LONDON — In the physics of entertainment, this is Boyle's law: If Susan the human supernova is on the telly, then a gazillion viewers are sure to be trailing, comet-like, in her wake.
The truth of that axiom is set to be demonstrated this weekend as "Britain's Got Talent," the star-search reality show that made frowzy, frizzy-haired Susan Boyle a household name from Argentina to Zimbabwe, enters its highly anticipated semifinal phase.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, May 23, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 22 words Type of Material: Correction
Susan Boyle: An article in Friday's Calendar section about "Britain's Got Talent" contestant Susan Boyle said she was 47. She is 48.
Officially, it's still a secret whether the singing Scotswoman will be among the contestants to progress to the next round of the competition; the fortunate 40 are to be announced Saturday, the day before Britain's ITV network begins broadcasting the semifinals live over five nights next week.
But for Boyle not to make the cut would be a public-relations disaster - not to mention a colossal business blunder -- that would probably trigger a bigger popular revolt in this country than the present dust-up over politicians who claimed horse manure on the taxpayer dime.
"It's almost impossible," Julia Hobsbawm, head of the media analysis firm Editorial Intelligence, said of the chances Boyle would be passed over. "If popularity and the popular consciousness is anything to go by, she's still very much in the bloodstream of opinion. That hasn't abated."
The show's producers and its panel of judges, including the omnipresent Simon Cowell, are certainly aware that to vote Boyle off would be to kill their golden-egg-laying goose. Since her initial appearance on the program April 11, when she wowed the audience with her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables," the 47-year-old charity worker has gone on to become a global phenomenon. That has come either in spite of or because of -- depending on whom you ask -- her bushy-browed looks and self-proclaimed virginal innocence.
It's been almost six weeks and Boyle mania has barely waned. The fires have been stoked by appearances on "Oprah" and the "Today" show, admiring comments from Demi Moore and Patti LuPone, and endless commentaries on what her fame means in jaded, irony-soaked Britain. (The triumph of substance over style? The exception that proves the rule?)
The YouTube video of that first audition has now racked up a staggering 58 million hits -- nearly as many people as live in the United Kingdom. So ubiquitous is Boyle that one of the potty-mouthed characters on "South Park" threatened to "puke" out delicate parts of his anatomy if he heard her name mentioned again.
