On a gray and cold Sunday morning in December, a large crowd has gathered at the entrance to the MMC Studios in Hürth near Cologne. Hundreds of people want to demonstrate their vocal talent in the casting for the new show "The Winner is." Adults and teenagers patiently wait to be admitted, some standing there since the early morning hours.

At 10:30 a.m., a man appears and explains the procedure: enter in small groups, have your number ready, register, wait in the assigned area until your number is called. Patience and strong nerves are called for. Some people wait up to four hours before it's their turn.  

Then, they are called to a small room they might quickly re-appear from, depending on whether they make it to the second round. If not, their dream of a singing career might burst right in the production company's large entrance hall. Some just shrug; others leave the building in tears.

Good ratings guaranteed

There's a huge difference between a mature adult participating in a casting "just for fun" and a hopeful youngster who dreams of a career as a pop star. The discrepancy is evident in every one of the many casting shows on TV.

It all started in 2000 with "Popstars" and the search for a girl band. A jury - eleven years ago the audience did not get to vote yet - chose five young ladies from 4,500 candidates. The "No Angels" were born, and they went on to become the most famous and successful girl band in Europe.

TV program executives quickly realized the show's potential. The second season of "Popstars" already had a competitor. Along the lines of the US show "Pop Idol," "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" (Germany Seeks the Superstar, otherwise known as DSDS), flickered across German TV screens in 2002.

It was the renaissance of Hamburg music producer Dieter Bohlen. An icon of German TV castings, he's notorious for his scathing judgments. Verdicts like "You aren't bad. You're terrible" have reduced many a teenage candidate to tears. Germany's Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (kjm) has even begun to probe the show for the "possible social-ethical disorientation of children and youths". Undaunted, producers continue to churn out casting shows, which rank among Germany's most popular TV formats.  

Fading into oblivion

One would be hard-pressed to find somebody who can name the winners from all of the casting shows. The most successful DSDS winner was a wacky, openly gay man from the state of Hesse, audience favorite Mark Medlock.

Juror Bohlen produced songs with the winners from all of the DSDS seasons, and Medlock sold three million records. Eleven went gold and four platinum.

The ninth season recently began along the same tried and tested lines: young people are made to look like fools, especially those who completely misjudge their talent and perform before Dieter Bohlen's tribunal, amusing the jury and the audience with off-key tunes. It may be the ninth season, but Bohlen - "That sounds like an open smoker's leg!" - is never at a lack for words. The jury can be mean and merciless but also enthusiastic when it celebrates real talent.

But even that is almost always done with cheap psychological tricks. "That wasn't so great today," someone says. The camera hones in, reveling in the desperation of the candidate, tears flowing down cheeks and already on the retreat. And then, suddenly, we hear: "Wait. You weren't great today, you were fantastic!"  

Searching for talent only on TV?

Playing around with the candidates' fears and hopes is the stuff most of the casting shows are made of. No one really needs to write a script. That's done by the candidates, who have been carefully selected beforehand. Dieter Bohlen and friends of course don't take a peek at the some 35,000 people who apply for the "DSDS" shows. In a series of pre-castings, candidates are selected who can jack up ratings: talentless jerks, freaks and a few really good people in between.

The person who places his bets on the really good ones is the "true" rascal of German television entertainment, Stefan Raab. At the end of 2003, Raab introduced the casting show "SSDSGPS" (Stefan is Searching for the Super Grand Prix Star), a parody of "DSDS." But Raab's show truly aimed to discover musical talent. None of the candidates were insulted or humiliated by the jury. Those without talent simply didn't appear. The goal was to find a German participant for the Eurovision Song Contest. Soul singer Max Mutzke won the bid and grabbed a respectable eighth place at the ESC in Istanbul with the number one hit "Can't Wait Until Tonight."

Ever more Lenas?

One creation of Raab's casting shows is Lena Meyer-Landrut. Following several years of embarrassing Eurovision performances by German acts, Raab introduced the show "Unser Star für Oslo" (Our Star for Oslo) on the search for the voice to represent Germany at the 2010 ESC. Lena, just 18 years old, became the media darling and Germany's most successful up-and-coming talent in recent history. She enchanted the European audience as well. With a rare head start, Lena won the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo.

Germany is looking to repeat that success with the new casting show for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest having just started on German television. "Unser Star für Baku" (Our Star for Baku) relies on a tried and true concept: young talents who don't quite conform to the charts, but still have a great deal of potential, are vying for a spot at the ESC in Baku, Azerbaijan this May.

The jury only offers constructive criticism; the viewing audience selects the favorites. Crass comments are uncommon. When someone like jury head Thomas D. (a German hip-hopper from the group Die Fantastischen Vier) says something like "one has to have balls bigger than one's pants for this song," it's a rarity.

El Dorado for casting show junkies

The fact is that one can find a talent show nearly every day on German television. Bohlen lambasts his candidates each Wednesday on "DSDS." Thursdays see young hopefuls singing for Raab and Thomas D. "The Voice of Germany" airs Fridays. Commercial broadcaster VOX is now calling for auditions for the next season of "X-Factor." February will see candidates in "the Winner is" competing for one million euros.

The business is booming, the ratings high, advertising revenues roll in and the show makers make a killing through the rights. Writing and producing the songs for "their" discovered talents, Dieter Bohlen and Stefan Raab are the top earners.

While some show winners actually make a career of their singing, others fade into oblivion or end up on reality TV shows like "Jungle Camp." One finds a failed casting star in nearly every new series of the reality show revolving around a two-week celebrity camp in the Australian jungle. Participating in the current season is Daniel Lopes, who made it into the final round of "DSDS" in 2002.

Author: Silke Wünsch / db / als
Editor: Rick Fulker