The Next Best Thing: The "Heartbreak" of $100,000
Finale Recap by Donna Emery
July 26, 2007
This week on The Next Best Thing the finalists performed as an ensemble worthy of a Vegas spectacular, and the big winner was chosen.
Hostess Michelle Merkin opened with a review of the season, and Joan Rivers interviewed each of the celebrity look-alikes on a faux Red Carpet. It was very funny.
The finalists began the show by singing a number together. It was appropriately called "I Wanna Be the Next Best Thing". It was OK but it went on too long.
After that, the performers were grouped together and there were some interesting duos.
First we had the Battle of the Elvis's. "Blue Suede" Elvis and "Heartbreak" Elvis sang together and did their Elvis moves for "Burnin' Love". They are both talented performers but having them perform side by side showed clearly that "Heartbreak" Elvis is a much better impersonator of the King.
At the end, Michelle stood between them and seemed thrilled to be inside of "an Elvis sandwich." Lisa said she's got a case of burning love. Jeff joked that it doesn't matter which of the two Elvis's wins; everyone wanted to know which of them would go home with the Paris Hilton impersonator.
The next duo was Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. They sang "It's Witchcraft". Though I admit that the lady does resemble Barbra, she did way too much "mugging" and way too many funny bits within the song. "Frank" played it straight and showed how much he sounds like Frank. He is smooth and charming.
Elon said that "it's not Franks and beans… it's Frank and Babs!"
Jeff said "it's Old Blue Eyes and Old Cross Eyes."
Michelle next introduced "America's Luckiest Woman," Paris Hilton. She is very cute but I still don't think she really looks like Paris. She did yet another magic trick - with George W. Bush as her assistant. The audience seemed to appreciate the idea of "Bush" disappearing. The Bush impersonator played along, and was very charming. Paris is charming and George is entertaining.
Jeff said that when Bush disappeared, he'd been horrified to realize that "Dick Cheney is president!"
Lisa said she'd miss both performers, and said that America was glad that they both are done "serving their time."
Elon said "you've gotten your best approval rating yet. And the President was good, too."
After that duo came two comedy legends: Lucille Ball and Robin Williams. The good news is that they are both very talented, and entertaining. The bad news is that they wasted their talents on a silly dance instead of letting them do a routine. The potential for funny business was there, but I don't think they achieved it.
Lisa said that the crowd loves Lucy and Robin. She thanked the performers for giving us so much humor.
Elon imitated Desi Arnaz: "Lucy - what are you doing with Mork? You've got some 'splainin' to do!"
Jeff said that Lucy and Robin "go together like Lohan and rehab!"
The next duo to perform was Little Richard and Tina Turner. They sang "I've Got that Old Time Rock n Roll" and both are phenomenal. They really look and sound like their idols. At the end of the number, the audience got a big surprise when the real Little Richard appeared at the piano and sang along. The Little Richard impersonator was thrilled to sing with his hero. I'm sorry to say that the real Little Richard looked pretty tired.
Elon called Little Richard a legend.
Jeff said that now the show had it all: two "Kings" and three "queens". Little Richard told Jeff to shut up and called him a queen. Lisa laughed and said she'd been hoping that someone would tell Jeff to shut up.
Lisa called all of them "outstanding professionals."
After that act, Michelle said that they would now pare the group down from 10 to 5.
She called Paris Hilton and Robin Williams first. She said that Paris' act had brought us magic, and Robin had brought us laughter. Neither of them made it to the top 5.
Next, she called George Bush. She said he'd showed us the President's musical side. She told him that he would be moving up to the top 5.
The two Elvis's came up together. Michelle said the judges had feared that they might "split the vote," but that both of them had made it to the top 5.
She gave Little Richard the bad news that he didn't make it to the next round.
Next, she called Barbra and Frank. She told them that they'd made a great pair, but that one of them had made the cut and the other hadn't. Frank was moving on to the finals.
Finally, she brought forward Tina Turner and Lucille Ball. She said that Tina had blown the roof off the theatre and that Lucy had been wonderful. Although Tina hadn't made it to the next round, Lucy had.
After that, she announced the order of their finish:
4th runner up was Suzanne LaRouche as Lucille Ball
3rd runner up was John Morgan as George Bush
2nd runner up was Donny Edwards as Blue Suede Elvis
1st runner up was Sebastian Anzaldo as Frank Sinatra
and the winner of the $100, 000 prize is Trent Carlini as "Heartbreak" Elvis
The audience was very happy about this and so was Trent. He thanked his friends and his fans.
I think the show was entertaining, but the judges' taste was a bit too inconsistent. I think that this might be enough of a hit to repeat it next year, but I think they should give the audience a way to participate in the earlier rounds. I also think they need to get rid of Jeff Ross; his obviously-prepared "funny" lines are just not that funny.
I think that Heartbreak Elvis definitely deserved to be the winner, though I could have made a case for many of the other finalists. All in all, it was an entertaining show for the summer and I might watch it again next year if it returns.
Donna is a nurse and teacher, and a mother of 5. She lives in Pennsylvania and is admittedly addicted to many reality shows. You can reach her at mrsed4ever@yahoo.com.
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