The X Factor

The United States version of X Factor is unwatchable. Mr. Simon Cowell is nothing more than an egomaniac Svengali with absolutely no eye or ear for true talent. The show's graphics look as if they were thrown together by college freshman at the Art Institute. The host is a train wreck with no entertainment value, charisma or repoire with the contestants. He makes Nick Lachey look like the Ryan Seacrest of reality/talent show hosts. The editing is forced melodrama at warp speed where a judge is speaking to one contestant and tells them that they "didn't make it through" but then, wait for it... they were actually talking to the other contestant! Fooled ya! It is hard to understand the producer's unquenchable penchant for sophomoric television techniques and overblown sob stories. Newsflash: Horatio Alger is not an X Factor contestant, nor are any of the current crop of contestants anything more than individuals that the producers feel will elicit an empathetic response with the viewers and provide drama that overshadows any diminutive factor of marginal talent they may possess.

Mr. Cowell is a lucky little man who found himself in the right place at the right time and his time needs to be up. Not a single act that he has "discovered" or "created" will have any of their songs remembered in twenty years. Genius never made a song for money or fame and those are the only things that motivate this man and his weak minded minions. There is not a single grain of true "X"/it factor in any of them, as evidenced by the fact that he chose to put through an inferior singer named Tiah Tolliver in tonight's episode instead of one of the greatest voices since Aretha Franklin in Melanie Amaro. He knew that Ms. Amaro was the "hit me over the head with a frying pan" obvious threat to his little protégé Tiah Tolliver and chose to get rid of her as his first instinct in order to prove that he is a "hitmaker." Even the staged realization that he had made a mistake in sending Ms. Amaro home was a blatant attempt to recover some of the shine he knows he lost by dismissing Jennifer Hudson on "American Idol" in 2004. Mr. Cowell has no greater ability to discern talent that you or I. He was simply born in the right country at the right time and fell into the right circle of influencers. Caesar from Planet of the Apes would have a better nose for talent and the "it" factor than Mr. Cowell.

I personally challenge Simon to produce his little breast fetish pet Tiah Tolliver and allow me to produce Melanie Amaro in a head to head, nationwide, single release with a televised performance and see which woman truly possesses the "X Factor." The only way Simon will reclaim any of his lost soul is to face the failure of this show due to the weight of his ego. HELP SAVE SIMON COWELL NOW AND BOYCOTT "X FACTOR"!

This kind of show has been seen and done a dozen of times. Due to my travels I was able to see The X-Factor in the UK, Germany and Australia already and the US Version is not much different but bigger.

Obviously you need to like casting shows to enjoy the program, having said that, people giving this a 1 star rating should be banned from further reviews and ratings since there is more to the production of a TV Show than the likable factor. This program is produced and directed very well, there is a nice flow and speed going on, the scenery shots from the cities alone are worth more than 1 star so what's it to ya? Let me be very clear, it is Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and LA. Reid, you get exactly what is on the package and someone who's rating 9 stars for American Idol and 1 Star for The X Factor is a hypocrite. If you like American Idol you like this show, if you don't like American Idol you won't like this either. Opening the age limits is a fantastic decision because that gets really interesting later when the contestants will be split into Boys, Girls, Groups and over 30s and receive personal training from the judges and coaches. This is where the show will be different from Idol and since it has worked in other countries very well, it will work in American just fine, despite the hypocritical ratings on this website.

If you're looking for something entirely different you won't find it here, but if you feel entertained by great voices and quirky auditions this is a great show to watch. As long there are 20,000 people auditioning in every city this show clearly deserves it's space.

I enjoy watching Simon Cowell judge singing competitions. I simply enjoy singing shows altogether. The American version The X Factor is, perhaps, the worst singing show I've ever seen. I originally thought Canadian Idol was the worst, but they at least had some talent and one year where everybody was great (the year Kalan Porter won). Idol may be worse, but it's all how you look at it. The X Factor is similar to that, but many more things make it bad.

For one thing, Simon Cowell is English and knows his stuff and should be critical. In this, he's like Paula Abdul. He does have an eye for marketing, but lost his eye for talent. That is how it is these days: talentless people with good looks get all the breaks simply because they are marketable. All the judges picked favourites even during the auditions. I remember there was the one good-looking hick dude who sucked. Simon wanted him to sing again and his second choice was just as bad. The judges quickly said yes while the audience cheered the entire time. And that brings me to my next point: the audience. 97% of the audience were teenage girls. In any other show, there's people from all walks of life. Many of the dudes that sucked, got in because they were cute. Half of them didn't even start singing and there was already huge applauses! The positive energy from the audience rubbed off on the judges. And that brings me to the judges. Simon Cowell knows his stuff. Demi Lovato knows nothing. She has no talent, knows nothing about the biz, can't teach/give feedback, and is totally rude. Why not get somebody with talent and lots of wisdom like Anne Murray? She may be old, but is better than Demi in every way. All the other judges were decent. C-Lo was on and off. I was surprised with how good Kelly Rowland was.

Luckily, The X-Factor did have some upsides. There were some truly talented contestants like Jeff Gutt who should have won but lost to a talentless folk couple that won just because of their looks. They were also divided in four different sectors: boys, girls, groups and over 30s. I liked that arrangement. America's Got Talent was the only show where older people could partake in a singing show. But bias did occur. Kelly Rowland's only boneheaded move was sending home a 70-year-old truly gifted singer. Why? Because he would not be marketable as an old guy.

It was good while it lasted, but I'm glad it's gone.

Judging from the 5.7 rating, it would seem that the majority of viewers are as Luke warm about X Factor as I am....such a disappointment! The irony is....the show just seems to be missing its own X Factor...that elusive quality that makes it appealing, addictive, thoroughly satisfying. Way off the mark from "Idol".

No real human connection. The judges seem to be more interested in besting each other than in mentoring (if that is even an appropriate word in this case) their brood of wannabees.

Simon is beyond redemption as a caricature of himself, Paula will soon be without a group to mis-mother. LA should try NY, and Nicole should just ride off into the has been sunset.

For a genre that after ten years of Idol, and rivaled by the Voice, and a ton of other shows, this is proof that go big or go home really works - it was exciting, captivating, and by opening up the age limits we had youngsters and over 30s who proved that singing is universal, and it's never too early or too late to try.

As I write this 63 votes cast on IMDb and half of those gave this a 1, what show were they watching? - are they on the Idol production team? This was big and fun - less bad auditions, a huge stadium of people to give their opinion, and the return of Simon Cowell, I mean come on, what more do you want?

This is going to be a very long haul - from now all the way through to Xmas - but I've looking forward to every moment. Having watched and seen the amazing success that the X Factor has had in the UK (The number one show producing the number one artist and the UK Christmas number one for the past four years) I feel sure that this is the show that Idol now longs to be; brilliant, brilliant stuff, and the 30 who hated it can vote down my comment, but me, I'm just the audience, and we LOVED it....