I would date it back 2 or 3 years, back to the point where Cowell's crown had fallen (people forget viewing figures were already dropping while he was still on the show). Many more viewers were painfully aware of the blatant manipulation that went on, saw how false and self-contradictory Simon was, and all this amid media claims and Ofcom investigations of the voting being 'fixed'. A lot of viewers lost faith in the show, were reluctant to vote, and the ones who have stuck by it are the diehard fans or those who just regard it as an entertainment spectacle - a gross panto.
No they weren't. Series 7 registered the highest ratings X Factor has ever had and there was an upward trend throughout the whole series. They didn't start to decline until around bootcamp in series 8.
The Mary/Cher incident. Louis Walsh explicitly said on the radio early in the week there would be no sing off and the contestants themselves even revealed they didn't know before being swiftly shut up and changing their story.
The worst thing about it all was Cowell going to the press afterwards and saying it was no fix as a sing off always happened at that stage in the competition which was just a blatant lie. The public aren't as stupid as the producers seem to believe.
The Mary/Cher incident. Louis Walsh explicitly said on the radio early in the week there would be no sing off and the contestants themselves even revealed they didn't know before being swiftly shut up and changing their story.
The worst thing about it all was Cowell going to the press afterwards and saying it was no fix as a sing off always happened at that stage in the competition which was just a blatant lie. The public aren't as stupid as the producers seem to believe.
Also, the ITV website stated that there would be no sing off (and the producers were seriously rattled by the legal implications of this, leading to Dermot using bizarre wording during the actual sing off on the Sunday).
- Live auditions introduced turning it from a contestant singing to judges for approval, to a contestant doing karaoke to a large audience. This is where the manipulated crowd shots, cheers/boos being edited in and dodgy camera angles came into play as well.
- Jedward vs Lucy
- Treatment of Jedward in general
- The RATM campaign
- Robbie Williams being wheeled out to perform three times
- Dannii "outing" Danyl
- The controversy surrounding Danyl after producers being accused of favouirtism towards him.
- Cheryl Cole launching her solo career through the show
The Tesco Mary/Cher Lloyd fix was the most blatant piece of manipulation and I haven't voted since then. But as some commentators here seem better informed than me ( The Conways incident etc.) perhaps the show jumped the shark before that.
Oh, and Happy Days was up to the shark episode a masterful piece of Americana.
JEdward vs Lucie was an outrage but, instead of listening to the audience the following year they put through two singers who didn't sing at the judges houses and then continually saved them over better acts. I honestly think they could have got away with JEdward if they hadn't continually tried to ram Cher and Katie down our throats.
The brand is tarnished and I doubt very much they can do much to redeem it now. A Dani, Cheryl and Simon comeback would do very little to restore the faith of the GBP, the damage has been done. TXF is just a product placement for Syco and has absolutely nothing to do with giving a young hopeful a chance.
Posted this in another thread but I'm sticking it here as well rather than type out much of the same stuff :P
The fact they keep moving the goalposts as to what the show's about and how they keep thinking the general public are stupid.
You tell people the show's about entertainment, its not all about the voice, its about the whole package...and you prove this point by putting acts like Rylan and a crappy manufactured boyband through to the live shows, purportedly as the "best" out of the hundreds of thousands who supposedly auditioned.
But at the same time, you say the show's about finding someone with a great recording voice, "that's what its all about". Doesnt match up.
Also, the thing with having a joke act. Rylan as a joke act really is just pushing it too far for the show. I've grown to like the guy, but as part of the stuff the show tells us about itself...acts like Jedward and Wagner you could laugh at because they were Louis Walsh's, and Louis Walsh has been on our tv screens as a bit of a silly Irishman who likes a laugh for about ten years, and you never expect him to take the show seriously.
Other joke acts...you have vain Katie who's a bit daft but can sing okay, and then Kitty who just wants to be Lady Gaga and seems to be maybe not all there, like the acts you used to see at the auditions...
But this series...it hasnt been entertainment at all. It hasnt been at all what it said it was and its kept changing how it describes itself.
