Has It Got The X Factor Back?
September 27, 2009 6 Comments
Despite being an fan of The X Factor in previous years, this time out has left me cold. I half heartedly watched the first two weeks and then for the next three I didn’t watch at all. I’m not entirely sure what that is down to; the change to having a live audience at the initial auditions was a terrible decision, which changed the whole feel of the show, but I don’t know if it is down to more than that. I think I’ve just about reached my limit of being able to watch bad auditions and seeing people being humiliated; this happening in front of a baying crowd has only highlighted the cruelty. Perhaps, I’ve just fallen out with the show all together.
Last night’s episodes were the first of the boot camp stage and so it felt an appropriate time to give it another go and see if I could salvage my love for cheesy talent shows. It’s not a good start. There’s a full ten minutes of padding before anything actually happens and I’m thankful that I had Sky Plussed it. This is perhaps a bit of a harsh criticism as it’s always been full of padding. In my post from last Novemeber, X-Rated, I revealed that I managed to watch the four televised hours of X Factor shows one Saturday night in 90 minutes – and that was with me paying attention.
Eventually, they did get around to some singing, and the first batch of auditionees that they showed were absolutely awful. How they got through the first round is anybody’s guess. I can only assume that presence of the live audience skewed the judges objectivity. With the dross out of the way, we did manage to see some better singers, although not recognising many of the contestants meant that I didn’t feel very invested in whether they went through or not.
It was vaguely amusing to see John and Edward again, but within about 30 seconds the joke fell flat, they’re just a pair of cocks. It’s one thing to be ‘shit but funny’, but the identical twins were just plain old shit. Remarkably, they didn’t get booted out right away because Louis liked them. Unsurprisingly, they were Irish.
At this stage, I was still pretty uninterested and a fair amount of fast forwarding happened. Before I know it they announce who is in the top 50. Like every other year we get to see scenes of the successful jumping up and down like chimps and the unsuccessful crying like they’ve just been told that their dog is dead. These bits are equally annoying every year.
Over on ITV2, The Xtra Factor remains the superior show and Holly Willoughby remains exceptionally lovely. Apart from her obvious loveliness, I think that she is one of the best presenters currently on TV and has made the show her own. She’s so good that I’m getting increasingly worried that she’ll be promoted to the main show, which would be good for her bank balance but would be the viewers loss; the presenter of the ITV1 programme really has so little to do.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed ‘Boot Camp’ more than any of the earlier shows, so perhaps things are looking up. There does seem to be some very strong competitors this year, but then it seems that way every year and by the time it gets to the live shows most of them turn crap. We’ll have to wait and see. Part two of boot camp is tonight, so I’ll see you there.
About sherby57
I think the entire show is just a bit tired now, Sherby. I’m still watching, and Saturday’s show was infinitely better than tonight’s but every episode this year (and last) has been full of the same stuff – a parade of folk in tears saying “It means everything/the world/so much to me”, a smattering of sob stories, a “things were going badly till so-and-so sang and then suddenly the tide turned and everyone was ace and got through.” This year in particular we seemed to have the added phenomenon of only hearing a few seconds of most of the decent singers (except of course whichever annointed one gets to the end performance and bring the house down) and spending practically every audition ep on the awful ones. And you’re right, it’s just not funny, it’s cruel.
Also, the padding of each episode is insane, I agree, and if I hear Dermot say one more thing about how it’s the biggest crowd of auditionees ever or how it’s especially hard for “one contestant in particular” because of whatever sob story they have, or how they want a “better life for their child/mum/pupils/next-door neighbour’s cat” I might actually lose my mind.
Thank God it’s only one more week till the live finals.
I think with the auditions portion of the show being so formulaic that it’s inevitable that it will become tired. If you lose your appetite for deluded people being humiliated then I think you’re going to be snookered. In future (if I decide to watch it next year) I think I’ll only start watching from boot camp onwards.
As I’ve said previously, I don’t think I could watch it at all if I didn’t sky plus it all and make liberal use of the fast forward button. Once you get past all the over-emotional bits, it’s quite entertaining. I’ll definitely be glad to see the live finals which are my favourite bit. It’s also where the Xtra Factor really comes in to its own – the backstage stuff really adds a lot to proceedings. Just make sure you sky plus it first.
I heard a rumour that the results show is going to be on a Sunday. I really hope that isn’t the case, I might stop watching out of frustration.
My thoughts on last night’s show are here: http://poursomegravyonme.co.uk/2009/09/28/has-it-got-the-x-factor-back-part-2/
I heard that rumour too. This Sat/Sun thing they’ve had going on for the last few weeks can’t be a coincidence – I think they’re training us to get used to a Sat/Sun format with the live/results shows as well. Sorry Sherby….
Yeah, I think it’s more than likely. I guess that stretching it out over two nights would make the advertisers happier, but I don’t think it does the programme any favours. Surely any tension leading up to the result will have dissipated by the time Sunday night comes around. It also robs the Saturday show of any drama.
Oh well, it might not actually be true!
This is the first ever season that I’ve got to watch The X Factor. I HATE the audition process! They are always the worst part! ButI love the judges, especially Cheryl! I’m not to use to the format yet so I’ve been WIki-ing it up and it’s pretty freaking different than American Idol or what not ( I like X’s better). Yeah Lloyd is through though and no more auditions from hell. I feel that it’s a joke John & Edward got through, Louis is out of his mind.
I’ve come to realise that I’m not actually a fan of the audition myself and you feel like you can really get in to it once you’ve got a settled line-up of contestants.
I’m quite a fan of Cheryl myself, but then I have fancied her since she was a reality TV contestant herself! haha.
The X Factor is a really good format as it helps bring out the judges’ personalities more. It gets more interesting when we get to the live rounds as they are actually competing against each other, so their song choices become crucial and can cause people to really struggle. Even Simon has admitted he was wrong in the past! Louis is obsessed with cheesy pop (hence John & Edward) and always has some ‘interesting’ song choices.
I guess that if this is your first series of X Factor then you are likely to be overseas.. I hope you get to watch The Xtra Factor as well!