From Idol and So You Think You Can Dance to the Got Talent franchise, light entertainment has returned to screens in a form that is globally popular. This article examines this new genre (which is, of course, a revival of an old one) in the light of recent hybridisations of television programs, and proposes that the particular configurations in which the new shows present singing, dancing and specialty acts are indicative of broader interrelated changes in TV and society. With reference mainly to Australian shows, it is argued that the new variants both depict and enact the commodification of precarious labour in line with exigencies of the contemporary cultural industries and imperatives of the new economy. The genre's pleasures are directed into commodifiable value in strictly controlled, competitive formats of celebrity-creation, resulting in a mode of accumulation that capitalises on the largely gifted labour of the enthusiastic participants who co-create the entertainment spectacle with little guaranteed return.
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