The DVD:
In its first incarnation, Making the Band was a broadcasting blunder, a made for ABC atrocity in which that most hideous of musical missteps, the boy band, was created and deflated before our very eyes. While tweens and pre-pubescent girls may be harboring hormones for the once Billboarded members of O-town, that particular posse of shaved white males has long since vanished from our cultural 15 minutes and counting public consciousness. Leave it to Empty Vee, the channel that just can't stop regurgitating the same ol' shizzle for ditching the homoerotic and honing in on the hip-hop. In this new, street version of the show the reigns are handed over to Sean "Puffy" Combs who envisions a revamp to the entire enterprise. His goal is simple. Have a massive, nation wide talent search, narrow the performers down to a manageable pack of twelve and then create a group from the best. He will test and torment them. He will torture and tease them. He will place them in a secret camera'd crib to watch how they interact with each other. And he will judge their talent and their temperament to find the right combination to create his latest Bad Boy spectacle.

If the notion of a cross between American Idol, Star Search, The Real World and your local high school talent show sounds like a recipe for devilish disaster (or at least some atonal fun) then perhaps you should turn your dial and wait for Simon and Paula to pound some peon into the amateur dirt. Making the Band 2 is better than all that pre-teen tackiness because of one person and one person only. Sean "Puffy" Combs. His cocksure attitude and complete contempt for young, untried talent is the platinum power that holds this show together. Knowing that it takes a lot more than street attitude and a heartfelt belief in your talent to make it in the music industry, Diddy constantly complains that the individuals chosen for this video experiment are self- righteous a-holes already acting like superstars. His denunciations are priceless and truly function as a 'nodding head' for the home audience, since we too are floored by how highly strung these untried musicians really are. They not only project star quality, but also manifest humongous star ego and selfishness. And as P. points out, aint' one of them done anything except tickle his fickle casting fancy. The response from Mr. Diddy then is to do everything in his power to screw with his chosen-fews' sense of self. He puts them through morning calisthenics. He has live-in assistants who hound their every move and word. He has them memorize a motivational empowerment speech to be repeated every day. He even brings back a rejected semi-finalist with the seeming intent to unseat the reigning rap divas that run the household like stuck up Grammy nominees.

The result is a wonderful, wacky scenario in which once proud pretenders are reduced to cowering, nervous basket cases that don't know whether to crow or cry. It is these self-absorbed wannabes who add the counterbalance to Puffy's Island of Dr. Dre Moreau madness. Of the gaggle of arrogant aspirants, the standouts are Mysterious, an obviously gifted female rapper with plenty of Missy moxie without a lick of her humility or credit references. Yet here she is, mocking the procedures and proclaiming her "one album and out" solo status before she even makes the group. Then there is Chopper, a Louisiana rap phenom who uses his self-assured sense of style to basically crap all over his housemates. Whenever it comes to personal put-downs, you can be sure Chopper is somewhere around, dozens in hand. We are also introduced to Belinda/"Pocahontas", a singer who thinks her stool is so special that everyone should have his or her noses rubbed into it twelve times a day. Her high-strung hissy fits lead to a heated ethnic slur and a version of the home game before the proceedings really get going. But perhaps the most intriguing and sly member of this pool of possible performers is Dylan. From his West Indian roots, his unexplained dates in court, Kids in the Hall name pronunciation (he refers to himself as "DIE-LON) and humble/ haughty Jeckyll and Hyde act, you sense a real complexity to his personality. He may only be in it for the fame, but you also sense a real desire to find himself and express his gifts.

What we end up learning here is that everyone in Making the Band is desperate for a life change, for a chance to break out of whatever awful or ordinary circumstance they find themselves in and be accepted for what they think they are. Sadly, they each believe that fame, fortune and a highly publicized lifestyle complete with bling and bling will instantly solve their problem. Indeed, the amazing thing about this show is how often P. Diddy deflates the notion of money and power as the savior of all social ills. For him, wealth and importance are things he has to struggle for and against everyday of his dynasty. What he wants to show these hopefuls (and he does get the point across much more effectively in the shows second season. Yes, I watched it. No, I am NOT a loser) is that success is only created through incredibly hard work, personal integrity and good fortune. Puffy never discounts his power and packaging, but in the end, he knows that finding six upstarts filled with ability and big mouths, forcing them to get along and then melding them into a thriving, viable musical product is next to impossible. He wants them to forget about the cameras, the MTV exposure with its lap of luxury treatment and learn something from the experience. He wants them to realize that the only way they will make this band is if indeed they "make" it into a real, honest to goodness, functional unit. How well that happens is our cliffhanger and rational for tuning in next time.

