Super Girl (TV series)

Outline

Partly inspired by the many spinoffs of the UK show Pop Idol, the competition was open to any female contestant regardless of her origin, appearance, or how she sings. The almost unrestricted audition sessions drew contestants of ages ranging from 4 to 89 years old. The 2005 season attracted more than 120,000 applicants during the preliminary selection rounds, held in the five provinces of Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Henan and Zhejiang. Many applicants travelled long distances to take part in the competition hoping to become a star. Each contestant was allowed 30 seconds to perform in front of judges and find out if they were selected for the preliminary regional rounds. To prevent another overwhelming audition season, a minimum age of eighteen was later set during the 2006 season.

Following the selection of contestants in the five regions, the competition began with the preliminary rounds. Preliminaries were held in each of the five 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 were followed by a weekly broadcast knockout competition held in Changsha, Hunan province. Viewers called in to vote for their favourite singers, and the weakest two—as voted by the judges and the audience's weekly SMS— faced-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 least number of votes was then eliminated. Unlike Pop Idol, the last event was 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, but they were all still Chinese. A few dozen "audience judges" were selected in addition to several professional judges.

History

The original version of the show was known as Super Boy, and aired in 2003 on Hunan Entertainment Channel, a local broadcaster based in Changsha, Hunan province in South Central China. The show was a success and its counterpart, Super Girl, aired at the beginning of 2004 with the slogan, "Sing as you want, sing out loud," and became the most viewed show in Hunan. However, the programme's impact was limited as the channel does not broadcast outside the province.

On May 6, 2004, Super Girl was introduced to a national audience by its producer Liao Ke through Hunan Satellite Television. In addition to broadcasting the original episodes created by Hunan Entertainment Channel, the network also developed this show in other 3 cities: Wuhan in Hubei province, Nanjing in Jiangsu province, and Chengduin Sichuan province. This show attracted an average of 10,000 contestants in each city and received nationwide attention.

Hunan Satellite Television introduced a second season of Super Girl on March 19, 2005. The preliminary rounds were filmed in five cities: Changsha in Hunan province, Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Zhengzhou in Henan province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, and Chengdu in Sichuan province. By the middle of the season, the competition captivated a nationwide audience and became one of the most watched television entertainment shows in mainland China with tens of millions of viewers.

Positive impact

The final episode of the 2005 season was one of the most popular shows in Chinese broadcast history, drawing over 400 million viewers, more than the China Central Television New Year's Gala earlier that year. The final peaked at 280 million viewers at a given time, dwarfing the 12-million-viewer figure for the finals of Pop Idol. Despite the show being condemned by China Central Television as being "vulgar and manipulative", a third season of the show was launched and finished in early October 2006.

On January 18, 2006, China National Philatelic Corporation released a postage stamp issue featuring 2005 winner Li Yuchun. The set was released ahead of Li's 22nd birthday in her commemoration.

On May 11, 2009, The Oprah Winfrey Show, a worldwide famous television show, invited Zhang Liangying, who ranked 3rd overall in the 2005 contest, to make an American television singing debut. The subtitle of the show was "The World's Got Talent" and Zhang Liangying was the only East Asian singer in the show.

Some who were not chosen as winners have also been able to enter the recording industry through other means. Ji Minjia, who ranked 5th overall in the 2005 contest, worked in Los Angeles in 2006 to help with production of the title song for Japanese anime series The Galaxy Railways. On March 15, 2007, Japanese recording group Hello! Project announced Li Chun, one of the top 50 contestants in the 2006 Changsha regional, as one of two new members of Chinese ancestry of its pop group Morning Musume.

The contest has also inspired television producers to create other talent search shows, including ones based on American shows such as The Apprentice.

The show was the feature of a 2007 documentary titled "Super, Girls!", produced and directed by independent Chinese filmmaker Jian Yi during the 2006 contest season and released at the Cambridge Film Festival. An ARTiSIMPLE Studio production, "Super, Girls!" is the only independent feature-length documentary ever made about the "Super Girls."

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. During the 2005 regional contest in Chengdu alone, 307,071 message votes were cast for the top three contestants, each vote costing 0.5 to 3 yuan. This was, according to Jim Yardley of International Herald Tribune, considered as one of the largest "democratic" voting exercises in mainland China.

Over 800 million text messages were sent during the third season of Super Girl, and fan clubs began to appear throughout the country.

While some culture and media experts praised Super Girl in blazing "a trail for cultural democracy" and breaking elitism in China's entertainment industry, others were quick in pointing out that the show represented a superficiality in society, "propelled by behind-the-scenes manipulation and state-of-the-art pomp and circumstance".

Criticism

Liu Zhongde of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference criticised both the show and its negative influence on society, saying the audience watches the program under a distorted mentality and in an unhealthy condition. He claimed that the government departments oversee culture and art, and they should not permit something like Super Girl to exist. He admitted it was the choice of the market while claiming it as low culture. He said it wasn't as bad as the 1983 Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign, but the elements are there: cultural invasion, suspicion of market forces, spiritual health, preservation of national culture, and allegations of popular entertainment spreading corruption among the youth, all facing off against a new concept of socialist morality.

In the end of 2011, China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has suspended the show from future production. While the official reason for such decision is the fact that the show exceeded its airing time throughout the season, many believe that the moral issue was behind this act. This claim is reinforced by Hunan TV news spokesman, Li Hao, who admitted the network will incorporate more 'positive' content in its 2012 programs.

Economic impact

Mengniu Milk Group reportedly paid ¥14 million to Hunan Television for rights to sponsor the show's broadcast outside Hunan province beginning with the 2005 season. According to one of China's leading thinktanks, the 2005 contest was estimated to have drawn in a total of ¥766 million (US$95.75 million). Indirect business impact of the competition was estimated at several billion yuan.

Television advertisement slots cost an average of ¥33,400 for 15 seconds in 2006, compared to the average of ¥28,000 in 2005. Advertising sales were expected to reach ¥200 million (US$25 million), nearly double that of the previous year.

2004 season

The first season of Super Girl aired from May 6 to September 22, 2004. Although the winners of the competition were not promised recording contracts, the top three winners signed such deals.

Final contest

1. Angela An Youqi (安又琪)
2. Katy Wang Ti (王媞)
3. Baby Zhang (Kristy Zhang Hanyun) (张含韵)
4. Strings
5. Jenne Sun Yibo (孙一卜)

2005 season

The second season of Super Girl aired from March 19 to August 26, 2005. The announcement of Li Yuchun as the season's grand champion came under scrutiny as she had been leading voting results despite having the weakest voice among the top finalists. Despite the heavy criticism that arose during the competition season, the three 2005 finalists have been considered the most successful singers from the entire show.

2006 season

The third season of Super Girl aired from April 2 to September 30, 2006. Shang Wenjie's selection as grand champion over Tan Weiwei, who is a professional vocalist from Sichuan Conservatory of Music, raised questions over each candidate's public appeal. Speculations arose that Shang, who appeared to be a copycat of Li Yuchun's image (somewhat androgynous), was voted grand champion due to the appeal of her Cinderella story.

2009 season

E Media CEO Long Danni stated that through this competition, in addition to singers, the judges would be also be looking for budding actresses and those that excel in other areas. Some of the Super Boys would also be co-hosts for the regional contests of Super Girls. The finale took place in August.

Regional contest

National Top 20 Qualifications

     Qualified      Eliminated

Final Contest

     Champion      ELLE cover girl      Challenges succeed to switch rank      Eliminated      Retired

2011 season

The 2011 season was won by Jeremy Duan Linxi from Yunnan. The runner-up was Cici Hong Chen.