For me, considering the falling ratings, I think they should just reboot The X Factor next year - change every part of the show and see if it can generate interest in the programme once again. If it fails, it will be axed but it's on that trajectory already so it'll hardly be a disaster.

Schedule
Launch the show on 8th September and have six audition shows across Saturday and Sunday, rather than one a week until the final audition stage. Bootcamp, Judges Houses and the live shows remain the same.

ITV need to understand that less is more in terms of adverts and cut down on them so we have at least two acts in each part before an ad break appears. They also need to give the show more support - giving it a lead in of less than 3m is hardly going to help it; the show is struggling as it is without having to self-start.

Presenter/s
While Dermot has done a good job on The X Factor I think they need a presenter, or presenters, who have a comic approach rather than a straight approach. Ant and Dec would be perfect but ITV'll will never allow them to do it as it would affect their time in the jungle. Therefore, I think I would go completely left field and ask Mel Gledroyc and Sue Perkins. It's a risk but they work well together on The Great British Bake Off and I think they would do a good job on The X Factor.

Judges
Simon to return in an 'Adjudicator' capacity, where he alone decides on the result of the sing off. He does not mentor the acts and is therefore an impartial judge on the panel.

Cut down the categories to three (under 25s, over 25s and groups) as the talent is being stretched by splitting the boys and girls. Keep Louis and Nicole and reintroduce Cheryl to the panel (which will get the red tops going about Cheryl and Nicole working together).

Auditions
Return to the hotel rooms of the past where acts have to sing a capella which should eliminate the joke acts and return the show to a proper singing contest.

Bootcamp
Split the contestants into categories here rather than after bootcamp and allocate the categories to a mentor. Each mentor is allowed to establish their own approach to bootcamp so the acts will go through different processes depending on who is mentoring them.

Judges Houses
Same process as now except, again, the mentors can choose which approach they wish to take at this final stage rather than allowing it to be standardized. They can also choose how many acts they wish to take through to Judges Houses though only four acts can go through to the finals. Simon is the guest 'helper' for each mentor at this stage.

Live Shows
Possibly revamp the studio - I don't know why but the stage has been looking very small of late. They should play down the judges entrance and combine it with the acts entrance to save time, like they did in earlier series.

The themes are kept as vague as possible to allow the acts the best possible chance, I would reintroduce Big Band night though, as it added something different to the show.

The sing off, as stated earlier, is for the Adjudicator to vote on only and those saved are announced sporadically throughout the show to keep some interest during the filler, rather than all at the end.

What would you do to with The X Factor next season (other than axe it)?

Schedule:

Start mid-August as per usual. Cut down on the number of audition weeks, not shows. Eight audition shows spread over four weeks (a la The Voice), on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

Presenters:

Dermot must remain. No changes there, best man for the job. Olly and Caroline are also very good, so they can stay.

But...I'd extend Xtra Factor to seven days a week (similar to It Takes Two being on on weekdays) and have Rylan present, with backstage exclusives, rehearsal footage etc. So Rylan on weekdays, Olly and Caroline at weekends.

Judges:

Simon - has to return, let's be honest. Would be massive for the show. But if it can't happen Gary is the next best thing.

Sharon - if you want drama, then she's the woman to ask. And her and Louis' double act was amazing.

Nicole - has done well this year so she can stay.

Louis - irreplaceable. He's part of the furniture and it wouldn't work without him, especially with Sharon there (and Simon).

Auditions:

Ideally I'd go back to the Hotel Conference rooms but this is never going to happen, so my only change would be on scheduling as detailed above.

Bootcamp:

Keep as normal. 24 acts through to Judges' Houses.

Judges' Houses:

And keep as normal too, this is one of the best stages of the show.

Judges pick 3 acts each, 12 finalists.

Live Shows:

11 weeks of live shows as opposed to 10 (possible due to dropping one audition week earlier on)

WILDCARD SHOW:

Week 1's show is a special 'wildcard' show, where all 12 eliminated acts at Judges' Houses perform, and the public vote for one act to join the others, making a final 13.

