User Reviews

For fans of country music the show is must-watch, but for a casual follower of the genre I'll catch what I can.

The problem is it is the same performers and same winners year after year. Country may be welcoming to new artists, but it is extremely difficult for new artists to break into the upper echelon of stars. Chris Stapleton did a few years ago, but that's about it.

Here we have "52nd Annual CMA Awards", which means these is the biggest country music awards ceremony of the year 2018. Over 50 editions already, quite a lot. This aired back in November 2018, so it is only slightly over two years old. Of course, it is not really a talk show as it says here on imdb. The entire thing ran for minimally over two hours and this does not include commercials yet, so definitely not a short broadcast. Good news is this was shown live on television the way it should be with awards shows, not only because of the tension and excitement element in terms of who wins, but also for the family members of the nominees and winners that they can see their beloved ones in these crucial moments. There are many writers, director and producers here and I will only mention a few. The key director is Gary Halvorson and just like head writer David Wild he has several Emmy nominations. Looking at how experienced they are and how prolific they have been, it surprises me a bit honestly that they do not have ten Emmy nominations. Or at least one or two wins. But well, maybe there are other events and awards shows that get more Emmy focus. Co-writers here are Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. These two are a bit of a professional couple as they have hosted this event many times already. Cannot really say they won me over with the 2018 edition. On Paisley I cannot really go this hard because he seems like a fun fella and also I have always had a soft spot for his wife. As for Underwood, I like her less and less the more I see about her. Honestly, it's nice that she won this casting show back then with a country approach to music and it is even better that she, unlike Swift, has stayed faithful to her roots, but she did not feel entertaining, funny or really qualified here and it was quite a disappointment because she had a lot of screen time. Also I struggle with taking her seriously as an artist, even if they gave her this important awards like they do every year apparently. Almost every year. Her love song was maybe the most shallow number of the entire evening. Highly disappointing. As for the people announcing the winners, completely different subject now, I was surprised to see that they invited many actors and people that I at least would not really connect with country music. Take Foy. Take Schnapp. Take Spencer. Take Quaid. I mean no matter how big they may be, what are some of them doing at an event like this. Or take Lionel Richie. There is no denying his musical talent whatsoever, but what is he doing here at the CMA Awards announcing the key category? They surely are not helping this music genre at all if they act as if there are not enough country musicians out there that deserve the inclusion here. There certainly are. Already bad enough that they rush in categories like Musician of the Year and do not give the nominees or winner the screen time they deserve. Country is not all about singing folks. You should be ashamed there. Also would have been nice to really show all the nominee in the other categories, in terms of the camera showing us those. A lot to improve for the future here. I mean I like country music kinda, so as I stated in the title of my review listening to those songs was partially alright, but the amount of music here was simply too much. This is an awards show. An awards show that leaves out certain categories completely to show more stage performances. Absolutely not acceptable.

What else can I add? Oh yes, even with my previous criticisms I am kinda glad that they did not get the overrated Gaga and Cooper from their even more overrated movie the way they are gloating about these very early on. Lady Anntebellum over those anytime. So overall I believe the amount of music in here may have been nice for people right there with everybody, but for the people at home watching this, it was simply not a good choice. Common problem for all kinds of music awards shows. On another CMA Awards event I could have been more generous with my rating as it was not this bad, but here they really messed up. Disappointing. The shots at comedy here are also not a success at all, especially from Underwood. She has zero comedic timing. She just shouldn't try it. Oh yeah, the most double-edged sword of the night was probably the tequila song. I mean it felt very mainstream and almost had pop music character (and even if I like pop music, this is not meant in a positive way), so tough to appreciate it from a country music perspective, but I will admit that it as one of the catchiest tunes of the night. As for the winners here, it is almost always the same names really. And this is certainly not the genre's fault. There are many other country musicians that have the talent, but are ridiculously shut out here, so they will not get in the way of the established artists it seems or they are just nominated for really minor categories and awards. Or, as I mentioned earlier, they categories are simply not part of the broadcast really. Where is Sturgill Simpson in those for example. Never mind. Also makes it tough to believe when the establishment sccream out how much they love country music honestly. You know who I mean. They probably only do as long as they received this pampered treatment. Another one who is there as always is Keith Urban and, also as always, with him is Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman. I really disliked her in the past, then I saw her in some stuff where she was alright, but with inclusions like this one here, I am moving closer to disliking her again. But hey, at least she is credited as "audience member" here on imdb. I do not really want to talk about her this much. This is about her man. Just mentioned the name. The song I heard from him here really did nothing for me either, so he may very well be way past his peak. And why is there even a category "Entertainer of the Year"? This is not the Teen Choice Awards. And why is this category at the end of the show as if it was some highlight when all it really is is pure embarrassment. And why is Lionel Richie presenting? Pretty absurd. I know I mentioned him already. Strangely enough he is here, but never really seen at the BET Awards or so. Which is actually a really cool move from him because those are also as low as it gets quality-wise. But this does not explain his inclusion here either. Or why hhis daughter Nicole is invited to relevant music awards shows. Is she even a musician? Anyway, drifting a bit away now. To sum it all up, as you may have guessed, this awards show we have here received the worst possible rating from me. It does not even really fit the description awards show. Like imagine when you have a test at school about insect and you write down all your knowledge about mammals, some of it okay, some of it irrelevant. The mammals would be all the live performances here in this analogy, the awards are the insects. Off the mark. Absolutely not recommended. Luckily, the Osbornes at least did nut mutilate bats live on stage. Sorry, I just had to.