Friday Poll: Does X Factor have the X Factor?

[Rob McCow]

Surely the most popular of the 'Talent Contest' style programs that have filled our TV screens of late, the X Factor has gone from strength to strength. It's a transatlantic, world-wide megahit. Simon Cowell reportedly earns more than anyone else on TV for basically slagging people off. 'Real' celebrities such as Robbie Williams and the Black Eyed Peas are queuing up to do a guest spot on the show.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has weighed in, saying that he doesn't rate John and Edward, the twins with the funny hair.

But is it all sweetness and light?

Or is the whole show a transparent sham, with sinister undertones of being cheap prole-feed designed to get us to go and see Disney movies and buy hate filled newspapers? Is it addictive garbage?

Sting slags off X Factor.

Further opinions from the NME.

Do you have to trade in your soul for the X Factor?

[Pip Madeley]

Ex-contestant Leona Lewis has summed this year's X-Factor up perfectly:

Leona Lewis has claimed that this year's X Factor is "all pantomime". The singer told The Daily Telegraph that the show had changed since she won the contest in 2007.

Lewis said: "It's all pantomime, of course. I do feel that when I did it, it was more about the music. Now it's a whole production - so many people on stage, dancing, special effects going off, all that craziness. It's definitely changed emphasis."

Let's face it, the show has turned into Britain's Got Talent 2 - the fact that Jedward are there is proof enough. They're entertainers yes, but singers? No.

It's a shadow of its former self - yes the ratings are at an all-time high, but the show itself has reached an all-time low.

[SiHart]

I don't care at all. It's no more or not less than a glorified talent contest no better or worse than new Faces or Oppotunity Knocks were back in the day. I choose not to watch it, so it has no impact on my life at all.
I watched way back in 2000 when they did Popstars, and after that I've always felt I know exactly what will happen every year and what to expect.... "nasty" critics, tears from the wannabes, press outrage....

I understand why it makes a huge impact on other people though- it's because that's the way British "culture" is going. There's an obssession with people wanting to be famous because of the sheer weight that celebrity holds in the UK right now. The X-Factor taps into that by offering the tantalising prospect that anyone can be famous.

Si xx

[stuartdg]

I watch it for the panto aspect of the show,plus it's something to talk about at work on monday morning

On the whole I prefer Strictly tho!

[Dino]

I'm not really sure which one to vote for in those polls let alone the contestants!

I only voted this year to save Rachel (I failed) the series has really backfired compared to previous shows. It used to be a case of saying in public "Oh I only watch the auditions..." then finding yourself following the finals, but this year I've been watching it to the point of wondering why Planet Skaro hasn't got it's own "X Factor" thread?... even though my love hasn't exactly been justified.
One thing I've noticed about this show is how "noble" and "important" this show makes careers in music seem? Compare however to Popstars which when it first showed (and that was the best of this type of show) nobody knew what the hell it was (from the millions of people who got it cofused with "Stars In Their Eyes"?) and also appeared to make the contestants seem slightly sad for wanting it? That element has been missing from the X Factor which seems to be he main difference between the shows?
Never bothered with Britain's Got Talent. Not a single episode. Simon aside, I despise the judges on that show and I have no interest in Ballroom Dancing although I do get nostalgic memories of seeing Ballroom shows on TV around the time of Sylvester McCoy's tenure. These feelings last a few seconds and then I usually turn over.
Back to X Factor though...

This format is a mistake. I hope it's the last series for a while as the continued "success" of Jedward means the producers and creators have forged a cast iron rod to beat themselves with at the auditions next year?

Louis Walsh looks like a great white shark? That must have been noticed? Dannii is totally unsuited to the show and should be dropped. It was Team Dannii who decided to mould Rachel as a British Rhianna with a brutal haircut only to find her placed in the bottom two for two weeks running and and her song choices for her contestants are her weak spot.
Simon Cowell looks ready to walk away from the series in some shots and Cheryl just...Cheryls...

I hope we are not being set up for a male winner given it was won by a woman last year? That said, most of the women have gone. The four strippers went and Miss Frank proved the judges haven't got the knack for putting bands together like people like that are supposed to.

It's the meltdown of the people in the game that's most obvious? I had sympathy and support for Danyl after the gay jibes from Dannii, but since then, he's turning more and more into a 100 yard stare psycho? And then there's Jamie Archer. "Hey he's been trying to become a star for years! He looks like Lenny Kravitz... er, in a way..." but although he's got through every week I can't see him winning as his voice realy isn't as strong or diverse as he thinks it is? So I'm backng Olly this year. It'll probably be a Stacey/Olly sing off this year.

And it's still more interesting than "Fame Academy"?
And I hate the way X Factor is trying to guide the singles chart with specialist nights. Queen this week... it'll be like Freddie dying all over again!
We'll never get "Skrewdriver night" thankfully (don't google them if you haven't heard of them they have a neo-Nazi following, it was a joke!) but does anyone really listen to Big Band music these days?
So in a nutshell, let this be their last reality pop battlefield!
And yes, this is the longest post I've ever made on this forum... of all the subjects...

