The Old Cowell Family Motto - "Wear Your Trousers High"

[angelophile]

So, as I've mentioned before the number of televisual guilty pleasures I enjoy is fairly small. My short attention span ensures that sitting down at a regular slot every week for an extended perior of time rarely happens, but I have a few guilty pleasures. There's Doctor Who and Torchwood, Top Gear and also, the guiltiest of them all, X-Factor.

For those not in the know, X-Factor's the updated version of Pop Idol over here. Simon Cowell is head cheese, while the show has been changed from the Pop Idol format to include any individuals and groups from the ages of 14 upwards - so you get groups, 40 year olds and 15 year olds all rubbing shoulders on the same bill.

It's a guilty pleasure because it's undeniably cheesy and it doesn't require much brainpower to watch and enjoy. Sometimes, occasionally, they even unearth some genuine talent - Leona Lewis, she of the recent US number one, is a former winner of the show.

This week's been interesting as the crap hit the fan as a favourite to win the series was voted off the show in a "shocking" move after two of the better singers on the show ended up fighting for the judges' votes. Meanwhile, singers described variously as awful and pub singers have avoided being in the final two, one of whom is eliminated each week. It's even got to the point where it was commented on in parliament.

Which makes me quirk a curious eyebrow is why any of this comes as a surprise to Cowell, who's described Saturday night's show, which saw the public vote leaving Spanish diva Ruth and Laura "the voice" facing the judges' votes, as "shocking" and "insane".

Now, Cowell's a smart guy. I'm bemused as to why he finds it shocking that weaker singers got through after the whole X-Factr show has been gradually turned from a singing competition into a show which spends more time detailing people's tragic life stories.

It boggles me that Cowell can preside over a show where week by week we've heard about people's personal tragedies more than we've heard them sing and wonder why people aren't voting for the best singers. The recent spoof by Peter Kay, where a contestant was eliminated only to be reinstated after his grandmother died had it spot on. The X-Factor show has turned into a show where tugging on the heartstrings has got more important than the singing.

But even Cowell must know this. Thus when his inexplicable favourite, big voiced, foul mouthed, bad attituded former drug addict Rachel, gave an appalling performance this week, he and the other judges entirely neglected to mention her performance in their response. It was all comments about how they liked her, mentioning her children, of whom most are in care, and carefully avoiding making it known that their favourite had delivered an awful performance. They made it personal. How then, can Cowell and the others be surprised when the public do the same?

Not that I think Cowell is totally oblivious. The weakest singer remaining on the show so far is the likable Daniel, a middle aged single father whose wife died after childbirth - something the programme makers have been quick to remind us of at every opportunity. Weekly Daniel has been slated by the judges, Cowell in particular, who's not had a good word to say about him. This week, after seeing him sail through while two of his acts were voted off, Cowell suddenly changed his tune and gave him a glowing review. He appears to have realized that the harsh comments have created an underdog and there's nothing the British public like more.

So why the supposed surprise and horror? Why the complaints about the British public not voting as they should do?

I'm sorry, Simon, but they've voting exactly how you trained them to vote - with the heart, not the ear.

Comments

[kirke-novak.livejournal.com]

The main reason why I don't watch shows like that, is that people like Simon made a name for themselves just being unbelievably nasty. Saying "you're not good enough" is not good enough for them (ha!), they must insult you and your grandma at least twice before they are done with you. On the other hand, the audience seems to boo every critique, even the constructive one. Well, if you go to there, you know what you can expect, I guess.

Since they are my cup of tea, I try to avoid them at any cost if I can but sometimes, it's just impossible, so I get an occasional glance or two, especially since I like to read - and they like to talk. I don't know the guy's name and I only today heard him singing but yes, I know about his dead wife. I remember some guy who was in a foster home (?) and a girl whose mum's died of cancer. As a person that doesn't watch this type of shows perhaps I shouldn't have an opinion but it bugs me - I feel as it's they are devaluating their tragedy by turning it into a marketing tool.

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

There's a fine line between nasty and brutally honest and it's down to interpretation some of the time. I think, generally, NOW Cowell comes down as more brutally honest than deliberately cruel (not to say, as you say, he didn't make a name for himself being more cruel). You look at some people in the audition stage and frankly the healthiest thing you can do for them is to say "you sound awful and there's no chance you will ever succeed in this industry." It's not healthy for people to chance utterly unobtainable dreams and more often than not, the families are to blame for encouraging their children with the attitude of "if you set your mind to it you can achieve anything" which is simply not true. If it takes Cowell to say "wow, that was awful" to allow them to move on and go and do something productive with their lives, I'm all for it.

Sometimes, however, I agree, he, and others, push it too far. What's interesting is I usually agree with what he says, just not the way he says it.

And I totally agree with the devaluing of someone's tragedy by using it as a marketing tool. That's what X-Factor's become, not from the people themselves most of the time (those who do play up personal tragedy deliberately for attention rarely last long. If it's forced, people are savvy enough to sniff that out.) But the X-Factor producers have pushed that aspect and now deliberately try and give every contestant their own life story. Which is, as I say, why no one on the show should be surprised why people vote on the basis of these stories, rather than actual talent.