With one act leaving per week (no doubles) from the second live show onwards there'd be three in the final. Perfect.

Extra:

24/7 live streaming from the X Factor house (bring that back). Fame Academy had it and it was great.

It's time to give the boot to talent shows like XFactor, they've ruined pop music enough. Cowell has made his money and the charts are saturated with mediocrity and wannabes. The lasting effect of the XFactor etc is that in future the 2000s will be seen as the worst period in the history of pop music since the 50s with no innovation and plastic pop stars.

I love this idea; it would give the public the chance to have a say in the selection process as well.

They could open up the opportunity further (if they keep to four categories) by allowing one act through from each category to make 16. They could then introduce a couple of doubles to get it down to the right number and it would cover them if anyone has to withdraw.

AUDITIONS (4 weeks, 8 episodes starting late October/early November):
Split over 4 weekends, each weekend based on one of the 4 categories. A set number of acts (say 15) audition for the judges who can only give out a limited number of golden tickets (or whatever you want to call them). We'll say 7 for example. Once 6 have got through, any of the 15 acts that haven't yet performed get the chance to sing for the last slot. So it'd basically be a sing off for the last spot. At the end of each weekend, there is a draft and the three judges pick 2 acts each to mentor and one person is left unpicked and goes home.

The judges all get to have acts from each category under this format. The auditions are done without an audience but not quite as cheap looking as hotel conference rooms. I don't think they need to go forward with something new, not just move backwards.

Once all the auditions are done, the 4 acts who just missed out in the drafts get a second chance in a "wildcard draft". Each judge gets to pick one more act. But it's double the agony for one act who will be rejected again.

JUDGES HOUSES (two weekends, late Nov/ early Dec):
Longer, more focus on fewer acts than we see at bootcamp. Each judge has 2 acts from each of the 4 categories (so 8 in total) plus the extra wildcard (9). At the end of the first weekend they'll send two acts packing and then another two in the second weekend.

SEMI-FINALS (just before xmas):
The 3 judges each have 5 contestants now and they face the public vote. Each judge has one show each dedicated to their category (Sat/Sun and a special Monday show). The 5 acts perform and the public vote for 3 of them to go into the live finals.

LIVE FINALS (January/February):
8 weeks with proper themes coming back. Lately all the live weeks blend into each other. Big band week might not be cool but it could be hyped as a bit of an event. Have a Michael Jackson week and roll out his family, get the acts doing group performances of his songs with his hologram appearing (that's all the range just now!). Maybe some funny video parodies (think Louis and Sinitta in Thriller!). Try and "decorate" the set to match themes. "Swing era" for example, for big band week. Everyone dresses up a bit, the "glamour shots" (those posing bits before the act performs) could be changed to suit the theme. This is just an example - the idea is really to try and make the show stand out a bit each week and do something special for each theme.

If there's a special guest performance related to the theme, have them on Saturday night. Use the extra theme based performances (group/guest) as a way to squeeze in more live content on Saturday nights (shorter judges comments and VT's). Also put Caroline on the main show with Dermot.

LIVE RESULTS:
Show starts with a guest performer. Followed by the reveal of the bottom 3. The judges save one act. The remaining two perform again and the voting lines are opened. Second guest performance. Result of public vote.

JUDGES:
Simon Cowell. Two other new judges. I've liked Nicole in the VT's this year. Louis has been great for the show. But they're tainted by failure both this year and last and they need a whole new break. Louis and Sinitta could host Xtra Factor!

SCHEDULING:
As outlined above, the show starts later. Gives everyone a bit of time off as well. And it allows Simon to come back. All he'd need to do is come over for the one semi-final show before Christmas. Starting in October/November and the 3 night semi-final format in December means ITV get plenty of viewers to sell to advertisers.

ONE OTHER THING...
Maybe call it something other than X Factor! As I said, a fresh break is needed. A bit like when X Factor took over from Pop Idol.