[Jon Masters]

I can't stand any of these shows which are drawn out week after week with the feeble 'public voting' system, so no X Factor / Strictly / Maria / Jungle Celebrities / BB etc.

It's cheap TV to fill the schedules, nothing more or less. And anyone who uses the 'what a journey I've been on' line, or how they're doing it all for their dead/ sick mother/father/daughter/granny should be instantly removed and banned from making any money from tat magazines and their ilk. I don't care.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Thank you Jon

I absolutely despise this program. I hate the first few shows which are just a kind of nasty freak show. And then the stupid vote offs.

What I really hate is how it's kind of a symptom of how dead and soulless the music business is at the moment. The winner of X-Factor will be the Christmas number one (yawn) - remember when it wasn't quite so predictable? And the song everyone gets so excited about is just a cover. It's all like getting a bit too excited about a cover band at the local pub really.

Worst of all it feeds Simon Cowell's ego. If you put him and the Hoff in the same room I wonder who's ego would dominate?

[Perry Vale]

remember when it wasn't quite so predictable?

Yes, I remember the days when it was a complete surprise when Cliff Richard used to get to No.1.

[Dino]

Thank you Jon

I absolutely despise this program. I hate the first few shows which are just a kind of nasty freak show. And then the stupid vote offs.

The winner of X-Factor will be the Christmas number one (yawn) - remember when it wasn't quite so predictable?

Would X Factor be better if it happened earlier in the year and the winner got launched for the Summer? From a financial view ITV would scream and refuse to take X Factor out of it's slot at the moment, but I think if the auditions started around Feburary it'll be all over by the time of exams and the X Factor winner can have the remaining of the year to enjoy before the next one comes along?
They can still have a crack at the Christmas single but the novelty will have worn off by then for them hopefully... X Factor indeed!

And as I was one of two to click "Yes" after all...

[Stuart Wallis]

I remember the days when it was exciting to find out who the Christmas number one was. Now, we all live in hope to see what the Christmas number two or three will be, for reasons given above. Down with Simon "Ebenezer" Scowell and his evil musical domination!

You think I'm joking! Not far off, actually. I've never watched anything like this and its Scottish equivalent, Fay McAdemy, and here's why. We had proper pop stars in our day, ones who could sing and win talent shows purely on merit. (The singers are still out there, I look in the general direction of Tom from Keane, for instance - pay me later Pip!) It says a lot about who's voting for these people that we now get homogenised singers in the charts who've been through the ranks of this type of thing, who get hits purely because they've been jumping through hoops every weekend, and who by the end of the series, given the attendant press coverage, you might just get sick of the sight of if you're not an X Factor fan. Worse, if what's said about this Jedward gestalt is true, who on Earth is voting for the Screech Brothers? Someone's cronies, just to keep the competition interesting? Hormonally-excited teenagers? Who knows?

I don't think ITV have any really original ideas left in their canvass bag now, given they're continuing with this drawn-out New Faces indefinately. Mind you, much as I'm pleased that Doctor Who's back, considering the number of shows that the BBC has revived or re-jigged over the last decade or so... That, though, as they say, is another story...

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Although it wasn't as funny as it could have been, Britains Got The Pop Factor And Possibly A New Jesus Christ Superstar On Ice kind of parodied it nicely.

The thing closest to the nail I think was the guy who was sent home for not being interesting, then his gran died, and they brought him back as now he had a tragedy "that's showbusiness".

I'm absolutely against the X Factor until it's hosted on Satellite Five.

[Larry]

I It's cheap TV to fill the schedules, nothing more or less. .

sadly we're going to get a lot more of it from itv hence the reason they have axed so many of their popular dramas personaly I never watch x factor and simply can't understand why these shows are so poular.

I'm a Celebrity get me out of here is nothing more than a load of washed up celebrities or so called celebrities most people have never heard of and Britains got Talent is just an excuse for all the freaks and weirdoes to crall out from under whatever stone they live.

[Si Hunt]

Surely someone needs to stand up for this show?

You know it amazes me when people throw the "not what it was" tag at it - this is a series which has skilfully honed a formulae to perfection without deviating from it (and when they did, slightly, in this years early stages, it was to widespread dismay and anger). How on Earth Leona can say it was "about proper music" back in the heady old days of 2007 with a straight face is beyond me! Certainly the parade of old men playing banjo's and deliberately crap no-hopers entertaining the early rounds were with us long before she even picked up a pen to fill out the application form.

So what it is, is clear - mass entertainment. It's THERE to be a pantomime, something which people obviously don't get (witness the bizarre outcry when Simon Cowell recently saved the most headline-grabbing act. "SIMON DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THE BEST SINGER!!" You don't say?)

