When Simon Cowell brought this talent show to American TV he crowed it'd be a HUGE hit, that he'd be very shocked and disappointed if the show was not a #1 Hit.
Well, season one of The X Factor was a dud, ratings-wise, with season two being an even worse dud.
Not Number One, not in the Top Ten, not in the Top Twenty. I have no idea how far down in the Nielsen Ratings The X Factor has fallen, but I do know the show does not have many viewers.
One of the elements that makes The X Factor lame is each of the 4 judges supposedly mentor acts in 4 different categories. The judges act as if they are competitive with each other, desperate that their acts win. It's all so contrived.
Simon Cowell mentors the groups. One of the groups is a boy band which does not think it is a boy band, because they can play guitars, which calls itself Emblem 3.
A few weeks ago, after Emblem 3 performed, Simon Cowell informed the few viewing that they were witnessing history, that viewers were witness to the birth of superstars.
I am not making this up.
The 3 boys who make up this Emblem 3 boy band seem like nice enough kids. But, the way they are being puffed up seems borderline cruel.
Anyone remember last year's $5 million winner? Heard her hit record lately? Heard last year's American Idol winner, Phillip Phillip's, hit Home song lately? Home is all over the place, was used in the London Olympics, was used in last week's Glee. I think the last we saw last year's The X Factor winner was in a Super Bowl commercial, almost a year ago.
I watched last week's performance show mostly on fast forward. After one of the few fellow viewers mentioned to me how extremely odd the Emblem 3 segment was I went back and watched it in its entirety.
It has been almost a week since last week's X Factor debacle and I've read no mention made of how bizarre the Emblem 3 segment was last week.
Before the boys sang we saw them go shopping in a Los Angeles area shopping zone. Of course a camera is along to record this shopping expedition. Eventually someone supposedly recognizes them and asks for an autograph. Soon this turns into a mob scene with a herd of screaming girls chasing the boys.
This seemed totally staged and totally unbelievable to me.
The X Factor has so few viewers how could such a critical mass of fan girls be at this location to engage in such a hysterical scene? It was ridiculous.
Last week Simon Cowell had Emblem 3 once more in the pimp spot. Pimp spot means you are the last act to perform. This is the prime spot. As the boys sang the Monkees "I'm a Believer" Simon Cowell sat there with the oddest smug look on his face, as of he was sitting there thinking he was actually going to be able to turn these boys, on this non-hit show, into actual superstar celebrities.
It's embarrassing.
The choice of a Monkees song seemed telling. The Monkees were a manufactured band on an American TV show back in the 1960s. Sort of American TV's answer to the Beatles. The mall hysteria that erupted around Emblem 3 was very Beatlemania/Monkee-esque.
Except for the fact that Beatlemania was real, was not manufactured. The Monkees, though manufactured for a TV show, became a legit pop band with a lot of hits.
I think Simon Cowell is harboring the delusion that he can manufacture some Monkees' like fandom with his Emblem 3 boys.
That might work.
If The X Factor were not a HUGE fail on American TV.
No comments:
Post a Comment