As for its contestants..there's no-one particularly pretty, there's no-one particularly sympathetic off the bat apart from child abuse Jahmene, there's no-one particularly confident like Cher Lloyd or Misha B, there's no-one particularly cute like Janet or Diana Vickers or Eoghan or One Direction, there's no particular 'people's champion' like Tesco Mary or Susan Boyle.
So, there's no particular narrative for any of the contestants going in, add in overblown praise from the judges (who are for that matter, a grumpy ex-camp boyband member who's become the definition of not fun, an ex-burlesque dancer, and some 'urban' white girl who seems to think on the one hand she's a feminist and on the other hand sends out videos of herself having sex, and the aforementioned Louis Walsh himself) and you don't have a very cohesive show.
Add in the auditions seeming very manufactured and not particularly funny (no Ablisa moment this year), losing Spraggan, and the show generally not being 'mainstream pop', instead veering between extremes of overblown camp and overblown credible, and you have your sinking ship.
In general the points that condemned it are the twists, the lack of a 'journey' anymore for contestants - impressing Simon in a closed room, meeting the celebrity judges up close like that, then getting a holiday and a makeover, then getting to go on TV...nowadays everything happens all at once and you get the idea that the contestants get messed around. It doesnt seem very organic anymore.
If I had to point out one particular point I'd say Tesco Mary going out over Cher yes, more importantly though it became BLATANT with Frankie Cocozza last year being championed by Barlow.
I think the whole thing has become quite tacky as well. I used to always love XF and never bothered with Strictly. However, over the last couple of years I've got really into Strictly, and when I switch over I just think to myself how derivative, cheap and trashy XF seems in comparison.
I especially dislike how OTT XF has got with its production with Peter Dickson screaming over everything and swooshing here and there, and the transition effects. Its like it has become a parody of itself.
- Live auditions introduced turning it from a contestant singing to judges for approval, to a contestant doing karaoke to a large audience. This is where the manipulated crowd shots, cheers/boos being edited in and dodgy camera angles came into play as well.
- Jedward vs Lucy
- Treatment of Jedward in general
- The RATM campaign
- Robbie Williams being wheeled out to perform three times
- Dannii "outing" Danyl
- The controversy surrounding Danyl after producers being accused of favouirtism towards him.
- Cheryl Cole launching her solo career through the show
Dermot's statement about there being no sing-off was definitely cleverly worded. The producers knew there was a chance that Cher would be in the bottom 2 as she had been bottom of the vote the previous week. So they prepared for that eventuality. The only thing that could have made that whole fiasco worse is if Cheryl had ranted that the British public were voting for the wrong person a la Tulisa this week.
And another thing, at the audition stages WTF was with there being about 10 minutes focusing on contestants waking up in the morning and drinking tea? Then driving to the auditions and joining the queue?
The X-Factor is on a 12 step programme to "Jumping The Shark":
Step 1. Series 1 The Final when after weeks of being criticised by Louis Walsh & Sharon Osbourne, Luther Vandross soundalike Steve Brookstein was vilified by the wife of Ozzy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L8d4ExlwsA
Step 2. Series 2 - Week 5 - The excellent rock-soul singer Maria Lawson (who it turned out had topped the votes the previous week, and was never outside the Top 4 in the first three weeks), was eliminated by the Judges Vote 2-1 to the far inferior The Conway Sisters by the deciding vote of fellow "Irish Mafioso" Louis Walsh.
Step 3. Series 2 - Featuring the first proper novelty act Chico Slimani, who finished in the bottom two and was saved three times in the first seven weeks before finally finishing 5th.
Step 4. Series 4 - The Final - Thanks to a campaign by the Scottish media, including SNP Leader Alex Salmond actively encouraging people to do their nationalistic duty, the abysmal Michael Buble tribute act Leon Jackson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF1FXNbCtx8 defeated the hot zero-to-hero favourite Popera singer Rhydian Roberts in the final.
