Had XF gone on producing Steve Brooksteins it would have been dead by now. Basically the team behind the show have attained genius level in promoting and manipulating the show and the viewer. A Steve Brookstein clone will never win the show again, but J and E will go on for as long as the team dictates.

The hysteria surrounding all of this is unbelievable-its like Who Shot JR but every week, and ITV dont just have its ratings but the unique opportunity to promote other shows.Who knows-maybe Simon Cowell has single handedly saved ITV from extinction during this recession.

going to predict that it was XFactors highest ever peak tonight. The reaction on facebook, DS forums etc has been ridiculous

Well yes, though I reckon Susan Boyle (The ratings fairy)will slip in there somewhere as well.

it's actually the "ITV News ....... ( 3 minutes later) at Ten"
there will definatelty be somethink like " JEDWARD BACKLASH !!"



YEAH DS IS LOADING REALLY SLOW , It's about 7 out of 10 trending topics on twitter & near enough every status on facebook has been X FACTOR related!!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/xfactor/...-x-factor.html

How convenient.

So, John and Edward leave next week. Viewers prepare to leave, then are told that SuBo will be making an appearance the week after, and ratings increase further.

You couldn't make it up.

I can't see Jedward leaving next week. After all this it'll be enough for people to keep them in for one week at least.

& then the week after Micheal Jackson comes back from the dead !! you couldn't make it up!! - and actually the Charity singles is the same week as SuBo so all week , even more publicity!!

whatever anyone says Simon Cowell is a very clever man - whatever he does it's a win win situation !!

.......and the charts continue to be dominated by XF related acts week after week after week-and will so it seems right up to the Christmas number one and however long the mania lasts after that.

Its crazy-so much so that surely people will get sick of it in the end-wont they?

I agree. John and Edward will get the bounce that Lloyd got this week. What a show tonight was. Can't deny I'm happy the twins stayed but sad Lucie went. Who the hell is voting for Lloyd...wait, don't answer that.

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This thread has been as firey as The X Factor forum today!

Back to yesterday's ratings - shame Merlin dipped but the early start'll make it suffer slightly. Sure it'll bounce back next week. Stable throughout the night for BBC1 really.

Good for Strictly and superb for The X Factor. Poor old Piers Morgan, losing a lead in like that. Maybe bad scheduling though - Ronnie Corbett's bound to appeal more to the same kind of audience which watched The Festival of Remebrance. Vinnie Jones should've been on this week - especially as it was followed by football highlights (albeit after the news).

It isn't just a trending topic on Twitter, it is a trending topic in offices and schools across the country. To be honest I like that as in this age of digital TV, often you find nobody else in the office has watched the same programme as you, so it's nice to have mass interest programming still.

Merlin's a solid performer and given it has not had Robin Hood style's drops, I think it is safe for a renewal, do think it should either be sandwiched between SCD and the Lottery show or Sundays at 7pm with Countryfile moving to 6pm or taking a break.

Simon took a bullet for the show tonight. Obviously looking at it purely from a singing perspective there was no question that John and Edward should have gone, but ultimately the publicity which they continue to generate is too valuable to lose at this stage, keeping the show on the front pages on a near daily basis.

It was an awkward situation for Simon to be in especially given all that he's said about John and Edward in the past and he will (rightly) take a lot of flack as a result.

While I thought Lucie gave the best performance out of all the acts last night, her presence in the bottom two proved that she wasn't realistically capable of winning, so I think on that basis it was a wise decision but one made very much with a TV producer cap on rather than a record producer cap.

The public will get over it. And there is something rather ironic about the level of backlash given it was almost completely a public decision.

completely right on all counts. The public made her last in the voting, and the fact remains no XFactor winner has ever been in the bottom 2.

It's obvious that Simon is a secret fan of the twins or at the very least knows that they are good for the show. I agree about Lucie. Simon obviously knew she'd come bottom of the votes but by taking it to deadlock he keeps the boys in without copping as much flack for himself. He's not stupid I'll give him that.

Or it could have been all of BBC1's pensioners turning their electric blankets on and making Horlicks after Antiques Roadshow finished - it is very cold out there tonight compared to last Sunday...

To put this in context, here are the top 10 "TV" power surges:

1. 4 July 1990 - World Cup Semi-final (West Germany v England) 2,800MW
2. 22 January 1984 - The Thornbirds 2,600MW
3. 21 June 2002 - World Cup (England v Brazil) 2,570MW
4. 12 June 2002 - World Cup (Nigeria v England) 2,340MW
5. 5 April 2001 - Eastenders (Who shot Phil Mitchell) 2,290MW
6. 8 May 1985 - Dallas (Who shot JR) 2,200MW
7. 20 April 1991 - The Darling Buds of May 2,200MW
8. 22 November 2003 - Rugby World Cup Final (England v Australia) 2,110MW
9. 18 April 1994 - Coronation Street 2,100MW
10. 3 June 1998 - World Cup (England v Argentina) 2,100MW

I'm no energy expert, but the difference between 923mW and 718mW is probably no great shakes?


