On the heels of last night’s finale of American Idol, is the beginning of the fourth season of Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, making its two-hour premiere tonight.
And that means viewers going back to their phones to vote for who they want to come out this season’s winner.
So what exactly is it about these reality shows that have thousands upon thousands of people lining up to audition?
Whether it’s American Idol or Canadian Idol, or So You Think You Can Dance — it’s all about getting five minutes of fame. Today’s younger generation is so obsessed with Hollywood and its stars, they want to be a part of that any way they can.
In a survey taken from FAME JUNKIES by author and reporter Jake Halpern (Houghton Mifflin, Jan 2007), he found that most teenagers would prefer to be a celebrity than be smart.
Of the 650 teenagers who took part in the survey, 43.4 per cent said they would want to be a personal assistant to a very famous singer or movie star than being a president of a university like Harvard or even a United States senator.
“In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” said Andy Warhol in 1968, and he was right. Just take a look around you — just about anyone can achieve it.
Even the viewers voting for the winners of these reality shows aren’t professionals, most probably have no expertise in the singing or dancing fields.
The whole obsession with being famous is getting out of hand, so much so that people are blogging, getting themselves on Youtube and creating their own My Space pages.
Take Perez Hilton. Who is this guy? He became famous because of his celebrity blog site that covers celebrity gossip. Now he’s known as a famous blogger and personality.
We certainly can’t forget about the hotel heiress herself, Paris Hilton, and her rise to fame. So her family owns a chain of hotels — still, there’s no reason for Hilton to be one of the most sought-out stars by the paparazzi.
That was until the release of her sex tape — that was what threw her into the eyes of the media. Hilton has dabbled in reality TV, acting, singing and modelling, and has her own clothing line and her own fragrance.
Catch So You Think You Can Dance on CTV or on Fox.
