Andrew Lloyd Webber on Superstar. Photo credit: ITV.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new televised talent show Superstar made a disappointing ITV debut, after similar star-searches on BBC for The Wizard of Oz and Oliver. The musical theater impresario is casting the lead role of Jesus in a revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, alongside judges Jason Donovan and Melanie ‘Sporty Spice’ Chisholm.
Metro pointed out that Superstar’s 3 million viewing figure is a disappointment compared to Lloyd Webber’s BBC shows: “I’d Do Anything, the search for a star to play Nancy in Oliver – which was won by Jodie Prenger – had average audiences of 5.5 – 6m when it screened in 2008.”
Serena Davies suggested in The Telegraph that the show is in need of some “divine inspiration” after a boring start: “Its leaden format of audition after audition from somewhat hirsute men in their late twenties doing Jon Bon Jovi impressions became dull very quickly.”
But it’s not all bad news in the world of TV talent shows. According to The Sun, Britain’s Got Talent 2012 winners Ashleigh and Pudsey are set to judge canine competition Top Dog Model, a search for Britain’s best pooch. The dancing dog was also pictured on Simon Cowell’s private jet, apparently heading to the US for a series of television appearances.
Watch Ashleigh and Pudsey’s BGT-winning act at The Periscope Post.
Fans of gloomy Scandinavian crime drama were in for a treat with the return of Kenneth Branagh’s generally well-reviewed turn in Wallander. But Stuart Jeffries argued in The Guardian that the show’s treatment of its female characters leaves much to be desired: “Where were the women if not dead or incidental? The leading woman detective was dramatically neutralised by a bad man’s hammer and every other woman character was handmaiden to Wallander’s hunt.”
See the ITV trailer for Superstar below.
