It seems that not even Simon Cowell is immune to bad weather. The X-Factor USA was postponed last week due to misplaced rain between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants. Less than half of the show was aired, but X-Factor promised they would show the full airing on Tuesday. Unfortunately, FOX will only be showing an abbreviated hour of the show, even though disgruntled fans took to Twitter and Facebook to voice their concerns.
What will the live shows of this season hold in store? We know Khloe Kardashian and Mario Lopez were selected as hosts of the show last week – Khloe for her popularity amongst the Kardashians fans, and Lopez for his extremely attractive features. It will be a thrill ride to see our favourite contestants battle it out on a weekly basis to become the winner of the show. Our front-runner favourite, Jillian Jensen, did not make it through to the live rounds of the show, so we’re unsure as to what impact the omission of her voting bloc will have on the final viewership numbers of X-Factor. She had a large following, but her exclusion might only divide the voting bloc between the other contestants.
There are several front-runners currently being over-hyped, while the dark horses are left to wallow in the mid-season burst they will experience. There’s bound to be a large amount of controversy surrounding this season, as we all know by now that X-Factor prides itself on being more tabloid and tacky than her largest competitors, American Idol and The Voice.
However, the first pre-live rounds of this season did not escape the third eye of television critique and controversy. One of the best singers of the competition, Jeffrey Gutt, did not make it through to the judges’ houses, the awesome Panda Ross was completely denied and edited out by the producers during Boot Camp, and the CeCe Frey/Paige Thomas set-up was seen by many as a ratings ploy. The mentors also didn’t escape controversy, as the Justin Bieber kid also bitched on Twitter about X-Factor and said that the show used the mentors for ratings. We know all of this is true, because X-Factor is lacking a certain zest this year. The acts are slightly above average, the judges’ chemistry is heavy-handed, and the cool Simon Cowell is only lukewarm.
Unfortunately, X-Factor has not been able to build up a solid American Idol-esque fan-base, and has severely suffered because of it. The X-Factor audience has been struggling to connect with the contestants and the format. There’s a small spark of brilliance this season, but it is so few and far between that many viewers simply do not care enough about this show to push it to the level of American Idol.
The question still remains whether the judging panel shake-up, the format revamp, and the super popular hosts will impact the show for the better. We’ll only be able to answer this question when the live shows air and we’re able to witness the already climbing viewership figures. A reality television show of this caliber is always a gamble. What do you think? Do you like X-Factor USA this year? Is it better than American Idol? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
For our detailed analysis of the X-Factor Top 16 Elimination Show Click Here.
