The coronavirus pandemic has sent television into a bit of a flux.
With scripted television offline for a few months (due to production shutdowns across the world), television networks are increasingly relying on reality televisions – which traditionally has less moving parts than a fully-fledged staged television show.
Enter China’s new Digital Idol show, which launched on China’s version of Netflix – iQiyi. Dubbed “Dimension Nova” it is a next-generation talent show for virtual contestants only.
It debuted late last months, but has already garnered hundreds of thousands of views online, just not for necessarily the right reasons.
Much like regular American Idol or X Factor shows, there are three celebrity judges as well as music contestants – except all the contestants are virtual. A total of 22 digital characters battle it out to win a real-life contract with a music studio.
What has attracted worldwide attention to the show, however, has been the mixed quality of the virtual acts.
You can check out a few clips below:
While the notion of the virtual celebrity might have some advantages for record companies – talent that is made out of pixels is cheaper, and is far easier to manage – it seems technology does have its limits.
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