I Am Sort Of Liking The New Britney Spears Version of The X Factor

I must have set my DVR to record The X Factor season one, though I don't remember this, because my DVR recorded this week's premiere episodes of season two of The X Factor.

Maybe The X Factor has special powers and forces itself on to DVRs.

I had all sorts of problems with liking last year's The X Factor. It was like a real noisy, flashy version of American Idol, was one thing I did not like. I also did not like the host, Steve Jones. Paula Abdul's predictable routines with Simon Cowell got old years ago. I had other issues, that have faded from memory with the passage of time.

So, with not much else to watch, I watched the Wednesday and Thursday episodes of The X Factor.

So far I am finding season two much more entertaining than season one. Steve Jones is gone. So far no one seems to be replacing him. Paula Abdul is gone, along with that Nichole person whose last name I don't know how to spell.

I never would have thought that I would like Britney Spears as a judge. My longest exposure to Britney Spears was on her awful Reality TV Show with her equally awful, now ex-husband, Kevin Federline.

I'd heard the name of the other new judge, Demi Lovato, but know nothing about her, except that she sings songs. She plays the really sweet nice girl judge, in contrast to Britney Spear's brutally truthful, some think mean, judge.

The behind the scenes parts of The X Factor seem to be filmed in some sort of super saturated hyper realistic mode.

There are a lot of what appear to be obviously staged bits. Like, we were supposed to believe that a son is driving his mom to the audition, talking about it, with one camera filming mom from the passenger's side of the car, with another camera filming the driving son from the other side. And then we see the son sing and, of course, he does well.

Anyway, I don't know why, but I'm finding the new version of The X Factor much more entertaining than last years.

But, unfortunately, apparently a lot of viewers prefer and NBC singing competition show I've not watched, The Voice, which airs when The X Factor airs. The X Factor's premiere had only 8.5 million viewers, down 3.5 million from last year's premiere. The Voice had 3 million more viewers than The X Factor.

Methinks there are way too many singing competition shows on TV. The suffering original, American Idol seems to be having trouble finding replacement judges. I'd volunteer, but I'm tone deaf.

Britney Spears Is Only Making $15 Million For One Season Of X Factor

Yesterday I heard on the radio that Britney Spears would be a judge on the second season of X Factor.

And that her one year deal with X Factor would pay her $15 million.

$15 million!

Something is way out of whack if someone like Britney Spears gets paid $15 million for something like being a judge on X Factor.

I thought Britney Spears had pretty much totally tarnished her image with all her embarrassments, starting, for me, with her awfully embarrassing awful reality TV show called Chaotic.

I believe it was on this Chaotic show that those who watched came to realize that Britney Spears is what is commonly called trailer trash.

A term I think it really rude.

I know some nice people who live in double-wides. But, I get what is meant by the term "trailer trash." And that Britney Spears could be the poster girl for that term.

Well, Britney Spears may be trailer trash, but she is very wealthy trailer trash.

The other new judge on X Factor is someone named Demi Lovato, about whom I knew nothing. I don't know how much Ms. Lovato is being paid. Or if she also is trailer trash. Apparently she is known for having played the character of Angela on Barney & Friends, and starring roles in something called the Camp Rock movies. She also has recorded some record albums, none of which I've heard of.

I really did not care for X Factor at all in its initial incarnation. I think I will likely like version 2 even less.

Tom Cruise Considering a Reality TV Show?

You're looking at the infamous iconic image of Tom Cruise Jumping the Couch on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

It is widely believed it was at this point that the dimming of the Tom Cruise star began.

Made even dimmer by subsequent displays of disturbing behavior.

Tom Cruise has made attempts to fix his damaged reputation, without a lot of luck.

I think the only route to recovery for Tom Cruise would be to finally wise up and get out of the Scientology Cult.

But, in the news today I see that Tom Cruise is considering a different tactic to re-connect with his once adoring public. That being a Reality TV Show showing Tom's private life with wife, Katie Holmes and baby, Suri.

Apparently Tom Cruise has been shooting a lot of footage of his private life at home with the wife and kid.

Unless Tom Cruise has gotten some sort of good judgment transplant that now has him realizing how he comes across when he is in real person mode, well, I'm thinking this is not a great plan for Tom.

I'm guessing it would be a trainwreck, with Tom Cruise not realizing he's making matters worse. Just like Britney Spears with her extremely embarrassing Reality TV Show, shot with then husband to be, now ex-husband, Kevin Federline.

And then there was Paula Abdul's Hey Paula Reality TV Show. Major, major trainwreck. Paula seems to have survived her Reality TV Show trainwreck better than Britney Spears Reality TV Show trainwreck, which seemed to be the start of Britney's spiral into, well, madness.

So, it is going to be interesting to see if Tom Cruise goes ahead with sharing his home movies. I suspect someone in his orbit will caution him that this is not a good idea.

Below is an amusing version of Tom Cruise's infamous Oprah Winfrey performance on her couch....