Did you like Sketchy Details on Facebook yet? The 50th person to like the page gets any item they want, up to $20 in value, from the Etsy store. Exclusive content and easier commenting at the click of this link. Simon Cowell has wanted to bring his hugely successful British talent show The X Factor to the United States for year. Contractually, Fox stopped him from doing it because of American Idol. The stalemate led to the development of America's Got Talent for NBC.
Cowell finally got his way two weeks ago when The X Factor premiered on Fox. The network that blocked the show picked it up (most likely to keep Cowell on the network). The show's format pits four judges against each other, each one mentoring a different group of wannabe superstars: male singers, female singers, vocal groups, and singers over 30. Once each judge chooses their top four contestants, all of the competitors perform live for America's votes. The focus on the judges is what makes X Factor work as a series.
Too bad Fox is playing it like American Idol 2. People do not tune into The X Factor all over the world to hear the sob stories. They tune in to see the contestants sink or swim in front of a live audience. They tune in to watch the judges try to sabotage each other. They tune in for the surprise of great singers who would normally go ignored on reality TV.
Simon Cowell was unfortunately beaten to all of these factors. His own series, America's Got Talent, used the "audition in front of an audience" concept and swung for "can you believe this guy/girl/group?" auditions. Even more damning was the surprising success of The Voice. NBC's singing contest put the judges against each other from the first week. This turned them into characters that the viewers could root for or against. It added excitement to the auditions and built a compelling story over the course of the season.
In downplaying the role of the judges during The X Factor, the show has already given itself a big challenge to overcome. The show come across like all the other talent shows that came before it. Furthermore, they need to convince the audience that they aren't just randomly changing formats on a whim. Tonight, the boot camp round starts, which is different from the open auditions. This leads to the judges' houses round, which is different from anything we've seen on US reality TV before. This, in turn, leads to the live voting, where a good season of any version of X Factor really takes off. It's a contest that weaves through various forms until it hits an audience interaction.
Will the shift in format tonight be enough to boost interest in the series? I'm not sure. The ratings aren't terrible for the show. They're just a little lackluster compared to American Idol.