Step 5. Series 5 - Eoghan Quigg, despite a series of poor/mediocre performances the Irish teenage Eggnog topped the vote on 6 occasions reaching the Final, before being eliminated in 3rd spot.
Step 6. Series 6 - The first series which saw the introduction of the awful public auditions in front of the judges.
Step 7. Series 6 - Week 5 - The excellent Lucie Jones found herself down in the bottom two versus the Irish novelty duo John & Edward, despite previously criticising them on every opportunity Simon Cowell supported them to make it 2-2 and take it to deadlock, where upon Lucie Jones had the least amount of votes.
Step 8. Series 7 - The Judges Houses - Despite previously putting on one of the greatest performances at Bootcamp ever resulting in the Adele version of the Bob Dylan "To Make You Feel My Love" song to go to #4 in the charts .... Cheryl Cole did not select (then) bookies favourite Gamu Nhengu for the Live stages, instead preferring the very divisive mini chavette Cher Lloyd; and the dubious talent Katie Waissel amongst her selections. Katie Waissel was later saved a record four times by the judges.
Step 9. Series 7 - Semi Final - For the first time in The X Factor history, the judges chose which act they wanted to see progress to the final. No prior warning had been given for this to occur prior to Sunday night's show. Subsequently 4th placed in the public vote Shirley Bassey type belter Mary Byrne was eliminated to 5th placed Cher Lloyd.
Step 10. Series 8 - Week 1 - The judges were thrown a curveball of having to each vote off one of their own acts. This resulted in Kelly Rowland voting off the pre Live Shows bookies favourite Amelia Lily to the shock of many. Subsequently she was voted back on after the enforced ejection of the misguided Gary Barlow selection Frankie Cocozza in Week 6 to the resentment of many of those watching, costing her any serious chance of winning which she could easily have done had she not been kicked out in Week 1.
Step 11. Series 9 - Week 1 - The entertaining but can't sing for toffee act Rylan Clark was save over former Fame Academy 3rd place Country act Carolynne Poole to the outrage of many after a confused Louis was seen taking to the Show's producer whilst she was singing her singoff song, and never actually stated he wanted to send home Carolynne ..... subsequently this series has been about Rylan getting praised for his performances, whilst the far superior but very dated Christopher has been slaughtered by the three judges who are not a member of Take That .... which resulted in Last Weeks cruel, yet hilarious Bottom Two between the two best singers of this series ....
Dermot's statement about there being no sing-off was definitely cleverly worded. The producers knew there was a chance that Cher would be in the bottom 2 as she had been bottom of the vote the previous week. So they prepared for that eventuality. The only thing that could have made that whole fiasco worse is if Cheryl had ranted that the British public were voting for the wrong person a la Tulisa this week.
But if you are running a competition, the onus is on you to make exactly clear what the terms and conditions of the competition are. The public shouldn't have to guess what it is they are voting on (and paying for), and if they are having to guess, it means they are being defrauded.
It was unbelievably short sighted, as the XF brand was damaged by the Mary incident, and the TV ratings have never been as high since.
To be fair, Laura was facing Ruth in the sing off. Ruth sang her out of the water. Laura's Over The Rainbow was nice enough, but nowhere near as good as Ruth's Knocking on Heaven's Door.
For me it was Cowell saving Jedward over Lucie after saying week after week how much he hated them resulting in Lucie's exit. I think that was the moment that the more general public realised how much the show was fixed. My mother is a casual viewer of the show and up until then she didn't see the manipulation of the show. She does now.
Spot on. I think that's when the worm turned and people started to realise it was a cash cow for SyCo rather than a credible singing competition. The fact Jedward had a song out within weeks of their exit spoke volumes. Aside from the 'winners single', the winning act rarely had a song out until the following autumn, when everyone had forgotten about them and started focussing on the new XF acts. The whole show turned into a money making scheme, mostly from advertising revenue. They don't give a sh!t about the winning acts, unless they are marketable in the US of course. :rolleyes:
I think the whole thing has become quite tacky as well. I used to always love XF and never bothered with Strictly. However, over the last couple of years I've got really into Strictly, and when I switch over I just think to myself how derivative, cheap and trashy XF seems in comparison.
