The abbreviated time also means there’s no time to have the edit give focus and attention to the person who might be leaving, so the result is often surprising: perhaps an artist who was mostly in the background and produced so-so work without any big moments. While we see the judges-”head evaluator” Katherine Gray, Uhas, plus a guest judge-survey the completed pieces, and talk to the artists, there’s no time for their deliberation. We just dip in and see the artist and their assistant doing something: cutting, twirling, burning, running across the studio to put something into the annealer, a word I now know, thanks to Blown Away. There’s no time to do anything except acknowledge that each artist has an assistant, who play key roles (blowing, carrying, holding, cutting) but are treated like background. (He’s a former Big Brother contestant and one-time America’s Got Talent auditioner, and he keeps things moving smoothly and keeps the focus on the contestants.) It just starts immediately: no time in a house, no interviews where the contestants reflect on the last challenge, no set-up, just host Uhas introducing the challenge. With well under a half-hour for each episode, Blown Away doesn’t have time to waste. The episodes are 23 minutes each: half the length of Top Chef, a third the length of an average Project Runway. The prize includes a residency at the Corning Museum of Glass, which seemed thrilled that the show “will bring the art of glassblowing to a global audience.”īlown Away lacks what other reality TV competitions have, for better and for worse. It’s clearly not a recipient of unlimited Netflix cash, judging from the prize package that host Nick Uhas insists is “a life-changing prize package” but is worth, in total, $60,000. The series first aired on the Canadian DIY network Makeful, and was a co-production between that network’s owner, Blue Ant Media, and Netflix. Blown Away has artistry, talent, and a Big Brother cast member talking about glory holes Blown Away host Nick Uhas, head judge Katherine Gray, and the season-one contestants (Photo by David Leyes/marblemedia) Their work is is reduced to a montage of moments-some focus, but no coherent arc, a start to finish, raw material to completed artwork. There is the flip side to that, and it’s Blown Away’s problem as a competition: there is very, very little that’s shown about the creative process. I genuinely don’t know how they’re able to create what they do, especially given the time constraints. There are complex interlocking shapes, sometimes inset one within the other, and end products that can be surprisingly complex or beautifully simple. Blown Away introduces tools and techniques, and artists use those to sculpt pieces that are dazzling: smooth and twisted, colorful and clear. I’m not sure what to make of the breathless headlines (“ Blown Away Is Netflix’s Must-Watch Glassblowing Competition of the Summer”, “… your latest reality obsession”, “… The Next Show You Need To Watch”), because that enthusiasm seems overblown for what’s actually on the screen.īut Netflix’s algorithm surfaced it for me, and it pulled me in, like a gentle yet insistent current pulling me along from episode to episode.įor exposing the world to an art form and craft that has not received television attention, especially not like cooking or fashion, it’s wildly successful. That’s why the flutter of attention it’s gotten in the past two weeks was a little surprising. many of the standard elements of reality TV talent competitions). But it’s also missing pieces, making it feel so entirely ordinary that it barely stands out except for what it lacks (e.g. It’s something new and different, showcasing an art form that hasn’t gotten this kind of televised attention before. Drop a reality competition onto the floor and pick up some of the shards and glue them together: that’s what Blown Away feels like.
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