Since Singapore Idol is a complete bust this year (Paul Twohill and Jasmine Tye in the final 4? Come on!), my reality-show-disguised-as-a-talent-search fix is being supplied by Rock Star: Supernova. It's a strange old show; half old-fashioned showcase of some pretty talented people, one-quarter freakshow headlined by Tommy Lee and one-quarter classic manipulative reality drama with unsubtle editing.

Usually, I prefer it when they stick to the singing and forego the drama. For this show, though, up till very recently, the backstage drama has been oddly compelling. Ryan dissing Dana, Dilana dissing everyone, Dilana’s subsequent meltdown – not pretty and not enjoyable, but compelling. Of course, the Drama of Dilana's Descent is getting depressing now. It has become just plain discomfiting to watch her. A little like that moment in the Survivor: Exile Island Reunion, when Jeff asked Tina the lumberjill about her deceased son and she got all bright-eyed and emotional.

The funny thing about this is that Supernova is about as trumped-up a concept as you can get. A Tommy Lee project, a band manufactured for the purposes of a reality TV season. And yet, it has attracted real musicians, many of them professional performers with indie cred. There is a strange discord watching all these career musicians vying for a job with this band that nobody can take all that seriously. I think all these people, even the ones I don't care for, deserve better than Supernova's probably limited shelf-life.