The first contestants were Classic, Jamie, and LaToya and the competition was in two parts: a 90-minute, 2-D, everyday nail section and a 6-hour, 3-D, nail sculpting runway section. The artists created some great designs but in the end Classic won, Jamie came in second, and LaToya was eliminated.
Despite being excited about the premiere of this show, I have to admit that I was disappointed in the overall execution. Given that over 90% of nail artists are women, the Oxygen Network undoubtedly had a wide pool of contestants to choose from—and yet starting with the very first episode, they cast women who represented some of the worse female-on-female stereotypes including cheating, backstabbing, and being a doormat.
I will never understand why a network or a producer would choose to focus on a previously unrecognized art form—whether it's nail art, cosplay, creature design, body painting, or makeup—and then cast contestants that will show that art form in its worse possible light by focusing on conflict and bad behavior rather than artistry.
You know why Face Off (SyFy's makeup competition) is still going strong in its 6th season? Because they focus on the makeup artistry and not the conflict. The majority of their contestants are talented people who don't act like jerks; the few who do are usually gone before mid-season. (Side note: I've met several of the Face Off contestants and they are just as nice in person as they seem on the show.)
Unfortunately, most of the like-genre show have not followed the Face Off formula for success. Heroes of Cosplay got such a negative reaction when they chose to focus on bitchiness and conflict that it almost destroyed the show when it was overwhelmingly rejected by the general cosplay community. They have since made changes to focus on the more commonly seen positive aspects of cosplay but it may be too little, too late. I and many others stopped watching Skin Wars before the finale and I doubt it will get another season. The same goes for Jim Hensen's Creature Shop. Let's face it, there are jerks in every profession, but the showrunner chooses the show's focus, either positive or negative, and too many competition shows choose the negative.
That said, there were many things I liked about Nail'd It!. The judges (Jan Arnold, Tom Bachik, Elaine Watson) and host Adrienne Bailon all did a good job and gave interesting tips and feedback. The "try this at home" Nail Tip section was great—in fact, I wish it had been much longer. Plus, it's obvious that we're going to see a lot of great nail art and techniques.
I will continue to watch Nail'd It! and hope it steers away from negative aura that hovered over the first episode and focuses more on this amazing art form (unfortunately, previews of episode 2 don't give me much hope). Like many others, I'm hooked on nail art so I'll try to stick with it as long as I can. But seriously Oxygen, if I want to see egomaniacs behaving badly, I'll call into a corporate board meeting. Just something to consider...
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