Rock Star: INXS

The latest Reality TV and Idol fare on television the world over comes from the King of it all himself - Mark Burnett. And i have to admit - It's a stroke of genius, a win-win situation and a great example of push-pull media integration. Here's how and why...

1. The over-the-hill INXS band members get a second chance at life - in the limelight 2 nights a week on our tubes the world over. Before this, they were probably chewing down some fair dinkum grub with aunt lucy way out back in a place probably called woolawoomba.

2. Cool again. Revival of old INXS songs. In various flavours too. The 14 diverse inxs lead wannabes cleverly selected to appeal to every audience taste. There's one for every one. You have your kurt cobain. Your sheryl crow. Your Terence trent darby. Your Jagger. And your michael hutchence. And they all sing suicide blondes in their own way. Also amazing that the songs the contestants sing are almost immediately available for purchase and download from the rockstar msn website. (they're all pretty darn good singers)

3. Instant Fame and following for the next INXS Lead singer. The relatively unknown singer that eventually gets to be the lead singer is granted instant stardom before he even sings the first new INXS song. Now thats what i call... content... and creation... (The contestants also keep blogs on the site tracking the progress of the contest)

4. Beyond SMS voting like they do in American Idol... votes can be done through the website and supposedly through MSN messenger too. Ad and sponsorship sales also carries on from tube to net.

4. And... Dave Navarro gets another spot in TV besides his little home videos with Carmen. It can be assumed that he is there so some real rockstar youth will rub off onto a coupla old fellas. (Seem like nice old fellas though)

Pretty impressive if you asked me...