I believe he also kept planting crap in the tabloids saying he'd emigrate if the public kept the twins in, and the public responded in kind by voting in their millions to keep them there in the hope he'd honour his commitment and pack his bags.

Some gullible people about...


Facebookers, Tw*tterers and DS posters probably don't entirely reflect the real world out there...


I am yet to have a single conversation with anyone in the real world - family, friend, colleague, client or contact - that in any way relates to TXF.


That's the silver lining, I suppose.

Particularly if the credibility of The Cult of Cowell now looks like it's shot away to buggery.

TXF has found a new audience on the back of what happened with BGT. Now TXF could bring BGT down with it...

About as real as BARB probably...

The snobbery of X-Factor is quite amusing.

Any other network aside the DS network basher of choice ITV and we'd be hailing this as genius TV

Simon Cowell knows what people want better than any single person working in television, the UK is a whore to him

Although I'm sure you'd have us believe that the BBC News website does.

And remind me, which article has been the most read on that site for the last 3 hours ?

I disagree. Simon Cowell is good at manipulation and PR, whipping up a storm so he can sell more records and expand his pop empire. TXF-BGT are fronts for all that. Please don't pretend that a TV talent contest and a carbon-copy TV singing contest represent a form of ground-breaking popular television that the nation has been crying out for all its lives...

No, I'd say the BBC News website is just as reflective of "internet opinion" as Tw*tter, Facebook and the rest.

No, it's not but it's by far and away the 2 biggest programmes' of the past few years which have created a brand monster that has wiped the floor with SCD and improved on each singular format

I'm no Cowell convert but is obscene to suggest that people out there, especially blue collar (shops and admin par exemple), aren't talking and watching X-Factor, especially in the younger demographic

I think BBC1 should begin to revamp their Friday, Saturday and Sunday offerings next autumn:-

Friday
7:00pm The One Show
7:30pm Seaside Rescue
8:00pm EastEnders
8:30pm Top of the Pops
9:10pm Casualty
10:00pm BBC News at Ten
10:35pm Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

Saturday
6:00pm Strictly Come Dancing
7:30pm Merlin
8:30pm National Lottery Draws
8:45pm Strictly Come Dancing
9:30pm Have I Got News For You
10:00pm Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
10:50pm BBC Weekend News
11:00pm Spotlight
11:05pm Match of the Day

Sunday
6:00pm Countryfile
7:00pm The Antiques Roadshow
8:00pm Heartbeat
9:00pm Upstairs, Downstairs
10:00pm BBC Weekend News
10:15pm Culshaw & Stephenson
10:45pm The Last Word with Adrian Chiles

So, this would mean BBC buy rights to Heartbeat, re-name Match of the Day 2 'The Last Word with Adrian Chiles', adding other unique features to bring a regular audience even if there are not many matches of note on a Sunday. Culshaw & Stephenson [one of the best impressionist shows I've seen] gets a stable Spitting Image slot on Sunday nights.

Other changes would be the revival of Top of the Pops on Friday nights leading into Casualty, which should get better ratings on a Friday. Friday's line-up is pretty static, but I think it's one night where static will work. Casualty has a lot of successful storylines, and Top of the Pops will show completely different acts every week. It would need to be a professional revamp, and it could depend on how other shows perform against the 2nd Corrie.

Saturday is where the biggest changes happen. From around 9:15 onwards, it really offers itself to a masculine audience, with Comedy Roadshow, Have I Got News For You and Match of the Day. Just to note, the later MOTD goes, the better it performs. Strictly Come Dancing does better the earlier it airs, whilst family drama has a stable slot sandwiched in-between the two Strictly's. It would mean the National Lottery takes a minimal role.

or it could be the collective TXF begrudgers who seem to haunt this place now on a Sunday afternoon putting their fingers into the electric socket


indeed but I sense a But coming ..................


its enough to fully power 200,000 homes for all their requirements. So take that down to the effect of turning on a kettle and you can multiply that by x100 so 20m peak for TXF last night!!!

Not sure if you need a Facebook account to see this... http://www.facebook.com/search/?init...ycott+x+factor

1-10 of over 500 results.

I'd say about 100,000 combined in all those groups. Now, I wonder how many of them will actually boycott..... hmm.

EDIT: Says a lot when 'Jedward' are still 5th trending on Twitter!

I'd estimate about zero actually!

Worth noting that ITV's Sunday share is actually lower than last week. Last week, their share was 19.4%, against 18.8% this week. Surprising considering they had FA Cup football during the day, and a good primetime line-up.

BBC's share is also down from 21.5% to 19%, mainly due to the fact it had live F1 on last Sunday.