We've had more than our fair share of these. Pop Idol, Pop Stars, Pop Stars: The Rivals, Pop Stars: The Rivals Extra, the horrendously ill-fated Fame Academy (which had the biggest prize ever given out to anyone, and the lowest audience figures) and probably more I forgot about. The entire country is sick of them now, I hope, but I know secretly that the general public is still oblivious to their sheer badness and is probably clammering for more. They're going to start showing American Idol 2, subtitled Hysterical Yanks in the ads, presumably just because of Simon Hightrousers. As for my opinion on him, well, I think he's doing the right thing by destroying the hopes and dreams of people stupid enough to audition for a show like it. I just think he's doing the wrong thing by letting a camera crew film it all and broadcast it.

Matthew