I especially dislike how OTT XF has got with its production with Peter Dickson screaming over everything and swooshing here and there, and the transition effects. Its like it has become a parody of itself.
This. ^^
Series 5 was the last decent one.
Series 6, the terrible live auditions started in front of that baying mob...and the show changed forever.
As far as I'm concerned the shark has yet to be jumped however if the vague rumours about Ella's return are true (and I don't think they are) then it could end up being this weekend for me
Spot on. I think that's when the worm turned and people started to realise it was a cash cow for SyCo rather than a credible singing competition. The fact Jedward had a song out within weeks of their exit spoke volumes. Aside from the 'winners single', the winning act rarely had a song out until the following autumn, when everyone had forgotten about them and started focussing on the new XF acts. The whole show turned into a money making scheme, mostly from advertising revenue. They don't give a sh!t about the winning acts, unless they are marketable in the US of course. :rolleyes:
But surely that's what it always was. ITV (and Syco) only survive if they generate income, doesn't really matter if it's "classy" soap like Downton, "normal" soap like Corrie, reality like I'm a Celebrity or Man Utd v Chelsea. It's a company; it's what it does.
Now I think what is evident is that the internal contradictions have come more to the fore and/or more noticed by the audience. The central contradiction is that the needs of a singing talent contest are not 100% aligned to the needs of creating a Saturday night TV audience to generate advertising revenue (or phone line £'s).
Err too far on the "worthy" side and you end up with something like the Voice, deathly dull as it progressed, judges wittering on about technical falsettos endlessly, and a winner/competitors that sank largely without trace, thereby denting its credibility as a contest in the first place.
Err too far towards knockabout pantomime on a Saturday night and you might get a short term audience boost but you also knock its credibility as singers generally accepted as "good" lose out to the "entertainers/pantomime villains", and sometimes too the public get indignant because they have voted as a short term popularity contest rather than finding "a recording artist" and the elimination is deemed to have gone "wrong", see Maria/Conway Sisters, Lucie/Jedward etc etc.
It's a tightrope and sometimes they fall off. Now that said I think they have been falling off more often as the years have gone on, especially since SC's absence, and I'd say it's got one more (already contracted) run around the paddock before it's probably put out to grass - until the "singing talent show formula" is revived by whoever the 2020's Simon Cowell will be.
Comments
No they weren't. Series 7 registered the highest ratings X Factor has ever had and there was an upward trend throughout the whole series. They didn't start to decline until around bootcamp in series 8.
The worst thing about it all was Cowell going to the press afterwards and saying it was no fix as a sing off always happened at that stage in the competition which was just a blatant lie. The public aren't as stupid as the producers seem to believe.
Also, the ITV website stated that there would be no sing off (and the producers were seriously rattled by the legal implications of this, leading to Dermot using bizarre wording during the actual sing off on the Sunday).
- Live auditions introduced turning it from a contestant singing to judges for approval, to a contestant doing karaoke to a large audience. This is where the manipulated crowd shots, cheers/boos being edited in and dodgy camera angles came into play as well.
- Jedward vs Lucy
- Treatment of Jedward in general
- The RATM campaign
- Robbie Williams being wheeled out to perform three times
- Dannii "outing" Danyl
- The controversy surrounding Danyl after producers being accused of favouirtism towards him.
- Cheryl Cole launching her solo career through the show
- Average series with average talent
Oh, and Happy Days was up to the shark episode a masterful piece of Americana.
The brand is tarnished and I doubt very much they can do much to redeem it now. A Dani, Cheryl and Simon comeback would do very little to restore the faith of the GBP, the damage has been done. TXF is just a product placement for Syco and has absolutely nothing to do with giving a young hopeful a chance.
Entirely agree. Should have been named The Judge Factor.
The fact they keep moving the goalposts as to what the show's about and how they keep thinking the general public are stupid.
