It used to be the biggest show on tv but now it has become a complete joke. The reasons are as follows:

One of the presenters should let be there. Fluffing the format of the show I.e with the deadlock last week and continually screwing up his lines. It is car crash tv. Unfortunately I blame the presenters for the car crash that was judges houses. Instead of trying to calm the audience that muppet was trying to whip them up into more of a frenzy. Complete joke.

None of the acts seem that personable. They all come across really bad like animated puppets. Louisa playing the little girlie girl and Lauren over the top with her Essex chat etc. Can't warm to any of them really.

The judges comments are all fluffy and this is the best we have ever had comments. What a load of crap.

Nick kicks off Monica last week and says she was great has lot of potential etc but saves Anton who he savages this week. We all know the show is scripted but bloody hell at least try hide it better

I thought the contestants had a lot of promise this year. Unfortunately the show has failed to bring the best out of any of them with boring song choices and dull arrangements every week.

The likes of Monica, Mason, Louisa, 4th Impact etc all seemed like might bring something fresh to the table but thanks to the show have just delivered stale ol bread and unflavoured porridge.

It's been a complete farce since way back in the first Series,

I agree and especially the part about Nick who seemingly is getting to big for his boots. How dare he say who or who not is going to buy a contestants work.

Totally agree with this. ....said exactly the same thing last week.

I think it may have had a small tinge of integrity then, we wouldn't have had winners who were so clearly unpopular with the judges if that wasn't the case. It does seem that the return of the Cowell has hastened the descent into dishonesty.

He amazes me. I know that all he is in reality is a snake oil salesman, but you would have thought that as his industry is music he would have learned more about his subject. People think he is wonderful, but in reality all he has done is join the rest of the music industry thugs who believe they know what the public want.

While we are ranting on this subject, Nick Grimshaw's comment was laughable. Anton should have kept his trap shut as he was really not that good last night, but to suggest the record buying public of Britain should be in the slightest bit interested in what Nick wants to listen to on the radio is absurd.

And that's the problem that isn't going to go away until TPTB wake up and smell the coffee and realise that dated dirges might be pleasant for the viewing public to listen to with a glass of vino on a saturday evening but it's not what the buying public will part with their hard earned cash for.

They take these kids and strip every inch of individuality, personality and originality out of them and turn them into all bland clones and then wonder why they all end up flopping.

Mason could have been marketed as a UK r&b singer in the Chris Brown mold (musically, not personally) but instead they castrated him and turned him into a shadow of who we saw as the auditions.
Ditto for Che, Monica, Louisa

It's telling that all of them have suggested pretty relevant songs to perform but been over ruled into bland generic choices by the so called experts

I understand what you are saying. But, but, but...

The X Factor is a TV entertainment show. It is not primarily a talent competition to find a relevant pop star for today.

It is a program designed to make money for the broadcasters, ITV, STV and UTV, and the programme maker, Fremantle Media, etc. The money comes from advertisers. The advertisers pay according to the number of viewers of the type their ads are aimed at (the demographics) who watch the show. That means the show has to appeal to a much wider variety of viewers that just the pop music buyers.

It is the variety of what you call "bland generic choices" that appeal to a broad range of viewers.

That is one reason that the acts who go on to have success in the music industry are not necessarily the winners of the show. The winners are the ones with the broadest appeal to viewers, and that includes a large number of viewers who are not part of the music buying public.

One big change since the first ever series is that instead of all acts performing alone on stage they are now very often accompanied by lots of dancers and backing singers and various props. I think that is partly because that is what the music buying public are now used to in music videos, etc, and partly to make a weak act more entertaining. The producers of the show need every performance to be as entertaining as possible so as not to lose viewers and income from advertisers.

For similar reasons the judges can't afford to be too negative about performances.

Blondie, Peter, you both have points.

It is primarily a TV show. But, having said that, they have upon them a crop of potential recording artists every year, literally in their laps. Why then, do they choose only one to push, and make fun of the others, or wreck them with productions?

Sure, its to get their ideal chosen winner. But the public are wise to the fact that its not only the winner that has success. With that in mind, why not push a couple of their contestants, with relevant current songs and style? It would make more money for them in the end up, and it wouldn't seem so awkward, the contrast between what the judges say and what we actually see.

Even if they gave each act a more modern song each week and then trotted out an album of their show performances for 5 or 6 of them at the end, that would surely be a great moneymaker, if they let the general public connect with multiple acts rather than just their chosen one or two who are very obviously pushed hard at the expense of all the others.

Begs the question of why they put through talented singers at all in the first place as it just makes their jobs that much harder to inflate the talent of one against a backdrop of others at a similar level.

If it returns next year it should have Gary, Sharon and Nicole and no Cheryl, Rita and Nick.
Oh and bring back Dermot too