‘The X Factor’ USA season 2 review (part 1): Talking Britney Spears, production
Over the next few days, we are going to just about everything we can to break down what has been a rather complicated season of “The X Factor,” a show that started off in some level on a high with plenty of buzz and even a pretty great premiere, and try to figure out just where the show goes from here.
Over the coming days we will look both at the talent and what needs to be changed moving forward, but we’re going to start things off here with what worked and what didn’t when it comes to Simon Cowell, the judging panel, the hosts, and the production behind the scenes.
The judges
When Simon got rid of Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, there was much rejoicing after the debacle that was season 1. Then, there was much rejoicing after the booking of Britney Spears and Demi Lovato, two bonafide pop stars who are at times controversial and who what it takes to be successful in the modern music business. Sadly, we don’t know if there is any real rejoicing now.
Before we talk about any judge in particular, though, it needs to be said here: Simon may be the star of the show, but he is also one of its biggest problems. You need a very specific sort of person to not have their personality swallowed up next to the guy, especially when he also doubles as your boss. It was so striking to us this year how brilliant Nicole was on the British version of the show, and how this was far and away different from how insecure and desperate she felt at times stateside during the first season. The only major difference? There was no Simon breathing down her neck.
Simon’s presence really minimized the importance of one L.A. Reid, an extremely smart and respected businessman who is making the right decision to focus more on his day job. He just didn’t have the right sort of energy for the show at times, and he was almost actually too similar to Cowell in many ways that we need a little bit more personality on the panel.
Speaking of personality, where in the world was this when it came to Britney Spears? Once again, she may be an example of a personality engulfed by Simon and the madness of this show, but in no way did the pop princess earn a $15 million check for the season. Her criticisms were never longer than a sentence, were often extremely generic and vague, and every time she leaned in to the camera, you could see it in her head that she was just waiting for it to be over. For financial reasons alone Britney is almost sure to be gone, and in many ways that is best. She’s always been a great pop star, and one of the reasons why is because she is such an enigma. Ultimately, she’s better off going back to that rather than having her best moment on TV be a strange face she makes after Fifth Harmony was through to the finals.
The one person who did shine almost all year was Demi Lovato, who certainly practice what she preached when it came to her “stay strong” tattoo. She never backed down from Simon, and was consistently one of the only judges aware that this is an entertainment show first and foremost. People are here to be entertained! Demi did struggle at times as a mentor, but much of that is not her fault given what production forced on her.
Production
With that, we come to the real evil empire here that caused the show so many problems this year: the faces behind the scenes. Whoever is responsible for licensing music should be fired straight out of the gate. We need new music! Carly Rose Sonenclar had a big moment with “Hallelujah” during the finale, but she failed to receive enough votes for it since this is a song that singing-show viewers are sick of hearing. Producers need to be aware of that … and also that putting her next to LeAnn Rimes in a duet was a terrible idea.
The producers in many ways damaged badly the chances of Lyric 145, Vino Alan, and Beatrice Miller early in the competition by saddling them with things they didn’t want to do, and they yet again tried to thrust many of these singers into superstardom long before they were ready. This is why so many of our favorite performances this season (CeCe Frey’s “Sexy and I Know It,” Lyric 145’s “Party in the USA”) were at the judges’ houses. They were intimate, and didn’t have the seizure-inducing lights and spectacle behind them.
The hosts
Is it possible that not having hosts for the entire show could be a cool idea? It would save the show a good deal of cash, and during the live rounds the judges could just introduce the acts themselves. After all, all Khloe Kardashian and Mario Lopez brought to the show this year were walking advertisements for Pepsi and frequent utterances of the words “yes,” “and,” and “but.” Mario was surprisingly the worst offender, and for a veteran host we don’t know how he came across so unsympathetic and programmed to show no emotion. Heck, we’d rather have Steve Jones back than more of him.
We’ll get into some more possibly hosting suggestions in the third part of our review early next week, but this cannot be left the same next year. This is a much harder job than it is made out to be, and there are only a select few who really do it well on TV right now: Ryan Seacrest, Cat Deeley, Tom Bergeron, and British “X Factor” host Dermot O’Leary are our personal picks.
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If you want to read some more on what the season 2 winner in Tate Stevens is going to do moving forward, you can by heading on over to the link here.
Photo: Fox
X Factor Is to Blame, and Tate
December 23, 2012 @ 1:12 pm
The main one to blame here is X Factor for sabotaging Carly Rose by pairing her with a person with REAL BAD publicity right now, LeAnn Rimes. They obviously didn’t want Carly to win because they would otherwise have placed her with a winner like the other two acts were. Placing Carly with a “trainwreck in the public eye” solidified the horribly manipulative and rigged nature of this show in my mind. They knew Rimes haters would pounce and the bad publicity would not be good for Carly votes (many of her fans likely were tweeting about drunk LeAnn instead of voting). They were clearly grooming Tate and threw Carly under the bus by giving her Rimes. And then Rimes threw Carly under the bus by apparently blaming her for the unprofessional performance, and now Carly’s mother threw Carly under the bus by apparently blaming Rimes and perpetuating bad drama in social media and bringing yet more “bad” publicity to Carly instead of rising above and refusing to “play this sordid game.” Carly is the only one apparently not blaming anyone! Ultimately though, Rimes had no place in a performance “for the win” as she is so “hated” right now and hardly up to par with her singing and up to par interpersonally. Ultimately it was X Factor producers who stuck Carly with a “trainwreck” obviously to derail her from winning (let’s face it, Rimes could not possibly have helped her chances and X Factor is not stupid, they knew it). I will never watch another “talent” show on TV like X Factor or Idol, as they are manipulative, rigged annoyances that crap all over people for their own gain. And obviously had this competition been about talent and the good overall package of a person, Carly would have won. Instead, sob stories and mediocrity won in the end, not to mention a bunch of alterior motives like trainwrecking and derailing of others for selfish satisfaction and gain. Everyone was a victim here instead of X Factor who started the whole bitter ball rolling. And the worst victim of all was innocent and sweet Carly Rose, a 13-year-old prodigy, the only contestant to thank the audience after each performance, who is too good for it all and never threw anyone under a train. Honestly, she is better off without being in the clutches of a filthy X Factor winning prize and contract. Poor Carly Rose, without much of a voice here, well, compared to adults. But then, how can she be? She is a child at the whim of others (did her parents care more about the money than her well-being?). As for Tate, what a boo hoo sob story teller to get the prize while also trashing Carly’s semi-final performance (sure that didn’t help her votes) thus throwing her under the train too. Real mature. Boo hoo for all this! Boo!
lee
December 22, 2012 @ 11:46 am
this is a singing contest, not who can tell sad stories, cowboy left a good paying job , and wants people to feel sorry for him,people in my town would die to have a job that good, be happy you had a good job, you can sing, i’ll give you that, but back off the sad vote. carly sing better than all other people including leann rimes who by the way sucked, and i love leann rimes songs, she cost carley the win , so sad the girl has a great voice, i just hope she doesn’t give up. simmon or some one please help her get started .