Of the numerous numbskull nonsense that clogs the once mighty musical force, MTV's Making the Band 2 is excellent and very well done. Only problem here is that this DVD is only a highlight reel of a 10 show season. Figuring in the endless minutes of commercials the basic cable channel puts its audience through during an average episode, that means we are only getting about a third of the over three and ½ hour running time (while the DVD runs 90 minutes, a good 1o to 20 minutes of that is beautiful, if redundant shots of Manhattan). It's understandable that the all audition episodes could be whittled down since they are basically the same. But then there are moments of manic Puffy goodness that we'd be missing in the process. It's no surprise that our rap CEO has branched out into acting (Monster's Ball, Made and a soon to be starring role in a revival of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway) and more multi-media enterprises. He has a presence and a persona that really comes across onscreen and it has helped make him a multi-millionaire. And it is his stamp and his vision that gives Making the Band 2 its punch and pull.

Video:
MTV's Making the Band 2: The Best of Season 1 is presented in 1.33:1 full screen and the direct to video transfer is very nice. We experience none of the flaring or bleeding that usually comes from some television images. There are times when split screen and multi-frames are used, and the only gripe to be had is that, unless you have a huge screen TV, you will not be able to read the names of the performers as they float by. As said before, there are several striking Manhattan montages and they all look gorgeous here as part of this digital presentation.

Sound:
Strangely, MTV's Making the Band 2: The Best of Season 1 is offered in an anemic aural exercise that doesn't do the hip or the hop service. For a show about creating sound and harmony, the rather flat, flaccid atmosphere here is uncalled for. There is no ambiance, no sense of New York City or professional recording circumstances and voices are occasionally lost in the "capturing it live" style of the show's making. While it is not the worst sonic sludge every committed to disc, between Bad Boy and MTV this should have been a lot better.

Extras:
Again, we are not treated fairly by either MTV or Paramount. The paltry offering of cast interviews, unreleased songs, hometown visits with the band members and profiles are a mixed blessing of incredibly diminishing returns. The interviews are actually small picture in picture soundbites that appear while the show is playing. A cartoon microphone will appear, and when you click on it, a window opens. As the scene plays, members of the cast ramble (mostly) incoherently about their experiences. The hometown visits are just MTV outtakes - bits culled from the opening material the show itself used to introduce the participants. Since we have yet to hear Da Band (as they end up being called. Don't ask) perform, let alone record, the inclusion of two unreleased songs is just weird. And the profiles are paragraphs from the cast, stating things repeated other places on the disc. There is no commentary, no scene specific breakdown of what is or was happening. It would have been great to give Puffy a chance to narrate this highlight reel. One can't imagine he would sit down for a whole season's worth of reminiscing. But a clip show? He should have been available for that. Along with some "where are they now" updates on cut cast members, the DVD bonus package could have been much better.

Final Thoughts:
If you find yourself grimacing at the thought of that dictionary definition of the airhead making another cuisine oriented malapropism to her boy band beau; if you loathe the ongoing de-evolution of the once vital Jackass ideal; and you think any show featuring overpaid rock stars showing off their custom cars and champagne filled swimming pools should be banned from the airwaves, then MTV's Making the Band 2 is a show for you. While it may reek of that unreal world and provide several deluded denizens of Desperation Island, it has a sharp, smart center and an overriding philosophical ethos thanks to its creator, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. You may not enjoy his music. You may not buy his clothes. But you will understand that he knows what he is talking about when it comes to that dream factory known as the business of show. And if the wannabes of Bad Boy's latest experiment know what's good for them, they'll close their constantly running yaps and listen up. Nothing is better than jerks getting their just desserts. In MTV's Making the Band 2: The Best of Season 1, there is enough humble pie to go around twice.

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