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Whatever happened to Rising Star?

Back in 2013 this was the hottest new singing format in the world... but it never made it to Oz.

Back in 2013 the hottest format internationally was a new singing show from Israel, Rising Star.

It was the breakout hit at the MIPCOM trade fest with ABC (US) producing one season.

Nine even optioned it for Australia. But it never happened.

Speaking at Screen Forever last week, Stephen Tate Head of Entertainment and Factual Programs, Network 10 said, “It was genuinely the hottest music format. Everybody was talking about it. It was the buzz of MIP. Apparently it did very well in Israel in its first season. The premise was that there was a social media element and a live studio audience and the curtain only rose for the singer if they got enough support.

“I was about to jump on a plane to Israel and go and look at the format. What we subsequently found out was, at the time that none of the back-end of it actually worked. It was all kind of faked. It was all smoke and mirrors, and that franchise hasn’t really worked anywhere in the world as a result. ”

There have been 7 seasons in Israel as recently as 2020, with 5 in United Arab Emirates and 3 so far in India and Indonesia.

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