I’ve suffered through the debut week of the X Factor and I can confidently say the show is a dud.  We’ve seen it all before.  The show is formulaic and treacly and I now understand why Cheryl Cole was fired.

The X Factor is Simon Cowell’s baby.  He runs the show.  He’s the star.  The most interesting and freshest part of the debut was the revelation of Cheryl Cole as a sitting judge.  She was interesting and fresh and fun.  I think she was a little too pretty for Paula and a little too smart for Simon and that’s why she was doomed to go because, you see, the breakout start of X Factor had to be Simon Cowell — who would finally come into his own as a kingmaker beyond his American Idol boundaries.  With Cheryl Cole stealing his muscle, Simon had a Hobson’s Choice:  Let Cheryl take over the USA, and the show that was his baby, or smother her in an American crib before she had the chance to outshine him.

We know the choice he made.  Simon Cowell met his Waterloo in Cheryl Cole and so he booted her back to the shadow of the UK.  By getting rid of Cole, Cowell removed the one risk to his spotlight — but now the show is worse for her weaning.

Today, we are left with American Idol retreads and a pale imitation of the grammatically challenged “America’s Got Talent.”   When Nick Canon has a better show than Simon Cowell, there’s trouble in Foxland.

With the rise of The Voice and Jennifer Lopez’s $24 million Idol payday — the X Factor lacks a personality punch and a wowser factor.  The judges are dull.  The talent is foolish.  We sit there staring and waiting for something interesting and important to strike us back and we’re left empty and disappointed.  If the X Factor can’t inspire us just a little bit, then the reason for the show’s being is nullified by its own boredom and lack of imagination.

7 Comments

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      Not long, I hope! Incredibly, in direct comparison, American Idol is the better show. It’s more focused and comprehensible. X Factor makes no human sense because it’s both cynical and precious and that’s a deadly combination because you can’t care about the talent through all the production sneering.

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      Just the little bit we saw of Cheryl on the first show was a great breath of new thought. Nicole is a reality show rehash. She was awful as a judge on The Sing Off and “won” Dancing with the Stars which was a big laugh. Nothing new out there? Where’s the freshness factor?

  3. Pingback: Simon Cowell and the Snooki Factor | Memeingful
  4. Pingback: Is Britney Spears Worth $15m a Year? | Celebrity Semiotic
  5. Pingback: How Bristol Palin Ruined Dancing with the Stars and Why Nicki Minaj Tanked American Idol | Celebrity Semiotic

Comments are closed.