122 Media International Australia Miaoju Jian Abstract Talent shows have rocketed to popularity in Taiwan in recent years, as demonstrated in the high rating programs, One Million Star (超 級 星 光 大 道 ) and Super Idol (超 級 偶 像 ). This article focuses on the Taiwan talent show phenomenon as an exemplar of today’s contradictory and exploitable reality TV ‘celebrity economy’. Through the oftrepeated assertion of ‘yes, teacher’ (謝 謝 老 師 ), Taiwan’s talent shows manage to combine a globalising selfenterprising ethos of neo liberal labour conditions with a Confucianpatriarchal culture. Within this context, powerful judges become mentors, with obedient contestants positioned as their apprentices. This article scrutinises the interdependence between this powerladen relationship in the talent shows and the selfenterprising practices of Taiwan’s entertainment industry. It argues that, rather than democratising the TV empire, these shows have, paradoxically, contributed to the revival and consolidation of the previously presumed to be outmoded gure of the ‘star authority’. Lifestyle TV, offering advice for everyday life, is not as popular in Asia as it is in Western countries. The few Taiwan reality shows are seldom reproduced programs based on purchased copyrights most of them are imported programs with little market share (Lewis et al., 2012: 18). However, other reality lifestyle programs that not only encourage audiences to participate and position TV as a form of lifeguidance, but also present a new ethos of selfbranding in a changing era, have emerged in Asia with specic local cultural features. In Taiwan, reality pop programs, or talent search shows, have caused a fever since 2007. These programs’ aim is to tutor young contestants in shaping an image of stardom and achieving this for themselves by using the local entertainment industries’ resources. The ‘self’ here is the main product of talent shows, which helps the contestants to form their own brand values. The shows also display a dreamcometrue narrative of a ‘nobody’ becoming a ‘somebody’ through selfcultivation. On the other hand, when compared with the individualism and selfexpression shown in Western talent shows, talent shows in Taiwan are unique in the paternalistic power held by the judges and program producers. Talent shows in Taiwan emphasise the process of contestants transforming through ‘instructions’ given by the program, instead of simply competing in a contest. Just as lifestyle TV instructs normal people with their daily lives and helps them to form better selfimages, Taiwan talent shows tutor contenstants to form images that are not only bound to an existing star system, but also help to reafrm the logic of show business. NEGOTIATING PATERNALISM AND THE ENTERPRISING SELF IN TAIWANESE TALENT SHOWS