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Pop Stop

It's official. Well, almost. Shu Qi has caught Wang Lee-hom's eye. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

Pop Stop is in denial. We don't like it but have to admit the talent show One Million Star (超級星光大道) is generating levels of tittle-tattle not heard of since Pan Jin-lian (潘金蓮) had an affair with her husband's younger brother, in the 17th-century erotic classic The Golden Lotus (金瓶梅). The weekly program, a pale copy of American Idol (which in turn rips off the British show Pop Idol) introduces reality TV to Taiwan, every Friday night on CTV (中視), channel 10. Experienced TV hostess Momoko Tao (陶子) is in charge of proceedings.

It's a bit like KTV but instead of amateurs warbling behind closed doors at Cashbox, the contestants' get their 15 minutes of fame on national TV. Their performances are judged and the winners make a record and open supermarkets for as long as their stars wax and before they wane completely. Amazingly, 37.4 percent of record sales in the week ending July 12 were from the debut offering of Million Star Gang (星光同學會).

As the example of Aska Yang (楊宗緯) shows, the biggest cheat and crybaby is usually the winner. Yang, who lied about his age and has turned blubbering into an art form, is in the papers and on the newscasts daily. On Sunday, he must have been at home flicking the buttons on his remote because desperate Apple Daily reporters went to laughable lengths in order to file a story on the lachrymose crooner.

They ended up interviewing the father of another winner, Hsiao Jing-teng (蕭敬騰), while he was taking out the trash. There was a photo of the confused looking gentleman in his underpants and flip-flops and the banal interview went something like this:

"Hey, does your son have a record company contract with gangsters [as Yang is reputed to have]?"

"Some friends and relatives know a few people."

"Which gangland boss?"

(Pained expression) "It's difficult to say. Actually, a lot of well-known agents have been in touch."

"Are they black-hearted?"

"I hope not."

Apple Daily reporters return to their trash cans, from whence they came.

Established stars have quickly learned to play along. The predatory A-mei (張惠妹) took an embarrassed-looking Hsiao under her wing the previous week to record a song and thereby managed to gain some column inches for the release of her latest album. Veteran rockers Mayday (五月天) spent NT$60 million on pyrotechnics for three concerts last weekend at the Taipei Arena. But despite hanging from wires and recreating a battlefield, the band's singer Ah-hsin (阿信) got more coverage for a later interview by agreeing to write songs for Yang.

Finally, genuine gossip from real stars. Wang Lee-hom (王力宏) is not everyone's cup of tea, but the four-time Golden Melody award winner has sold 13 million records. His appearance on Here Comes Kang and Xi (康熙來了) this week was a corker as his rumored affair with Shu Qi (舒淇) was brought up. Obviously the show's producers made the most of this in their promotions. Wang's record company Sony BMG, however, got in a huff and said its sultry singer would not be appearing on the program again. Guess it must be true then. Wang loves Shu.


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