‘The X Factor’ USA season 4 still likely, says Simon Cowell
Are we going to be seeing more of “The X Factor” USA beyond this year? If you are looking strictly from a ratings point of view, then there is probably one conclusion you would come to and that is a sound “No”. The ratings for the show are pretty atrocious this time around, with even the British version more than doubling its average viewers. To think, that show does it with a small fraction of the possible viewing audience thanks to being in a much smaller country.
But in a conference call with reporters today (accompanied by his finalist Alex & Sierra), Cowell insisted that the odds of a season 4 renewal right now are much better than we would think. However, he did insist that there would be a number of other possible changes, which include different judges (much needed after watching everyone not named Kelly Rowland), a slightly different format, and a different role for even himself. The show could also possibly move down to once a week, but he declined to say which day of the week that it would be.
Does Simon have a reason to fight back at the media for trashing the show this year, and even be perhaps overly confident about a renewal? Probably, since this season had to feel at times like a major punch to his ego. This was a guy who at one point felt like the show would bring in 20 million viewers … and it’s not even drawing a quarter of that on some nights. The biggest reason for its failure from our vantage point is not necessarily that the genre is played out; it’s that the show is just not very good, and there isn’t a ton of great talent on it, either. Save for Alex & Sierra, do you think that Jeff Gutt or Carlito Olivero are really that dominant of performers? Do you feel like either would have made the top 12 on “The Voice” this season? We don’t even feel like we’ll remember them in a year or two.
But if the show comes back and Simon has changed it up, we’ll check it out. Maybe we are just masochistic that way, but we want to believe that Simon knows what he is doing. He has made some hit television before, so in theory, he should be able to do it again.
For more coverage leading up to “The X Factor” finale, just click here to see the rest of our contestant rankings.
Photo: Fox