News Article

In Excess

How reality TV is replacing dead rock stars -- INXS and TLC, who lost Michael Hutchence and Lisa ''Left Eye'' Lopes, respectively, are using TV shows to find new members

By Raymond Fiore | Jul 16, 2004

Anointing new pop stars is SOOO last year. (Apologies, Ryan Seacrest -- on second thought, not really.) Get ready for a more disturbing trend: televised replacement searches for dead pop stars. A pair of upcoming reality TV shows will set out to fill the shoes of gone-too-soon singers from once-chart-topping groups. ''Survivor'' mastermind Mark Burnett's summer 2005 show for CBS will scour the globe for a singer to replace INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, who died of an apparent suicide in 1997. And Fox Television Studios is close to striking a network deal with R&B ladies TLC for a series chronicling their search to replace the inimitable Lisa ''Left Eye'' Lopes, who was killed in a 2002 car accident. P. Diddy might call it ''Resurrecting the Band.''

Originally posted Jul 16, 2004 Published in issue #774 Jul 16, 2004 Order article reprints