On television, as in music, it is not too rare for news related to plagiarism. For example, in Spain the case of the TVE-1 series ‘La señora’ came to trial, which was accused of copying a novel (she was finally acquitted), and in the US even the famous Netflix ‘Stranger things’ has been had to defend against a similar complaint. The last case is ‘Euphoria’ and ‘OT’. The creators of the musical ‘talent show’ that launched Rosa López, David Bisbal, Bustamante and company to fame have taken legal action against the ‘prime time’ program on Fridays in TV-3. They consider the latter to be, “simply, an ‘OT’ in Catalan”. It will be a judge who passes the sentence and the one who determines if the similarities are so pronounced as to speak of plagiarism. At the moment we analyze the common and different points between both formats.
Both programs are musical talents in which several contestants who have gone through a previous ‘casting’. The program begins with someone else who already falls in the first gala. Every week they prepare, with the help of the teachers or ‘coaches’, a song by a well-known artist that the program has assigned to them, to which they give their own style and which they can perform solo or in a duo (or trio, in case of ‘OT’). In both, at the beginning of the gala they interpret a joint theme and have a song as an anthem. and are broadcast on rigorous direct (although in the first edition of ‘Eufòria’ the first programs were recorded). However, while in ‘OT’ there were few songs in Catalan, in ‘Eufòria’ this language is combined with Spanish and English.
The accompanying choirs
‘Eufòria’ has greatly encouraged the participants in the contest act as a choir with which they must also give their best when they play second voice in a colleague’s performance. In ‘OT’ it was not like that: at first there were joint performances by several contestants (but not as a choir, but as duos or trios) and as the program progressed and there were fewer competitors left, the performances were individual.
In both cases there a weekly expulsion. In ‘OT’, the jury chose proposed four contestants to be kicked out. The Academy teachers had the ability to save one and his classmates another, and there was a weekly favorite, who was untouchable. The two remaining candidates to leave the ‘show’ faced the public’s decision the following week. In ‘Euphoria’those who are less convincing are placed in the danger zone. It can be more than fourgiven that the musical VAR (careful examination) may determine that they have not been up to the task as second voices. The members of the jury or the ‘coaches’ or the public can save them.
In ‘Eufòria’ there is a second chance in play-off form of a contestant who had been expelled, something that in ‘OT’ was only used in the first edition, that of 2001, which recovered Álex Casademunt. That recovery of a contestant according to the public vote led to Edu in ‘Eufòria’ going from saying goodbye to the program to being a finalist.
Isolation in an academy
One of the distinctive elements of ‘OT’ was the isolation to which the contestants were subjected, who entered the Academy. They could not use cell phones or access foreign news. Occasionally they were given some contact with relatives. And they ‘saw the world’ at record signings. Although in some edition they went home for Christmas and in 2020, the pandemic forced them to confine themselves to their family and then return. Likewise, the exhibition of that coexistence –you could follow the whole day on the internet and the highlights were shown at the gala– it was part of his success. In ‘Eufòria’, on the other hand, the participants are not subject to this strict isolation, although in the second season, unlike the first, they will rehearse in a space, the Estudi Eufòria, and will will include more pictures of outside the gala and how they relate.
In both programs, participants attend sessions with experts in different subjects to prepare your performance. In ‘OT’ there were classes for acting, voice, gymnastics, relations with the media, composition… At the weekly gala, images of the classes were always broadcast. In ‘Eufòria’ there are also classes with teachers, here called ‘coaches’, although they are more specific: acting, choreography and voice.
‘OT’ has had several presenters (Carlos Lozano, Jesus Vazquez, Pilar Rubio and Roberto Leal), but they never coincided. That is, there was only one presenter in each edition. In the two seasons of ‘Eufòria’ the duo formed by Marta Torné and Miki Núñez (curiously, a ‘extriumph’ who even made it to Eurovision). Regarding the jury, in both ‘talents’ there is three or four members. Many professionals from the world of music passed through ‘OT’, although Risto Mejide is especially remembered for his harshness in the comments. In ‘Eufòria’ there are three members, who judge the contestants less harshly and with more empathy.
In the first editions of ‘OT’ the winner’s prize, in addition to a record deal (in the first season many finalists also achieved it) was to be the Spanish representative in eurovision. When switching to Telecinco, this reward was lost, but when he returned to TVE in 2017, a special program was created in which contestants from the edition competed: Amaia and Alfred were chosen in 2018 and in 2019, MIki Núñez. Things changed again in ‘OT 2020’, since the candidacy was not decided between triumphs. In ‘Eufòria’, for its part, the prize for the winner of the first edition, Mariona Escodait was a record contract and performing the song of the summer on TV-3 and Catalunya Ràdio together with Miki Núñez.
In both programs, as in other ‘talents’ and contests’ the public votes: the one on the set and the one at home, through the application of the program, although in the first programs of ‘Eufòria’, when they were recorded, they only voted from the set. The application to vote from home was paid for in the case of ‘OT’, while in ‘Euphoria’ is carried out on the TV-3 website and is free.
Both ‘talents’ are crowned with a live concert in which all the contestants once again offer their most charismatic performances and interpret the song that serves as an anthem. In ‘OT’ they went on a tour of Spain. The two from ‘Eufòria’ were only held in Barcelona.