You tell people the show's about entertainment, its not all about the voice, its about the whole package...and you prove this point by putting acts like Rylan and a crappy manufactured boyband through to the live shows, purportedly as the "best" out of the hundreds of thousands who supposedly auditioned.
But at the same time, you say the show's about finding someone with a great recording voice, "that's what its all about". Doesnt match up.
Also, the thing with having a joke act. Rylan as a joke act really is just pushing it too far for the show. I've grown to like the guy, but as part of the stuff the show tells us about itself...acts like Jedward and Wagner you could laugh at because they were Louis Walsh's, and Louis Walsh has been on our tv screens as a bit of a silly Irishman who likes a laugh for about ten years, and you never expect him to take the show seriously.
Other joke acts...you have vain Katie who's a bit daft but can sing okay, and then Kitty who just wants to be Lady Gaga and seems to be maybe not all there, like the acts you used to see at the auditions...
But this series...it hasnt been entertainment at all. It hasnt been at all what it said it was and its kept changing how it describes itself.
As for its contestants..there's no-one particularly pretty, there's no-one particularly sympathetic off the bat apart from child abuse Jahmene, there's no-one particularly confident like Cher Lloyd or Misha B, there's no-one particularly cute like Janet or Diana Vickers or Eoghan or One Direction, there's no particular 'people's champion' like Tesco Mary or Susan Boyle.
So, there's no particular narrative for any of the contestants going in, add in overblown praise from the judges (who are for that matter, a grumpy ex-camp boyband member who's become the definition of not fun, an ex-burlesque dancer, and some 'urban' white girl who seems to think on the one hand she's a feminist and on the other hand sends out videos of herself having sex, and the aforementioned Louis Walsh himself) and you don't have a very cohesive show.
Add in the auditions seeming very manufactured and not particularly funny (no Ablisa moment this year), losing Spraggan, and the show generally not being 'mainstream pop', instead veering between extremes of overblown camp and overblown credible, and you have your sinking ship.
In general the points that condemned it are the twists, the lack of a 'journey' anymore for contestants - impressing Simon in a closed room, meeting the celebrity judges up close like that, then getting a holiday and a makeover, then getting to go on TV...nowadays everything happens all at once and you get the idea that the contestants get messed around. It doesnt seem very organic anymore.
If I had to point out one particular point I'd say Tesco Mary going out over Cher yes, more importantly though it became BLATANT with Frankie Cocozza last year being championed by Barlow.
I especially dislike how OTT XF has got with its production with Peter Dickson screaming over everything and swooshing here and there, and the transition effects. Its like it has become a parody of itself.
Same here. 2009
That was the year the bitching started.
Last years elimination of someone from each group in the first Live show. Its not Big Brother.
Sharon's verbal tirade to Steve Brookstein.
Step 1. Series 1 The Final when after weeks of being criticised by Louis Walsh & Sharon Osbourne, Luther Vandross soundalike Steve Brookstein was vilified by the wife of Ozzy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L8d4ExlwsA
Step 2. Series 2 - Week 5 - The excellent rock-soul singer Maria Lawson (who it turned out had topped the votes the previous week, and was never outside the Top 4 in the first three weeks), was eliminated by the Judges Vote 2-1 to the far inferior The Conway Sisters by the deciding vote of fellow "Irish Mafioso" Louis Walsh.
Step 3. Series 2 - Featuring the first proper novelty act Chico Slimani, who finished in the bottom two and was saved three times in the first seven weeks before finally finishing 5th.
Step 4. Series 4 - The Final - Thanks to a campaign by the Scottish media, including SNP Leader Alex Salmond actively encouraging people to do their nationalistic duty, the abysmal Michael Buble tribute act Leon Jackson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF1FXNbCtx8 defeated the hot zero-to-hero favourite Popera singer Rhydian Roberts in the final.
Step 5. Series 5 - Eoghan Quigg, despite a series of poor/mediocre performances the Irish teenage Eggnog topped the vote on 6 occasions reaching the Final, before being eliminated in 3rd spot.
Step 6. Series 6 - The first series which saw the introduction of the awful public auditions in front of the judges.
