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A Star turn by Nine’s ‘stage moms’

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Today Tonight got a little payback tonight when it screened a segment on Nine’s upcoming reality My Kid’s a Star.

Seven reckons the producers hoodwinked parents into believing the show was a talent vehicle for rising stars, rather than a bitchy, “stage-mom” series.

TT was no doubt inspired by a newspaper article by Bridget McManus in today’s Age. It claims parents had no idea their children’s participation would require them to appear too:

“We dropped Max to audition and he rang back and said, ‘Hey, I need someone to sign the release form’,” says Louise Patterson, a receptionist at a Gold Coast dance school and mother of a 15-year-old aspiring musical-theatre performer.

“So I went back and signed the form and said, ‘See you guys later.’ And they said, ‘No, no, no! You’ve got to stay and come in with him’. They asked us a few questions and we mucked around a bit, and that was the beginning of it. Then they rang and said Max was shortlisted and would I be available to come to Sydney for a fortnight? It wasn’t until I was (on set) that I realised what might be happening”.

The US version, which features former Partridge Family brat Danny Bonaduce (also in the Oz version) was a lot more malicious. The Australian version did not allow the children to be present for the most critical components or the eliminations.

Producers also had a counsellor on hand, but being good Aussies the troupe apparently all got along very well.

Still, My Kid’s a Star is not the first show to make use of kids in a reality forum. Australia’s Next Top Model entrants are as young as 16. Teen Fit Camp, originally called Teen Fat Camp were 15.

“They want to make a good TV show, to get ratings,” Max Patterson told The Age. “(Tears and tantrums) are apparently good television. The producers went around to the little kids and said, ‘Who’s going to be brave? Who’s going to bite the bullet first?’, and tried to get them to kind of put bad stuff on other kids. That’s the bit I thought was bordering on exploitation. The older kids knew to steer clear of it. It was the younger kids that I felt sorry for, because they weren’t aware of how the producers can portray you.”

Meanwhile Seven, for all its mud-slinging has just given the show a free publicity kick for its launch next week.

Source: The Age

9 Responses

  1. That picture is reason enough not to watch this show! Seriously, someone needs a good slap!

    I’ve found docos on this type of stuff amusing, but can’t imagine tuning in weekly for it.

  2. richotb…prude much? Change the darn channel.

    This show does look like pure cr@p!

    Richotb you attack Nine yet you watch one of the most controversial shows on TV with the chaser? HAHAHA You make no sense!

  3. “My Kid’s a Slut” would be a more fitting title. :/

    I mean, come on, is it necessary for prepubescent kids to tart themselves up like that? :/

  4. Richo if u hate channel 9 as much as u seem to (every comment u ever make) dont watch it….. i know your entitled to an opinion but do we have to listen to your dribble all the time.

    For the record i wont be watching the Kids show….and i have no doubt ut will flop…….. but i love Terminator (one of best new series), Underbelly, Ladette, & Ramseys. I also think CSI is one of the best shows on TV and u might find it predictable but i think it is great.

    Have your opinion on stuff but dont be so negative and bias all the time.

  5. Pure evil?
    I dislike Nine as much as the next Seven fan,but evil? they arn’t that bad
    for one, they dont actually produce most of the shows u soeak about Richo…Terminator,well nothing that earth0shattering ther, just some mainstream sci-fi/movie spinoff series, Ramsay isnt that bad – if those damn american idiots listened to what he has to say,then im sure he wouldnt need to swear at em; Ladette to Lady is crap but not evil, and Underbelly is one of the most significant drama’s to have ever been produced – it’s realistic ,and to do it any other way would be obsurd

    i think it’s a bit much to refer to Nine as the creater of all that is evil

  8. I wish The Chaser’s was on right now. They’d be tearing this show apart. Channel Nine is the face of pure evil and this is more proof. Next to the suicidal humans in that Terminator show and the disgusting content in series like Underbelly, Ladette to Lady, this show and Ramsay’s 5000 “bully other chefs” shows, this network is willing to go to any lengths to brainwash ordinary humans to the dark side. And not the dark side as in the Star Wars side, but the evil sinful side where everyone swears and stabs and shoots each other. Its wrong and its taking over the network.

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