improve the show; although I'm also realistic enough to understand that many of the things I've railed against are done in the name of ratings, so if my options are to have to deal with these things or lose the show - well I'll deal with them. But I won't be as hooked on the show as I have been in the past either.
- M
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