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.

American Idol Back at #1 While Simon Cowell Tries to Fix His X Factor Fail by Replacing Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones

The week that American Idol ended its audition rounds in the city where they found Carrie Underwood, St. Louis, The X Factor x-ed out Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones.

Watching American Idol and seeing it once more at the top of the Nielsen Ratings from the start of Season 11, which is the second season without Simon Cowell, well, it seems rather clear now that that snarky, sort of mean-spirited Brit was not what made American Idol the success that it is.

American Idol viewers did not miss Simon Cowell. And they did not tune in to The X Factor to get to listen to any of that Cowell snark.

American Idol has a lot of things going for it that The X Factor did not. Like an affable, likable, funny host in Ryan Seacrest. The X Factor's Steve Jones seemed to be a humorless drone. And way too earnest

When the American Idol auditions come to a town you know you are in that town, be it St. Louis, Portland, Aspen, Galveston, Savannah, San Diego or Pittsburgh. Usually the town's most iconic image is visible through the window behind Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson.

On The X Factor auditions you saw a glimpse of whatever town they were in and then, for the most part, spent the rest of the show inside of an enclosed space looking at a stage.

American Idol uses a lot of pre-recorded bits, like the background bios of various auditioners. These are quite well done and often have a sort of charm to them. During the audition part, The X Factor did none of that type background, and when they did do so, when it got to the performance shows, the canned bios seemed really cheesy and sort of smarmy.

Speaking of the performance shows, that is where The X Factor really went awry. Way too over the top production numbers. Every bit of electronic flash being way too overused to the point it often seemed like a bad Vegas show run amok.

The X Factor seemed to rush to its conclusion, where American Idol does a slow build to finally picking a winner.

The fact that the winner of The X Factor was Melanie Amaro was just one more added factor of what was wrong.

Not that Melanie Amaro was not a perfectly fine singer. What was wrong was the contrived thing where Simon Cowell booted her and then went on and on about having made the worst mistake of his life. With the mistake being rectified by flying to Melanie's home, where cameras were ready. to tell Melanie he'd made a mistake, and that she was back on the show.

Which she then proceeded to win, in what seemed a few weeks later.

Getting rid of Paula, Nicole and Steve does not seem to fix, to me, what was wrong with The X Factor. I like Paula Abdul. I did not like L.A. Reid. L.A. Reid is not a good TV personality.

Anyway, back to American Idol. I am tone deaf, mostly, but to me, this year, American Idol, via its audition process, seems to have found a lot of potential Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson level talent.

Methinks it is time American Idol produces a male winner who goes on to an Underwood/Clarkson ;level of success.

And FOX needs to just cancel The X Factor.

A Very Bruised X Factor Limps Toward The End

One does not have to do much info searching to learn that I am not alone in finding Simon Cowell's US version of The X Factor to be a major disappointment and an over all big DUD.

I'm glad to learn I am not the only one appalled by how badly produced this overly slick train wreck is. And that the host, Steve Jones, just is really not American TV worthy or ready. Send him back to his home island.

An article in Reuters pretty much says all that needs to be said about the failure of The X Factor to have the necessary X Factor to be a hit on American TV....

Bruised "X Factor" limps toward finals

(Reuters) - American viewers have chosen the three singers who will compete in the finals of "The X Factor" after a first season that underwhelmed critics and raised questions about audience fatigue ahead of returning TV contests "American Idol" and "The Voice."

Power ballad singer Melanie Amaro, 19, bluesy Josh Krajcik, 30, and troubled rapper Chris Rene, 28, will sing for a $5 million recording contract in next week's two-part finale of the Fox show.

But after major hype from creator and judge Simon Cowell -- who had initially predicted "X Factor" would replace "American Idol" as the most-watched show on U.S. television -- the program's bickering mentor-judges, big production numbers and flashing lights has left many critics scratching their heads.

"As a viewer, it is agonizing to watch and just so fake that none of it is compelling, " said Annie Barrett, who covers "X Factor" for Entertainment Weekly.

"Everything is a gimmick. It is a glossy, shiny version of a reality show that might give you a seizure because of all the lasers and lights," Barrett told Reuters.

Thursday's semi-final, in which 20-year-old hopeful Marcus Canty was eliminated, drew 9.6 million viewers -- below the audience for a repeat of CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory" and less than half the regular audience for "American Idol" earlier this year.

Fox executives say they are happy with the viewer numbers, especially among teens, and the show has helped the network reverse its historically patchy fall ratings in the 18-49 viewer group most coveted by advertisers.