What's negative about it is that it has rather taken the mystery out of pop stars (I'm sure all this has been going on for years, just not on live TV) and, most notably, the Christmas Number 1. The show is so huge that anyone winning is gauranteed a huge hit, often elbowing more spontaneous acts out the way. It's a Talent Show which infringes slightly on the magic of naturally evolving musical acts. But then, there is one winning single a year, one charity single and perhaps a couple of acts spawned from it which have been hugely successful.

And that's where it's starting to matter, properly. They're actually fed up with creating acts with no future, and in the past couple of years a proper effort has gone into developing genuine talent. If it had always been this way, we wouldn't baulk, but people are struggling to admit that the careers of Leona, JLS and (soon) Alexandra are actually as valid as if they had been spotted, signed up and launched with decent songs. Because - oh look - they have. What's the difference? That question is hard for some to stomach.

And "The X-Factor" may yet be a force for proper good too. The music spot is rapidly becoming a surefire way of getting astronomical record sales, to the extent that surely a re-think is going on somewhere after a guest act denied an X-Factor winner (who appeared on the same show) a comeback Number 1 the other week. Oops. But how long before someone, somewhere, realises that what we have here is a massive market for getting big acts on live TV on a Sunday night resulting in massive record sales. Hey... let's do a WHOLE SHOW like that! Perhaps...

As it stands, "The X-Factor" isn't the biggest thing on TV just BECAUSE morons watch it. It does, as much as people deny it, now provide a platform for new pop stars (we just don't like that it's so mechanical). It's also becoming an institution; the brutally honest Cowell, the deliberate drama and panto, and above all a TV music show that captures peoples attention every week. That's not SUCH a bad thing, surely?

Si.

[SiHart]

It may not be a bad thing, no, and it may be becoming an institution but that doesn't mean I have to watch it. I probably shouldn't say anything really because I haven't ever watched it, but I will be honest and say I really don't feel I ever want to watch it.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

And of course no one HAS to watch it, like no one has to buy the records. But for those that do it offers a real life "serial" in the same way weekly tv dramas used to. Perhaps our pre recorded tv has grown so "on demand" that this is the nearest people can get to the suspense of tuning in each week to follow an unfolding drama?

Si. :mobile

[Stuart Wallis]

Maybe you and I are out of touch with what the masses want Mr. Hart? Perhaps, and I'm not being rude to him, Mr. Hunt is right that they want this type of thing. That may be why there's so many of these shows recently with a similar format - I'd Do Anything, Fame Academy, etc. Or perhaps I'm being cynical in imagining that we're stuck with them just because.

At last we do agree to an extent about something on telly!

[P-Bal]

Without X Factor, what would we do with Sineater?

[Pip Madeley]

This is amusing:

X Factor favourite Olly Murs wasn't always so lucky... he only won £10 on Deal Or No Deal

Ha.

[Si Hunt]

Onto one of my pet hates about the show - the fact that the contestants are presented as unknowns, but frequently arn't. Okay, it's not against the law for Olly Murs to have been on prime time TV before - it's just, it seems odd that they don't mention it, especially when they DO insist on telling you about the tragic, sympathy gunning things that have happened to them all. The fact they keep it quiet almost makes you suspicious. Of more concern was Ray Quinn, who'd been in bloody BROOKSIDE for years on end, and never was this mentioned. It makes you suspect that people who are in the industry already are 'fast tracked' into the final selection, and I'm sure this happens. Again, I wouldn't mind if only they'd SAY. The fact that something so interesting has happened to the acts and it's never said, makes me feel that they are in some way trying to deceive us into believing they are less experienced in the industry than they are.

Si.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Onto one of my pet hates about the show - the fact that the contestants are presented as unknowns, but frequently arn't.

Thats a good point. I'm surprised to be honest the show hasn't been affected by the phone poll scandals of recent years.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Maybe you and I are out of touch with what the masses want Mr. Hart?

In the past, popular entertainments have included gladiators (I mean the real things with swords and a thumb to denote life and death, not Ulrika Jonson), public executions, fox hunting, cock fighting. That doesn't mean I'd watch any of them just cos someone else watched them.

Face it, if TV created the Running Man today, it would be a runaway ratings hit. Probably staring Noel Edmunds.

Oh and if you think X-Factor is bad, you've obviously never seen X-Factor Australia. My wife watches all this crap!

[Pip Madeley]

Spot my missus...

Clue: 0:12 in

[Rob McCow]

Without X Factor, what would we do with Sineater?

The counter at Greggs beckons. IT BECKONS!

I don't think X Factor needs to be such a bad thing. But it's so controlled, marketed and corporate, with all the newspaper coverage (headlines on the FRONT PAGE?!?!) and everything.

I suppose it's simply the latest Pop Marketing Tool. Pop is often derivative, cheap and soul-less, that's part of it's appeal. But X Factor seems to emphasise this.

That said, nothing on X Factor has been as bad as the recent single from the Sugababes. Nothing on Earth is as bad as the recent single from the Sugababes.

[Si Hunt]

The new one, "About A Girl" is fantastic, though.

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

I rather like 'Get Sexy' - great synths.