"happy boys voice"?...yeah, there's a clay aiken joke there somewhere

from msnbc.com, the story of a sanitized american idol a la the people's republic of china. i'm sure mao would be soooooo proud. still, you couldn't pay me (unless you had a lot of cash to waste) to watch any version of the crapified talent show-format, especially the ones with dancing...but 'happy boys voice' is a pretty hilariously silly title for a show. i'm guessing something was lost in the translation...

Tears, wild hair and unhealthy songs are banned when China’s latest version of
“American Idol” goes on the air next month.

“No weirdness, no vulgarity, no low taste,” the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said Friday in a notice to the producers of “Happy Boys Voice,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The talent show, to be broadcast beginning May 1, is a sequel to the hugely popular TV contest “Super Girls Voice” in 2005, which drew more than 400 million viewers. The woman who won that contest became a popular singer in China.

But Xinhua said the competition drew official and public criticism for promoting vulgarity.

“Happy Boys Voice” should include only “healthy and ethically inspiring” songs and avoid scenes of screaming fans or losing contestants in tears,” the regulator was quoted as saying.

The show should “maintain a happy atmosphere,” SARFT said in the notice to the show’s producer, a television station in the central province of Hunan.