Super Boy or Happy Boy was a Chinese singing contest for male contestants, organized by Hunan Satellite Television in 2007, as a spin-off of its popular Super Girl series. It's a talent show which aims at uncovering talented tomorrow new male stars.
Outline
Partly inspired by the many spinoffs of the UK show Pop Idol, the competition was open to any male contestant regardless of his origin, appearance, or how he sings. The restricted audition sessions drew contestants over the age of 18. Many applicants travelled long distances to take part in the competition hoping to become the next pop star in China and elsewhere. Following the selection of contestants in the six regions, the competition began with the preliminary rounds. Preliminaries were held in each of the six locations where auditions were located. Television viewers were able to watch each of the preliminaries and vote for their favorite singers. Voting was conducted by telephone and text messaging. The regional preliminaries are followed by a weekly broadcast knockout competition held in Changsha, Hunan province. Viewers call in to vote for their favourite singers, and the weakest two—as voted by the judges and the audience's weekly SMS— face-off subsequently in a PK, short for Player Kill. The term is derived from kill-or-be-killed multiplayer online games. The singer with the fewest votes is then eliminated. Unlike Pop Idol, the last event is contested between the final three, rather than the final two contestants. Unlike American Idol, judges for the competition were selected from different backgrounds in society. A few dozen "audience judges" were selected in addition to several professional judges.
Democratic expression
One of the main factors contributing to the show's popularity was that viewers are able to participate in the judging process by sending text messages with their mobile phones to vote for their favorite contestants. This was, according to Jim Yardley of International Herald Tribune, considered as one of the largest "democratic" voting exercises in mainland China.
Reaction
The contest selected many stars like Chen Chusheng, Jason Zhang, Chen Xiang, Vision Wei, Hua Chenyu and so on. It gives the young boys, who love music, the way to achieve dreams. But it also caused some criticism. Some people think it contributes to the atmosphere of daydream of becoming stars. Many young people change their attention from study to music and singing, without considering whether they have this gift. In sum, it once became a fashion.
Season summary
2007 season
The first season of Super Boy aired from May 25 to July 20, 2007. Although the winners of the competition were not promised recording contracts, the top three winners signed such deals.
