‘Alter Ego’ Takes a Week Off — How is the New Show Doing So Far?
Patrick Wymore/FOX Reading Time: 2 minutes
The new talent show Alter Ego is taking a break this week along with The Masked Singer to make room for the World Series. We’re about halfway through this first season, which has had a slow start so far. So how is it doing, are you a fan of Alter Ego?
The show, in which singers perform as digital avatars, definitely isn’t pulling in the same ratings as The Masked Singer, and it also hasn’t gotten very good reviews. It makes us wonder if we’ll see a second season.
How Is ‘Alter Ego’ Doing So Far This Season?
Alter Ego‘s strongest ratings this season were during the premiere, when the show had 2.933 million viewers. Those numbers have mostly declined over the next several weeks, with last week’s show drawing 2.173 million viewers.
This is about half of what The Masked Singer has brought in week to week. Last week, for example, Season 6 of the show had 4.528 million viewers. It seems like a lot of people are turning off FOX after getting their weekly fix of mystery celebs.
Alter Ego also hasn’t been a hit with the critics, many of whom have commented on the avatars’ creepiness, as well as the mixed messages the show sends about being accepted as an artist. The show has a 17 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and a score of 3.4 out of 10 on IMDb.
As Variety‘s Daniel D’Addario writes, “Alter Ego tries to have it both ways — introducing us on intimate terms to people who insist that they’re best understood through their music, and, in sharing that personal backstory, making it impossible for us to see them the way they want to be seen.”
SEE ALSO: ANSWER A FEW QUESTIONS, WE’LL GUESS THE ‘ALTER EGO’ JUDGE YOU LOVE-HATE
Where Are We in the Competition Right Now?
Alter Ego started out with 20 contestants, eight of whom have been eliminated. The show is currently in the Head-to-Head stage of the competition, with the judges deciding between pairs of singers. There are still eight artists left to perform in this round before we move on to the Semifinals.
It’s sad that response to the show has been lackluster, because it features some really incredible singers, regardless of the format. Unfortunately, the judges have made a few questionable choices about who should move on. In one case, they actually regretted their decision after hearing the eliminated contestant’s farewell performance.
The judges talk a lot about which artist would be a better “digital superstar,” but it’s not really clear what that even entails. Surely the winner of the show won’t go on to perform as an avatar for the rest of their career. If the point is to judge singers on their talent, then the judges should actually do that.
I love alter ego…
I love that show