How the X-Factor lost its way

Posted by Remote Control on December 15, 2007 7:06 AM | Permalink

So tonight's the night. The night when a dream will be realised, but many more shattered. And the night when, come 11pm, I'll know it is once again safe to start switching on to ITV 1 on a Saturday night again.

I've nothing against the concept of X-Factor. I'm not a reality TV snob. But I would expect a talent competition which has propelled otherwise unknowns such as Leona Lewis (talented) and Shayne Ward (not so sure) to fame and fortune to illicit better entries than those in the final tonight.

I've watched maybe two episodes of the series since they got to the build-the-up-and-vote-them-out stage, largely because if I want to watch mediocre karaoke, I'll find a pub to watch car-crash performers live.

Maybe there has just been too much tinkering of the format this year, and as a result it has appeared to be manufactured. In the past, while obviously manufactured, the producers (and Simon Cowell) have hidden it well.

This year, random ideas such as getting a group of lads who'd turned up at the audition to do solos to form a boy band and a group of girls to form a girl group back-fired in spectacular fashion. The lads looked as though they'd just arrived on a National Express bus from Warsaw, while the girls were so determined to do well they thought they'd best flirt with the camera like they'd never flirted before. Needless to say, neither group has made it to the final.

In the final we have a chap called Leon Jackson, current favourite Rhydian Roberts (with hair so white and a face so odd he looks like he's from he Dungeons and Dragons cartoon) and Same Difference. Ah yes, Same Difference. Crap name, freaky duo. Brother and sister. The outsiders to win, according to Ladbrokes (honestly - the bookies now issue statements on X Factor). There is just something not right about Same Difference.

But put the acts to one side and there have been other changes. Dermot O'Leary has done a great job as presenter, managing to get excited about acts who are essentially anything but exciting.

Dermot has been pretty much the only natural thing about X-Factor. At the other end of the scale we have the continual spat between Sharon Osbourne and Dannii Minogue. Both have pretty much admitted it's all set up, as if we couldn't guess. The question still remains, however, on just what Dannii is doing on this programme. It's like asking Jeremy Paxman's brother (if he has one) to pass judgement on news programmes. Then there is Louis Walsh, who appears to have lost all cerdibility after agreeing to be sacked before returning to drum up headlines. In short, Simon Cowell is in danger of wrecking a very good entertainment vehicle if he isn't careful.

X-Factor should be about artists who get the breakthrough they need on the programme. Rather like Paul Potts on Britain's Got Talent. The drama of who stays and who goes should be enough without manfuacturing new whizzes to keep the audience enthralled. To assume an audience is stupid because it watches X-Factor is unfair and foolish, because the audience soon gets wise to when it is being sold a pup.

Next year, Simon, focus on the acts, not the judges, and keep it simple. Then, perhaps, X-Factor will discover a talent which really does have that X-Factor.