Star Academy

I'll admit it, I (Cathy) am kind of addicted to this French reality show that's a cross between American Idol and Big Brother. Sixteen would-be singing sensations live together in a chateau outside Paris. Seven days a week they are subjected to a variety of instruction, physical, musical, dramatic and dance. Each Wednesday, the "nominees" for the week are announced -- one of them will be eliminated that Saturday night. Of the three, one is rescued by the viewers, who can call or text message their votes of support ("Pour sauver Icaro, tappez un."). After that contestant, or academycien, is saved, a second is saved by the other contestants, who have to choose on the spot. The odd one out, having already packed his/her bags that afternoon, never returns to the chateau.

Every day except Sunday, there's an hour-long peek at what's going on at the chateau, mostly taped from the day before, but always including some live footage (en direct, as they say). The taped stuff has pop-up video commentary to introduce what's going on. Sometimes we see them in session with various "profs" (who are also the judges), or rehearsing, or just hanging out. Then Saturday night, there's a 3-hour (you read that right) live show that includes a variety of performances by all concerned, and features appearances by major and not-so-major stars of today and yesterday. So far, they've been joined by Sting, Jean-Claude Van Damme and French idol Johnny Hallyday as well as T-3, a trio of Michael Jackson's nephews, and a few alumni from the two previous seasons of Star Ac'. The nominees do not participate in any of this stuff, they just have to sit and wait their fate until the last 30 minutes or so, when they each get to sing a snippet of the same song and (sometimes) give a beauty-contest pitch for why they should be saved.

In addition to the stress of the competition and the pressure of learning a lot of new material every week, there are some great soap opera-like subplots that have emerged. In particular, Sophia (the overall standout, a beautiful young woman with great talent) has been involved with Romain, perhaps the cutest male academycien who seems just a bit too laid back. In competition with this couple are Elodie (the blonde bombshell) and Edouard, who as I write this is in the nominee hotseat. I'm betting the fans will save him, to keep their fires burning if nothing else. Elodie arrived at the chateau 4 weeks ago with a boyfriend back home; last week, she officially broke up with him, but it was clear that she was getting down with Edouard for at least 10 days before that.

Other compelling members of the troupe are: Pierre, who in spite of a terrible piercing on his right eyebrow has penetrating blue eyes and a killer voice; Anne, who bears some resemblance to Helen Hunt and was transported this week to Las Vegas where she met Celine Dion; Stephanie, a bouncy blonde; Michal, who is of Polish extraction but speaks flawless French, plays the piano, and participated in a previous season of a similar show in Poland; and Paxti (sounds a bit like "Potsy") who appears to be the youngest participant and has recently won the hearts of the judges.

The big problem is that the daily show is on right when we need to get Meredith ready for bed. Bill is often game for getting her ready so I can watch, but it's just terrible.
Only three have left so far (Icaro, Michel, and Marjorie), and after tonight there will be 12 left, which means 11 more weeks of this. The suspense is killing me, I do hope it will continue!