Popstars: The Rivals (2002) User Reviews (4)

Nice To Know This Concept Is On Its Last Legs

[Theo Robertson · 26 June 2003]

Ah yes Great Britain , and do you know what made it great ? That's right - Its musicians . From The Beatles to The Verve , via The Rolling Stones , Pink Floyd and The Police , Britain has always punched above its weight when it's come to selling records , though it's a sad fact that we're in the doldrums at the moment with only Radiohead and Coldplay selling any significant album numbers in the USA . So what does the British record industry do to reverse this trend ? That's right they make another TV series to find another TWO crap manufactured pop groups !

The only editions worth watching are the first and last ones because you'll see a bunch of undertalented non singers making fools of themselves in the first edition and you'll see the final finished pop groups in the final edition .

Strangely enough this show outdid itself by giving us a total of THREE crap pop groups : Girls Aloud , One True Voice and The Cheeky Girls . it should be pointed out of course that The Cheeky Girls were a gimmick who were told not to come back after the first edition but their single The Cheeky Song actually had more sales than the single brought out by One True Voice ! Girls Aloud had the Christmas number one ( The hype and the sexy video had nothing to do with it of course ) but their next single only got to number two while One True Voice's second single only got to number ten in the UK charts and have probably broken up as I write this . Good riddance to bad rubbish

Note to anyone interested in a pop career . Can you please put the Great back into Great Britain by writing your own material and playing your own instruments please ?

The formula brought the viewers but the judges were poor, presentation was poor, concept was an anti-climax and the acts were roundly bland and uninspiring

[bob the moo · 27 December 2005]

The bodies of Hear'Say were not even in their shallow (but well paid) graves before the ratings war of Saturday night entertainment meant that the ITV execs frantically continued to cling to a formula that brought them lots of viewers, lots of tabloid headlines and lots of money by returning to the Popstars well. However for some reason they felt that they needed more of a hook this time to up the ante (perhaps after Stars and Idol were already out there). So to add more interest to this series, the gimmick was that two winning groups would come out of the contest part of the show – one all male, the other all female. These two would then go head to head for the Christmas number one single.

This hook was not enough to gain my interest but I did dip in and out because it only made sense to me that the boy band would lose while the girls would easily win by playing the sexuality card as heavily as they could. Indeed this is just what happened in the end and I wasn't surprised. I was even less surprised by how quickly One True Voice were removed from view – although I was surprised by the decision to give them a sombre "ballad" appearance while the girls stole it with their fun song and sexy delivery. I wasn't surprised by the show which, despite this superficial change, remained remarkably the same. The singers tended to repress character and personality and mostly seemed to aim for the bland characteristics that they knew would make their faces fit. It was surprising how few of them actually had real talent and it was deeply annoying that the one person with a really great voice was removed at the last minute; that person being Javine who made the mistake of being very personable, sexy, talented and black – not that I'm suggesting that that latter characteristic had anything to do with her not making it into the chart friendly all-white, all-girl group.

I can't even comment on One True Voice because they were so bland that even their own mothers didn't notice they were on the show. Girls Aloud came out with a fun track that gave them a good enough start so that they haven't run out of steam yet. Of course dropping their clothes for every men's magazine that comes calling probably helps but, hey, we all gotta eat right? The judges are yet again left to inject drama and action into the bland proceedings, although in this series they struggled. Waterman and Walsh banged up against each other and had nicely staged fights and conflicts over who would win – they were rubbish but they looked like the equals of Morecambe & Wise when they were compared to the performance of Geri Hailliwell, who bored for England and noticeably has never been reemployed as a judge on any contest anywhere. The whole thing was presented by the gowling and shouting Davina McCall who lacks the charm and charisma of Ant & Dec and didn't help things one bit.

Overall the formula is in place so naturally it drew the viewers but this was a roundly poor series – even when compared to the equally soulless Idol and Stars. The acts were routinely bland and the "contest" at the end was just an obvious anti-climax where the doleful ones lost and the ones that were regularly semi-naked won (who'd have thought it). The judges were poor and badly staged their fights while Davina McCall seemed unable to add any value. Saturday night rubbish, but I suppose some people actually like that.

Who's gonna get number one????

[amyloulou · 14 December 2002]

there is only one word for this tv prog ..... it's so addictive!!!!!! I love this show because it is so cruel. Every week one person gets voted out until we finally have 2 bands. A boy band managed by the famous Pete Waterman and a girl band managed by Louis Walsh. This show 2 weeks ago created the 2 bands which are called "One true voice" and "Girls Aloud". I have heard both songs and i prefer the girls. I can't wait to the final show next week. Who is gonna get the christmas number one???????????

It's getting stupid

[Butterworthp · 6 August 2003]

Another annoying series which i susspose does more good than harm when real talent is produced but the problem is this talent makes crap records. Girls aloud are pants and there hits are just dreadful. I hear that pop idol 2 is on the way, WHY OH WHY this is utter crap.