Judges
Five from: Louis, Simon, Nicole, Cheryl, Sharon, Kylie (I read somewhere that she's supposedly interested), or someone else.

Keep the four categories and one judge will not have a category.

Live Shows
Keep the running orders "fair" with no one performing unusually early or late (on average); if not, just make it random. Voting should start after all the performances (had this been in place, getting rid of Christopher would have been pulled off by now).

The sing-off will be decided by the four mentors. After that, the fifth judge may opt to break the deadlock or force deadlock (in case of a 2-1 or 3-1 margin).

Voting
Maybe the show should take a cue from The Voice (US) and consider one single bought on iTunes as 10+ votes each. Same with YouTube views since the show wants to find a "world-class recording artist" anyway.

All these suggestions are like 'rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic'.

IMHO the whole format has to be changed, retitled and rebranded as something totally new.

Either it should be a more edgy and 'urban' contest with groups as well as solo and bands. This variation would need to be broadcast at an appropriate time and certainly have more appropriate judges!!

Or aim for the wider 'family' audience on a Saturday night and have versatile singers singing songs the audience know!!

The current format is trying to embrace too many audiences.

First jobs, whatever happens, is to ditch all the judges but Gary and ban the 'novelty' contestants.

Granddad
Last edited by Granny Grunt : 03-12-2012 at 08:50

Audition only one category per year and let the audience compare oranges with oranges. So much potential talent must be discarded each year with no chance to develop and progress just so XF can fill it's quota for each absurd category.

In this way I could make no special effort to avoid the boyblands. Just skip the entire series.

But isn't that a risk? People will abandon the series if they're bored with a specific category.

Simon, Cheryl, Nicole & Louis on the panel- Simon being impartial with the categories split between the other three (males, females, groups). In the result of a deadlock tie during the results, Simon gets the casting vote.

More unique performers and "credible" artists who could actually make it- even just looking back at last years finalists with Amelia, Janet, Misha, Kitty and even Frankie (he was during the earlier rounds) etc, people who are different and we haven't really seen before.

More positive and tongue in cheek attitude towards it all- its far too serious at the minute. Britain's Got Talent was really good this year because it poked fun at itself.

They could do with a new set too. The one they have is great and functional, and its perfect for the show, but its been there since 2009.

I think they should make more effort with the themes - more specific and actually follow them with the song choices put a bit of decoration in the studio to make each Saturday show less predictable and give them more variety each week.

I also like the idea of showing the auditions on Saturday and Sunday over four weeks rather than 8 episodes over 7 weeks like we have now (I think).

Do take itself so seriously and give it back the feeling of a genuine competition rather than the producer-manipulated farce the show's become. I don't know how best this could be done though?

For auditions I would have just 4 audition locations in London, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow not in arena's though either TV studios or smaller venue's, the judges need to praise the good acts and not the bad ones as they have been doing, oh and limit the joke acts too. next it would be over 4 weekends Saturdays and Sundays one location per weekend stops the audience from being confused(was really confusing this year with all the guest judges).

Boot camp would remain the same pretty much the same but non of this ditching a 3rd of the artists before they get their turn again, its tacky and says they shouldn't have got through in the first place and the judges are crap.

Judges houses would be the same except the judges pick 3 acts to go through, then the other judges decide the wildcard act.

the major change would be the live shows gone is the TV studio and out comes an arena tour, they can sell tickets to help pay for it. The stage would have to be resigned to make it easy to move around the country but this could create a buzz and atmosphere and could help with the themes, like Best of Scotland when they get to Glasgow or Beatles week in Liverpool would be a challenge but it can be done.

Gone would be Tulisa and Gary and they would be replaced imediately no guest judges.

Sing. Hey do you know what Fud means in Scotland?

I think that's a bit too radical.


I found it out after I picked the name, but the second 'd' saves me from that.

I think the categories should be given at Bootcamp.