Not Entirely Impossible for American TV: Singing with Departed Legendary Singers

On Christmas Eve, 2006--an unusual two-hour special that was taped at Pinewood Studios aired on Britain's BBC1 TV. It had nothing to do with Christmas--but might have been considered a gift of sorts for those who always wanted to see their favorite singer of today sing with a long-dead (or better said, legendary) singer. Maybe you can look at it as being a gift for the very much alive singers appearing on this special who always wanted to sing with these legendary singers of the past.

The show was called 'Duets Impossible.' It utilized the new recent digital advancements in a decades-old special effect technique called Rotoscoping. In the early days of that technique (the basic principle was invented by legendary animator Max Fleischer)--animation studios would record live-action footage and then trace over the image when animating to get a more real-life or fluid look to animation. Walt Disney Studios took it to a high level with 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' among many more of their animated classics. It was even used in 1950's and 60's animation studios in China and the then Soviet Union. But by the end of the 1960's, a lot of that went by the wayside until the digital technology era began. In more recent years, it's advanced to the point of being able to digitally cut out an image of a person or thing from one environment on film or video and insert it (or him/her) into an entirely different environment on film or video.

A more modern introverted rotoscoping technique has been employed in various entertainment mediums--including a couple of semi-animated films by Richard Linklater during the 2000's. Now, that same technique has come to television for the first time in the UK where long-departed singing stars are being removed from old videotape footage and inserted onto a present-day set with a modern-day singer. As you might guess, having deceased singers performing in a different environment against their will caused some controversy in Britain and across the vast pond.

From all indications, this 'Duets Impossible' show was intended to be a pilot for a proposed new weekly show. From all reports, that hasn't happened yet on BBC1 television. A lot of the performances on the special have turned up on Youtube in recent months. Yet, that Christmas Eve special still resonates with many in the UK and those aware of it elsewhere. The first time it was referenced in the American press was when Celine Dion sang 'If I Can Dream' with Elvis Presley on "American Idol" during their Idol Gives Back special in April of 2007. Many ensuing national articles that explained how they made Elvis appear on "Idol" briefly mentioned that the UK had a show doing the same thing. Perhaps a lot of people didn't pay attention to that or see it as a possible auger of things to come for American TV viewers.

A person only has to look to one simple fact of life about American television and its history: American producers have always stolen from the British to give to the poor, unsuspecting viewers out there. British TV has consistently innovated in the sitcom, the drama, the dramedy--and now, we may have to add the 'Duets Impossible' phenomenon to that roster. The only question is whether the American public would be willing to tolerate seeing legendary singers singing duets with current singing stars on a regular series or special here. How do we know if that legendary singer would have really wanted to sing with a particular modern-day singer or band? We'll just assume that Elvis would have wanted to sing with Celine Dion on "American Idol." But take these examples from the UK 'Duets Impossible' special last December:

--Roy Orbison singing with band Westlife.

--Dusty Springfield with Sugababes (!)

--Peggy Lee and Simon Webbe (?)

--LuLu getting her wish to finally sing with Marvin Gaye.

--A 23-years-ago version of Boy George singing 'Karma Chameleon' with a very 23-years-later version of himself.

Most of the worst derision for those duets was on UK message boards discussing the show last December where posters had it in for the Roy Orbison/Westlife match-up. "No way", many UK watchers exclaimed, "Roy Orbison would NEVER have sung with Westlife!" Perhaps the one that worked the best (and would have probably happened in real life) was a match-up of singer Katie Melua singing a duet of 'Over the Rainbow' with Eva Cassidy. If you watch this on Youtube (or Stage6), you'll see that the performance was a truly touching one with perfect vocal blending. And they didn't even use the rotoscoping method on that one--choosing instead to just show Eva's image up on the giant screen behind Melua. Mark one less point for expensive special effects creating the ultimate emotional reaction.

Let's just assume here that Fox (the most logical U.S. network to snatch up this concept) airs a special using this same idea in another year's time. During the February sweeps period of 2008, the pilot special airs titled 'Duets From Beyond the Grave.' (American producers always come up with a worse title than what was used in the UK.) Hosting this show would be the already overworked Ryan Seacrest. Vernon Kay was the host on the UK special-and who appears to be Ryan Seacrest's British counterpart.

Just how would this possible Fox special play out? Well, let's take a quick look (or guess)...

--Michael Buble sings with Frank Sinatra (while Bobby Darin jumps out on stage as a surprise guest appearance...hence creating the first retroscoping trio).

--Green Day performs with the classic Beatles (probably late 60's Beatles to get color footage and matching hairstyles).

--Joss Stone has a duet with Janis Joplin. Ed Sullivan's late 1960's video archives will probably be mined to death.

--U2 also does a performance with the Beatles (with special guest star, Paul McCartney...or the version from today that is).

--Akon doing reggae with Bob Marley.

--Usher dancing and singing with a younger Michael Jackson ('Thriller' era). Michael calls in angry that he's not dead.

Mind you, this scenario doesn't have to happen. I'm going to assume most of the American people would have enough sense to not want something like this and demand that the two-hour pilot special be the only thing to air just to satiate curiosity. Most people probably wouldn't want to have their video image placed in other places against their will after death. If these legendary singers could talk today, they may say the same thing. It's frankly surprising that the estates of these singers allow this-other than maybe to help increase album sales from the artist's catalogs. The whole thing would become a money-making business (as most shows are) in addition to sometimes uncomfortable entertainment.

Don't repeat this, but there's even talk of using this method in movies someday soon. Forwarding the idea of Jimmy Stewart acting with Nicholas Cage or Katharine Hepburn acting with Julia Roberts shouldn't be spoken beyond the margins of this page.

Before that happens, expect to see a form of 'Duets Impossible' happening here on TV in America. Stealing from the British TV grab bag is too tempting for American producers. Just keep this article as a time capsule (or in mind)...and we'll see.

Referring sources: images.google.com/imgres

stage6.divx.com/Diva-Channel/video/1182537/%5BPV%5D-Katie-Melua---Duet-impossible