Seven Oaks Magazine.

After MTV I Want a Famous Face, I wanted to give reality television one last chance to redeem itself. Unfortunately, that opportunity arrived last week when Warner Brothers first aired Superstars USA.

Take a few too-perky-for-their-own-good singers, mix them in with some awkward-looking pedestrians, add three too-slick, sadistic hosts, and presto! There you have it: Superstars USA in a nice, neat, little package.

Ideally, the “best” Superstars USA candidate is someone who is brimming with determination and desire to become the next singing sensation, yet is lacking in the voice department to match their Celine Dion-like attitude. In the end, it is the worst, rather than the best singer that gets the gold. The spin? Each and every candidate, when auditioning, is under the impression that if they perform well enough, they will have a shot to make it to the top: complete with adoring (fake) fans, choreography lessons, and a $100 000 cash prize.

According to executive producer, Micheal Fleiss, the Pop-Stars wannabes who have tried out for the show have taken the bait. That Warner Brothers is able to perpetrate a hoax of this magnitude with thousands of people for more than a month is “absolutely incredible” according to Fleiss.

What is going on here? Has reality television sunken to a new low?

And what is this new trend with pop culture getting away with the kind of tongue-in-cheek humor formally reserved for such brilliant, independent, satirical publications as TheOnion.com and pulling it off like it’s some kind of new, ingenious concept they invented themselves? Punk’d is getting massive audience appeal, People magazine’s latest cover story was “Reality TV: What’s Real, What’s Not” and now this: an America Idol spoof courtesy of one of the biggest television networks.

Satire. However feeble an attempt, shows like Punk’d and Superstars are satirical: they are on the pulse of widely dispersed cultural mal à l’aise with celebrity altars like Entertainment Tonight and Star magazine. They are speaking to a small audience –albeit a growing audience, who has become somewhat disenchanted with the Hollywood-nurtured Cinderella myth. Superstars USA is speaking to an incredibly media literate audience. The evidence? Well, the only way to understand the irony of the Superstars spoof is to de-construct the original formula of Pop-Stars USA.

Escapism. Reality television is about escapist television. So, why -- when we watch bushy-tailed, bright-eyed, real people -- are we reminded of ourselves? Is Superstars a long-overdue slap in the face for those people who want to become a celebrity overnight no matter the cost? Call me old fashioned, but I thought reality television is supposed to be about anything but reality.

Self-consciousness. That’s right. The people who create television are generally intelligent people (they got that far somehow, didn’t they?). But with reality television losing its momentum and the sleepy, summer season fast approaching, television producers are scrambling to justify the ridiculous length to which they have taken the candid camera.

Sensationalism. No surprise here. With fewer and fewer stations, networks are keener than ever to keep us watching Toyota commercials long after the makeovers are over. Which explains why shows like Swan are airing: desperate measures calls for desperate television. In fact, the inside scoop from Entertainment Television is that Superstars is simply an attempt from Warner Bros. to rebound from the recent failure of The Surreal Life and The High School Reunion to the rating-happy status of Fox’s original, popular Pop-Stars series.

And for all those naysayers out there who say TV has become just plain mean, Fleiss begs to differ.

"These are people who believe in themselves unconditionally, who wouldn't let anything stop them from pursuing their dream -- even the lack of a singing voice," he notes. "They do get the fame and fortune, it's just not how they thought."