Probably the only judging panel they've had with people qualified to judge anything. Between them they've produced, managed and promoted established and successful acts. It was also quite fun too. Giggling, laughing, Sharon's drunken comments, it was such a fun series.

I think having mentoring/management experience as they all did it added credibility to their roles on the show. None of them were there because they looked pretty. You believed that if Louis act won he'd be at least involved somehow in their careers post-X Factor. Ditto Sharon. They might well be signed to Simon's label but the two have experience with managing artists and you'd imagine that they'd be involved, at least initially, in their careers having spent so much time with them during the show.

They worked so well together and had a great chemistry and there'd be laughter on every show. Now we have Simon looking disinterested, Cheryl scowling, Rita looking stressed and Nick looking as if he's trying to work out why he's there.

If they do decide to put the show on hiatus I hope the final series they restore the original judging panel just for one last time. If only that the whole "OMG everything has to be dramatic from the start!!!!" would be undermined beautifully by Sharon and Louis corpsing at the other end of the table.

But it's been 10 years. Sharon and Louis just wouldn't cut it now

What is it you don't think they'd cut?

Please don't tell me you're someone who thinks nobody watches television unless everyone on the show looks under 30?

Here's the 3 mentioned judges in which personally i think was one of the funniest scenes ever in X Factor, it used to be so much more entertaining than the current bore fest and the judges opinions here are ruthless, honest and very funny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4pIRMWlXPw

I think one of the shows biggest problems now is Simon himself, he works on BGT but he no longer works for me on X Factor.

Those were the days. They take the show way too seriously now. Simon is only interested in money, and whoever he brings in adds very little to the actual show - unlike Sharon and Louis, who would make the show more dramatic and entertaining to watch. I'm not one of these people who watches old clips online, but I do miss those days.

You can kind of guess where it's going to go when she describes herself as 'amazing' and 'I've got the X Factor. I know, I've just got it'

Then tells Louis to get out

I do miss these old room auditions

It was far better when it was just a stripped back audition sung in acapalla, you just never knew what you were going to get but it felt more genuine, now they look like seasoned performers and it's lost it's innocent appeal.

Well clearly the show is struggling with them gone so your comment doesn't make sense

It's a light entertainment programme on TV - it's hardly serious music is it?

Anyway, Louis & Sharon probably know more about music than bloody Rita Ora.

Your comment doesn't make sense, the show basically doubled its audience when Sharon left and Cheryl and Dannii were on the panel, the show is just fatigued now, it's not because Sharon and Louis are no longer on the panel.

That one's pretty good but this is my absolute favourite - Dawn the jockey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS3dWo1ysks

The judge's comments then were also part of the entertainment of the show. Louis would usually be the one spouting the cliches, Simon would be the horrible one and nobody was sure what mad sh*t Sharon was going to come out with.

Fast-forward 10 years and rarely is anything said by any of the judges even vaguely interesting let alone entertaining. They all embark on Syco-speak and have such a limited vocabulary (see thread)


Compare that to what the show is now, where week 1 a 16 year old, probably with a recently deceased brother and a dead dog, who has dreamt 'all her life' about becoming a singer, has to belt out a Whitney song released 8 years before they were even born in front of 4,000 people at Wembley arena and stand there a nervous wreck in tears as the judges unnecessarily string out their deliberations because the director has instructed them to do so, realising him/herself that 'crying child' will make for good television in the edit.

They were great in their time it was like watching a comedy the 3 of them had incredible chemistry together

But I would agree bringing them back would now not help as they've all kind of morphed into the robot commentary that is helping kill off the show

Simon is far too nicey nicey these days, scared to upset anyone when he seemed to use to thrive off it, we all know Louis's feedback was bordering on parody towards the end and sharons return didn't exactly have the desired effect either

Bring all 3 back together and you'll end up with caricature versions of the ones that made this show such a hit

I loved Simon Sharon and Louis. It was right, the show was much more fun back then. It started going downhill when they introduced Danni (who I liked at the time) but the audition rooms were still funny. Then Cheryl joined, then it went all boring.

I really enjoyed the first four series.

Plus Simon wasn't so deluded back then, like he is now.