Honestly, this show deserves all the praise it got.

The casting of each of the girls who made it past the midpoint checks was perfect (granted some who made it to the Entrance Exam were obvious cannon fodder), and the progress of each of them was so fun to watch.

I think all of the teachers, being masters of the industry and knowledgeable of what MAKES an idol. Joohyun is a veteran idol of the legendary Fin.K.L, Yuri is part of the original biggest girl group and also has years of experience, Aiki is a skilled choreographer for many K-pop groups, and Soyeon, who has competed on many survival shows and is a true industry all-rounder. You can see why every girl, even the eliminated ones, joined the industry so quickly after the show ended.

You can call riggory or say that some people were destined to fail, but even with the likes of Lee Jiwon, who nobody expected to get through the midpoint checks, or even score highly in the initial online rankings, the show grew her as an idol and showcased her confidence and star quality being preened to perfection.

Overall, this show is just perfect and I wish they could do a Season 2 in the same way, in my opinion, Fantasy Boys didn't follow the same format and it just didn't work that well.