Fox has already ordered a second season for the fall of 2012, calling "X Factor" a "monumental success."

CRYING FOR CROW

Andy Dehnart, editor of realityblurred.com, said that for all the new tweaks in the singing contest formula, few were for the better.

"There is no real national buzz about it. I don't think 'X Factor' has broken through the zeitgeist in the same way as 'American Idol'," said Dehnart.

Indeed, it seems the first season's most memorable moment came a week ago when bubbly 13-year-old Rachel Crow collapsed in tears on being sent home, sparking viewer outrage against judge Nicole Scherzinger.

Whoever wins after public votes are announced next Thursday, Cowell's hopes of discovering a new global singing star -- who will be signed to his Sony Music-owned record label SyCo -- may be dashed.

None of the instantly downloadable songs from this week's semi-final were in the Top 50 iTunes singles charts on Friday.

"I don't see anyone here who is going to be the next Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood, which is what the show claimed it was going to do," said Dehnart.

Barrett said that four months of "X Factor" twice a week had made her appreciate "American Idol".

But with NBC's surprise hit "The Voice" returning in February and "Idol's" 11th season beginning in mid-January on Fox, Americans may soon lose their appetite for lengthy singing contests.

"I do think there will be some fatigue going into next season with both 'American Idol' and 'The Voice.' Two nights a week is a huge commitment," Barrett said.

But Dehnart was more optimistic. "If we are going to see any kind of fatigue with this kind of show, it is going to show up now. But I wouldn't be surprised if they all work on their own level."

Is The X Factor An Epic Fail For Simon Cowell?

In last week's Nielsen Ratings The X Factor was not in the Top 20. In this week's The X Factor the Wednesday performance show managed to tie for the 20th spot in the Top 20 with Rules of Engagement.

The Thursday X Factor results show did not make the Top 20.

In the latest Nielsen's The X Factor drew 11.8 million viewers to the Wednesday performance show. That is a drop from the season average of 13.2 million.

Simon Cowell has been quoted in the press saying he expected The X Factor to attract over 20 million viewers and would be very disappointed if it did not.

I'm guessing Simon Cowell is feeling a bit disappointed, then, at what appears to be an epic fail.

I think there may be several reasons The X Factor has not caught on with the American TV viewing public.

One reason is that there have been way too many of these singing competition type shows. And other similar type Reality TV competition type shows. Some sing, some dance, some perform any type of oddball act. All perform in front of a panel of judges who judge them. At some point the viewers vote.

Another reason The X Factor may have turned American viewers off is the host, Steve Jones. He is from the UK, not the US. He seems a nice enough guy, but lacks the Ryan Seacrest charm/amusement factor.

Another reason American viewers may have not liked The X Factor is it is way too slickly produced. And not in a good way. Way too many canned pieces. Even on the live shows.

The X Factor is filmed in the same studio as American Idol. American Idol makes much more subtle, sophisticated use of it staging pyrotechnics. The X Factor seems to constantly be launching every flashing light in the building. Way too visually noisy.

The competition between the judges seems phony and forced.

The first The X Factor results show was a train wreck level of bad. Way too many canned un-live bits for a live show. The group number was horrendous, poorly staged, badly choreographed and again with the over the top pyrotechnics.

Because The X Factor is not a hit, unlike American Idol or Dancing with the Stars, The X Factor, apparently, was unable to book someone  currently popular, like Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber, to sing on the first results show. Instead The X Factor had a group I've never heard of and who's name I do not remember.sing a song I did not like.

And then there were the results. Steve Jones says something like "We will now reveal the first person who is moving on to next week's live performance show," pause pause pause pause pause, "after the break."

Then after the break, still no results, more boring stuff, and then back to the it is time to reveal the first person bit, and again with the very very very long pause til finally a name is revealed. This process was repeated over and over and over again with the long long long long long pauses and then either a name or another commercial break.

This made for very very very very bad TV.

And then we get to 2 remaining. They have to sing again. It is two of Paula Abdul's boring groups. They sing. The judges then vote who to send home. If it is a tie, the group who gets the lowest public votes goes home. Simon votes for the group of a couple 100 kids called Intensity. The other 3 judges vote for Stereo Hogz, with L.A Reid being slow to vote, with Steve Jones telling Reid to hurry up, time is running out.

Which had me thinking, where was valuing time as precious when we had all those long long long long pauses waiting for Jones to name a name?

Unless the ratings pick up I don't see why FOX would bring back The X Factor for a second season. The show just does not have the X factor.