"The Next Best Thing: Who Is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?" (2007) TV series

Creator:

Barry Katz

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

29 April 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Reality-TV | Game-Show

Plot:

A competition in which celebrity impersonators face off to see who is the most convincing.

Plot Keywords:

Voice Impressionist | Punctuation In Title | Madonna | Tina Turner | Question In Title

Cast

Michele Merkin	...	Herself - Host (8 episodes, 2007)
Jeffrey Ross	...	Himself - Judge / ... (8 episodes, 2007)
Lisa Ann Walter	...	Herself - Judge / ... (8 episodes, 2007)
Elon Gold	...	Himself - Judge / ... (8 episodes, 2007)
Donny Edwards	...	Elvis Presley (4 episodes, 2007)
Cookie Watkins	...	Tina Turner (4 episodes, 2007)

Also Known As:

The Imposter (USA) (working title)
The Next Best Thing (USA) (short title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

New Wave Entertainment

I voted for George Bush

Who doesn't love impressionists? And who doesn't find it interesting to see someone who looks very similar to a famous person? You put those 2 premises together and you've got this very clever show. It's not good enough for the contestants to be able to do a spot-on impression of his/her chosen celebrity, the person has to physically resemble the celebrity as well. I was hooked in the first five minutes of the premiere episode, I think I smiled the entire time, even during the commercial breaks - it was that entertaining. The judges are jerks, but that's par for the course on a show like this; with the exception of Mia Michaels on So You Think You Can Dance, it seems decent judges are just not to be found. But we can vote for our favorites in the finale, and that's another major plus.

7/19 - Wanted to add that I didn't get to vote for my favorites last night because my favorites didn't make it to the finale. The Rodney Dangerfield impressionist was lethally spot-on, but they didn't pick him because they said he didn't LOOK enough like Rodney. But yet they've been swooning weekly over the Sinatra guy, even though he doesn't remotely resemble Ol' Blue Eyes. They said they laxed the rules for him because his vocals were so perfect, which means they must have cotton in their ears because his imitation is passable at best. And the Streisand girl - she sounds and looks nothing like Streisand in my estimation. She got through though, but they didn't pick the Dolly Parton girl, who sounded exactly like her and the visuals were purdy damn realistic as well. Not thrilled with any of the finalists, really. So here's something I never thought I'd be saying - last night, my fellow Americans, I voted for George Bush.