The acts are flaccid and unsexy, and it's being thrashed in the ratings week after week by Strictly. It desperately needs to do something to save itself – but what?
A few Saturdays ago, Christopher Maloney stepped onto the floor of the X Factor studio and performed a version of Alone![ext]()
, a Magic FM power-ballad staple that was written 29 years ago. The performance, by all estimates, was horrible; the sort of schmalzy, overwrought mess that you'd hear on a cruise ship. And yet Maloney received more telephone votes than any other X Factor act that week. In a nutshell, this represents everything that's wrong with The X Factor in 2012.
Make no mistake, the show is in a muddle. Ratings are down for the second year running![ext]()
and Strictly Come Dancing is beating it week after week. Worse still, The X Factor isn't fighting back. The whole thing looks flaccid and tired and ready to throw in the towel.
It's all a far cry from two years ago. That's when Simon Cowell, in his final year as an X Factor judge, decided to ignore singers who were merely competent and instead pick finalists who were current and risky. His gamble paid off. That year's series threw up acts like One Direction, Cher Lloyd and Wagner – acts that are now international success stories (or Wagner) – and culminated in a final that netted almost 20 million viewers![ext]()
.
Fast forward to today and the difference couldn't be more drastic. Conservative adequacy has become the order of the day, with most of the contestants coming off as little more than subdued karaoke singers. That might not be their fault, of course. Whenever an act has even flirted with the theatrical, by performing to an audience of little Karl Lagerfelds![ext]()
or even moving their hands![ext]()
while they sing, Gary Barlow has shown a tendency to scowl or storm off or hold his breath like a stroppy toddler. He's been called a fun-sponge before, and for good reason. Gary Barlow is making The X Factor boring.
It doesn't help that, while The X Factor sinks, BBC One is getting it right time and time again. For all its unabashed cheesiness, Strictly Come Dancing is a perfect example of family entertainment. There's less cynicism there, at least compared to The X Factor and its endless barrage of phone-in competitions, product placement and plugs for useless apps. Strictly is much more glamorous than X Factor, too. As is Merlin, which seems to have developed into a show that's primarily about topless oiled-up hunks and women heaving their bosoms atthe camera for all they're worth. If The X Factor can't even be as sexy as a show about a clumsy boy wizard, we're all doomed.
But at some point everything becomes old. And if you're a 14-year-old viewer, The X Factor has been on TV since you were five. It's what your parents watch. It's old hat. That's why someone as Pebble Millish as Christopher Maloney can keep winning the phone vote. It's why the competition prize last week was a Volvo. You're never going to find the next pop sensation when you're pitching the show at middle-aged Maloney-loving Volvo drivers. Lose the kids and you completely lose the point of The X Factor.
It's probably too late to change anything this year. The X Factor can try to sex up its current batch of dullards all it likes, but really it will just be rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. If The X Factor wants to be great again, it needs to write this year off completely and start thinking about 2013. It needs to start thinking about the sort of pop star it wants to create. It needs to remember how to have fun. If that means getting rid of Gary Barlow – or anyone involved with the current incarnation, for that matter – then so be it. It's a risk that must be taken. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.
A few Saturdays ago, Christopher Maloney stepped onto the floor of the X Factor studio and performed a version of Alone
, a Magic FM power-ballad staple that was written 29 years ago. The performance, by all estimates, was horrible; the sort of schmalzy, overwrought mess that you'd hear on a cruise ship. And yet Maloney received more telephone votes than any other X Factor act that week. In a nutshell, this represents everything that's wrong with The X Factor in 2012.Make no mistake, the show is in a muddle. Ratings are down for the second year running
and Strictly Come Dancing is beating it week after week. Worse still, The X Factor isn't fighting back. The whole thing looks flaccid and tired and ready to throw in the towel.It's all a far cry from two years ago. That's when Simon Cowell, in his final year as an X Factor judge, decided to ignore singers who were merely competent and instead pick finalists who were current and risky. His gamble paid off. That year's series threw up acts like One Direction, Cher Lloyd and Wagner – acts that are now international success stories (or Wagner) – and culminated in a final that netted almost 20 million viewers
.Fast forward to today and the difference couldn't be more drastic. Conservative adequacy has become the order of the day, with most of the contestants coming off as little more than subdued karaoke singers. That might not be their fault, of course. Whenever an act has even flirted with the theatrical, by performing to an audience of little Karl Lagerfelds
or even moving their hands while they sing, Gary Barlow has shown a tendency to scowl or storm off or hold his breath like a stroppy toddler. He's been called a fun-sponge before, and for good reason. Gary Barlow is making The X Factor boring.It doesn't help that, while The X Factor sinks, BBC One is getting it right time and time again. For all its unabashed cheesiness, Strictly Come Dancing is a perfect example of family entertainment. There's less cynicism there, at least compared to The X Factor and its endless barrage of phone-in competitions, product placement and plugs for useless apps. Strictly is much more glamorous than X Factor, too. As is Merlin, which seems to have developed into a show that's primarily about topless oiled-up hunks and women heaving their bosoms atthe camera for all they're worth. If The X Factor can't even be as sexy as a show about a clumsy boy wizard, we're all doomed.
But at some point everything becomes old. And if you're a 14-year-old viewer, The X Factor has been on TV since you were five. It's what your parents watch. It's old hat. That's why someone as Pebble Millish as Christopher Maloney can keep winning the phone vote. It's why the competition prize last week was a Volvo. You're never going to find the next pop sensation when you're pitching the show at middle-aged Maloney-loving Volvo drivers. Lose the kids and you completely lose the point of The X Factor.
It's probably too late to change anything this year. The X Factor can try to sex up its current batch of dullards all it likes, but really it will just be rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. If The X Factor wants to be great again, it needs to write this year off completely and start thinking about 2013. It needs to start thinking about the sort of pop star it wants to create. It needs to remember how to have fun. If that means getting rid of Gary Barlow – or anyone involved with the current incarnation, for that matter – then so be it. It's a risk that must be taken. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.