Advance Warning: Popstars Posted Fri Jan 5 09:58:12 GMT 2001 by Bean Is A Carrot

I see that the program Popstars is coming to British screens soon. This is a concept from New Zealand. An Australian version aired last year and rated very well.

The idea of Popstars is to create a Spice Girls style girl band. 1000s of young women from all over the country audition and cameras follow their progress as they get whittled down to the final 5. The show then follows them as they record their first album, do photo shoots, meet the media and finally do their first live gig.

The show was a huge talking point in Australia. Some people loved the tackiness of it in an ironic way, some genuinely loved it and some saw through it as a nasty, piece of exploitation TV trash.

The group that resulted in the Australian version called themselves Bardot and there was a bit of scandel when just as the band were at the recording stage one of them allegedly stole from the others, was kicked out of the band and hastily replaced by one of the final 10 girls who hadn't made it into the final band. Thinking back to Big Brother (which occured about 6 months after the Australian Popstars), I'm wondering whether the Nasty Nick eviction was a set up. Because the kicking out of the "thief" Bardot member most certainly got people watching. Anyway...

Bardot's first album went on to sell very well, on the back of the TV series (their debut single was played and played during the show as we saw it being recorded) and because one of the sponsors of the show was Australia's most popular national radio network. The most interesting thing about Bardot's first album IMHO was that one of the members was pictured on the cover seated on a brightly coloured block and holding a clear plastic dog lead in such a way that it looked like she was pissing on the dog.

So this is my warning to you. Popstars will not be great television, it will be everything you've come to expect from Big Brother style programmes. And yes if you watch it, their first single will get into your head (like the Big Brother theme did) and you may even consider buying the CD (like you did with the Big Brother one), except that in the Popstars context a CD release isn't a cash-in, oh no, it's valid coz they're a real band you know.

And there'll be debates about who is the best Popstar and when they fail after the series ends (like Bardot and their New Zealand counterparts before them), they'll all have a go at acting or presenting or they'll put out solo albums. And so the cycle continues...

Subject: Re: Advance Warning: Popstars [ Previous Message ]
Posted By 'Qq' on Fri Jan 5 10:09:57 GMT 2001:

I'm going to be avoiding this like the plague. The whole concept is horrible and i think i'd much rather be watching something else.

Having said that (beware: opinion coming up here), i did like Big Brother. But that doesn't mean i'm going to say why or try and defend it.

Subject: Re: Advance Warning: Popstars [ Previous Message ]
Posted By 'Paul' on Fri Jan 5 10:31:25 GMT 2001:

While I'm sure it will be all over our screens soon I have enjoyed some of the clips on their website http://www.popstarsonline.net/ especially the more tuneless unfortunates- check out the compilation of fat blokes singing 'Angels'.

Subject: Re: Advance Warning: Popstars [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Bean Is A Carrot on Fri Jan 5 10:38:06 GMT 2001:

>I'm going to be avoiding this like the plague. The whole concept is horrible and i think i'd much rather be watching something else.

The thing is, with the people behind it being a national TV network, a national radio network and a popular women's magazine it's an all out Popstars media frenzy. So be prepared to get too much of them on ITV, Capital Radio and Hello Magazine or whichever radio network and magazine get involved. And it won't be just them, the whole media will get behind it, just like Big Brother. You won't be able to avoid it. For God's sake, seek out people like Germaine Greer on your TV when Popstars hits. They will be the only people talking sense about it.

There will also be various "ironic" slants on it. Good News Week (Australian rip-off of HIGNFY) came up with the Poptarts, a 5 girl band using the ones "not good enough" to get into the final band. They became quite popular too and have probably put out a novelty album of some sort. I'm not sure. I left Australia just as Popstars finished and so I don't know heaps about what happened after the show, other than Bardot failed in the long run.

>Having said that (beware: opinion coming up here), i did like Big Brother. But that doesn't mean i'm going to say why or try and defend it.

A well known cult TV writer confessed to me that he got addicted to Big Brother, something he didn't intend to do because he knew it was bad in every sense. Exactly the same thing happened to me with Big Brother and Popstars. What is it about this sort of thing that sucks you in? If anyone can explain it, please do.

Subject: Re: Advance Warning: Popstars [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Bean Is A Carrot on Fri Jan 5 10:41:53 GMT 2001:

>While I'm sure it will be all over our screens soon I have enjoyed some of the clips on their website http://www.popstarsonline.net/ especially the more tuneless unfortunates- check out the compilation of fat blokes singing 'Angels'.

I forgot about that, loads of blokes get together and be the male Popstars. Sad 40 year old women with no talent go along to the auditions "for a laugh". Yawn. Seen it all before...

Subject: Re: Advance Warning: Popstars [ Previous Message ]
Posted By 'kinder surprise' on Fri Jan 5 13:56:02 GMT 2001:

>Good News Week (Australian rip-off of HIGNFY)

HEY! Bad-talking dross TV is one thing but leave GNW out of it! It's a great comedy panal show. Wouldn't you say 'progression' was a better choice of word than 'rip-off.'

And it's had some very good writers working on it.

Subject: Re: Advance Warning: Popstars [ Previous Message ]
Posted By Bean Is A Carrot on Fri Jan 5 14:14:39 GMT 2001:

>>Good News Week (Australian rip-off of HIGNFY)
>
>HEY! Bad-talking dross TV is one thing but leave GNW out of it! It's a great comedy panal show. Wouldn't you say 'progression' was a better choice of word than 'rip-off.'

It was a rip-off. It ripped off the HIGNFY concept, did quite well it for a bit, then really fucked up when it went to Channel 10 and was extended to a 1 hour show and had musical interludes added into it and was on far too often for them to come up with anything particularly amusing and it really should have been cancelled about 2 years ago. How do you know so much about it BTW?

>And it's had some very good writers working on it.

Really? That would explain why it's sucked since it went to Channel 10.

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