Step 7. Series 6 - Week 5 - The excellent Lucie Jones found herself down in the bottom two versus the Irish novelty duo John & Edward, despite previously criticising them on every opportunity Simon Cowell supported them to make it 2-2 and take it to deadlock, where upon Lucie Jones had the least amount of votes.
Step 8. Series 7 - The Judges Houses - Despite previously putting on one of the greatest performances at Bootcamp ever resulting in the Adele version of the Bob Dylan "To Make You Feel My Love" song to go to #4 in the charts .... Cheryl Cole did not select (then) bookies favourite Gamu Nhengu for the Live stages, instead preferring the very divisive mini chavette Cher Lloyd; and the dubious talent Katie Waissel amongst her selections. Katie Waissel was later saved a record four times by the judges.
Step 9. Series 7 - Semi Final - For the first time in The X Factor history, the judges chose which act they wanted to see progress to the final. No prior warning had been given for this to occur prior to Sunday night's show. Subsequently 4th placed in the public vote Shirley Bassey type belter Mary Byrne was eliminated to 5th placed Cher Lloyd.
Step 10. Series 8 - Week 1 - The judges were thrown a curveball of having to each vote off one of their own acts. This resulted in Kelly Rowland voting off the pre Live Shows bookies favourite Amelia Lily to the shock of many. Subsequently she was voted back on after the enforced ejection of the misguided Gary Barlow selection Frankie Cocozza in Week 6 to the resentment of many of those watching, costing her any serious chance of winning which she could easily have done had she not been kicked out in Week 1.
Step 11. Series 9 - Week 1 - The entertaining but can't sing for toffee act Rylan Clark was save over former Fame Academy 3rd place Country act Carolynne Poole to the outrage of many after a confused Louis was seen taking to the Show's producer whilst she was singing her singoff song, and never actually stated he wanted to send home Carolynne ..... subsequently this series has been about Rylan getting praised for his performances, whilst the far superior but very dated Christopher has been slaughtered by the three judges who are not a member of Take That .... which resulted in Last Weeks cruel, yet hilarious Bottom Two between the two best singers of this series ....
Step 12 ????????
But if you are running a competition, the onus is on you to make exactly clear what the terms and conditions of the competition are. The public shouldn't have to guess what it is they are voting on (and paying for), and if they are having to guess, it means they are being defrauded.
It was unbelievably short sighted, as the XF brand was damaged by the Mary incident, and the TV ratings have never been as high since.
This. ^^
Series 5 was the last decent one.
Series 6, the terrible live auditions started in front of that baying mob...and the show changed forever.
But surely that's what it always was. ITV (and Syco) only survive if they generate income, doesn't really matter if it's "classy" soap like Downton, "normal" soap like Corrie, reality like I'm a Celebrity or Man Utd v Chelsea. It's a company; it's what it does.
Now I think what is evident is that the internal contradictions have come more to the fore and/or more noticed by the audience. The central contradiction is that the needs of a singing talent contest are not 100% aligned to the needs of creating a Saturday night TV audience to generate advertising revenue (or phone line £'s).
Err too far on the "worthy" side and you end up with something like the Voice, deathly dull as it progressed, judges wittering on about technical falsettos endlessly, and a winner/competitors that sank largely without trace, thereby denting its credibility as a contest in the first place.
Err too far towards knockabout pantomime on a Saturday night and you might get a short term audience boost but you also knock its credibility as singers generally accepted as "good" lose out to the "entertainers/pantomime villains", and sometimes too the public get indignant because they have voted as a short term popularity contest rather than finding "a recording artist" and the elimination is deemed to have gone "wrong", see Maria/Conway Sisters, Lucie/Jedward etc etc.
It's a tightrope and sometimes they fall off. Now that said I think they have been falling off more often as the years have gone on, especially since SC's absence, and I'd say it's got one more (already contracted) run around the paddock before it's probably put out to grass - until the "singing talent show formula" is revived by whoever the 2020's Simon Cowell will be.