All Together Now
Season 1 M-Net Dec 15:55/Sat (*101) 16:50 Reality
Former Spice Girl Geri Horner (Ginger) and comedian Rob Beckett co-host All Together Now (2018- current), a sixepisode music reality show where the panel of judges outnumber the total contestants! Instead of a fair-but- cruel judge, a pointless judge and an overly positive judge, singers face a wall of 100 musical experts, from drag artists and rappers to vocal coaches and even a singing dentist. If they like what they hear, the judges join in and sing along. It sounds like a riot, but how did they get the 100 judges in place?
Contestants were scouted and those with experience, like music teacher Mark James, were asked to join the judges’ panel instead. They had to sing three songs and undergo a lengthy interview process. Mark says that the panel call themselves The 100 Family. Music teacher Georg Tormann got the job offer via SMS but thought it was a scam: “It said, ‘Hi. Would you like to be a judge on a new TV singing show?’” He joined as a featured judge, guaranteeing him screen time. For four weeks he filmed from 08:00 to 22:30. Because the judges all sing, they had three days of rehearsals in the week before filming started to learn the 90-second extracts of 150 different songs that contestants would be choosing from. Rehearsals included limited harmonising on the judging panel. And the 100 aren’t always all there – sharp- eyed viewers will see that some judges swaps seats from episode to episode, like a massive game of musical chairs. So while some recognisable, flamboyant faces have to return, others could easily nip down to the pub while someone fills their seat.