Those old posts reminded me of Danyl and the way he was tarnished in the press for being big headed. It shagged his chances and Sharon was nasty as she always commented on it in an attempt to help her acts.

In the peak years judges manipulated things to try to win. It hurt the show a lot and it is better now coz that's seemingly history. Cheryl was determined to damage others to help her acts win.

Maybe the show has improved in some ways compared to those dominant years.

Couldn't have been Sharon - she wasn't on the show that year. Dannii tried to out him to guess you mean her?

I wasn't a fan of The X Factor back then, it was a very grubby experience. Judges being overly rude to contestants, moments that left a nasty taste in the mouth. I saw a clip of one audition where somebody had issues and the camera lingered on them backstage. Indefensible.

It was a perfect storm for X Factor to be popular then but something seemed to change after London 2012 and The Voice. A more positive vibe was starting to really get a foothold in TV with Strictly benefiting a lot from it and X Factor getting criticism for negativity. X Factor brushed off those criticisms in the past but didn't in 2012. BGT, which was often worse than The X Factor, changed just in time that year while X Factor didn't. And I think X Factor is having is having trouble in the ratings now because of it.

What on earth happened to The Goal Rush on C5 last night, it just fell apart with technical problems. And have they ditched the female presenter, she hasn't been on for a couple of weeks ?

Some excuses that can be used later this morning. Just sellect, cut and paste.

At 8 pm lots of trick and treating started and I couldn't watch TV for two hours.
At 8 pm, my house was haunted.
The pizza delivery would only come 8 - 9.50 pm.
There were many fancy dress parties starting at 8.
Due to Strictky being so good and busting my sides laughing at Ed 10 million people went to A&E and there were long queues for two hours.
As the weather was cold many had a barbecue.
Next had a sale starting at 8.20 pm.
People feeling really emotional about Clintons e mails and just need to be alone right now.
Many people changed their clocks at 8 pm and it took an hour and a half to do.
I went to get some chocolate but had to wait an hour for a bus as they run out of fuel
The pizza was off so had to go and complain.
There was a massive countrywide power cut at 8.20.
There was a shooting star in the sky.
Aliens took over LEGOland.
People who missed Have I got news for you were watching it on catch up.
All the Barb panel had a get together to celebrate last night post Strictly.
Due to a glitch in the system TV ratings will only show less than two million for any ITV show.
All of the Strictly viewers remotes ran out of batteries after watching SCD.
Many people were late home re emergency rail works and the replacement buses had a skeleton service.
There was a X Factor party but the ghost had no body to go with.
Many had to do there Ironing/ laundry/ Homework.
Southern Rail had another rail strike with leaves in the line.
Please feel free to use any of these!

^ Or just given up on the show 10 minutes in (me).

Another piece of infamous ADP fanfiction.

Your obsession with hating X Factor is weird. Not just a bit unusual, but plain bloody weird.

In response to ADP's list of excuses, I did not find Ed Balls funny. I found him cringemakingly embarrassing and if he continues at the expense of the better dancers then I will probably stop watching. Yes, its an entertainment show but its a dancing show too and those who are making excellent progress are at risk of leaving ahead of a person who does the same routine each week. I like Ed, and I commemd him for doing it as its hard for politicians to come across as human, but its time to go now.

I think the turning point for X Factor was Ceri's audition back in 2011. It was the final audition aired that series and seemed to really leave a nasty taste in the mouth and was the first time I remember claims of cruelty hitting the press properly (even though it was hardly the first time the show had been cruel). That was also around the time the ratings started to drop back year on year and a series of errors were made in the production.

The 2012 series was the last time I remember X Factor being particularly cruel or having that much of a hard edge. They've softened it since then but I think they still like a bit of controversy which is why it doesn't feel as settled as BGT.

BGT could be worse than X Factor in the very early years, with the crowd booing and chanting "OFF OFF OFF!" It was toned down though, the live show crowd was toned down quite early on and I think the SuBo year taught them something about how they treat the contestants. You say the 2012 series was the turning point and I agree to an extent, but think the show had been toning it down a bit before then. The McIntyre year (2011) was rubbish but wasn't a particularly mean show and even Piers Morgan's last year felt less mean.

I do think 2012 was a turning point for that show though. It had become a warmer show anyway with Walliams joining and more of a celebratory feel, but we know they re-edited some of the later audition shows as a response to The Voice's huge early ratings. The irony being that it was around then that The Voice started to fall and be blasted as boring and too nice and BGT pulled way out in front. Towards the end of the auditions and then through the live shows BGT was getting really good feedback as a warm but still fun and entertaining show. That 2012 series of BGT was a really important one though as not only was it one of its best ever series, but it also set the tone for the show going forwards. When it returned in 2013 it felt very confident and assured in itself as a fun, lighthearted show and still does now.

I've often said X Factor could learn a few lessons from it, but it doesn't feel as natural a fit. Last year they tried bringing one of the BGT executive producers over to X Factor but it didn't work as it felt like they were going for a BGT feel half the time but trying to go back to X Factor five years earlier the rest of time and it was just this rubbish weird blend where they achieved neither and ratings fell because of it.

This thread

zzzzz

Xfactor/SCD boring inane repetitive chatter.

I don't watch either programme but I think it's pretty clear which one the public prefer.

well said gary

Well it's such a relief you've added some quality, insightful comments to move the discussion elsewhere.

----------

How low do we think Meet The Parents went last night? 1.5m?

I dont think you have a leg to stand on. Any citicism of SCD and you will defend it as much as Dar R with TXF.

In fact you'll go so far as to create posts like this.

Ok, could have cut it down to the fiX Factor, even DS XF has a thread on that now.

Which I see you dip in and out of, despite not liking or 'apparently' watching TXF.

Just like the threads in the Strictly forum calling it "the worst Strictly ever" then? I happened to notice you desperately defending the show and shutting down other people's opinions.

You are undoubtedly worse than Dan. You never see him Strictly bashing do you? You don't like X Factor - that's fine. But why do you keep talking about it? You are obsessed. It's weird.

On a different note, what do you guys think Dark Angel will do on Monday? Will it get a boost being on Halloween? I'm thinking a figure around 6m.

It is these days, just like it was clear in 2010.

Ive seen mostly criticism for Strictly last night so I'd doubt this..

Looks like TXF held up quite well for Saturday night especially for Halloween party night.

It's found a steady level

But so far the live shows have been DOWN on 2015 by an average of 500,000 viewers an episode.

Maybe people slipped into a coma whilst watching Strictly - that'd be more likely. Strange A.D.P left that one off the list...

Do we have the Strictly/X Factor figures then?

What I observed from last night's Strictly:

For a Halloween special, it was very un-Halloween, despite the costumes and make up.
Brendan Cole seemed totally disinterested and he seemed to have no desire to see his partner succeed.
The judges underscored Anastacia when her routine was not brilliant but not full of mistakes.
The judges over scored Danny Mac who made tons of mistakes yet gave him 8's.
Ed Balls is now becoming a parody of a parody.
The audience is getting even more full of celebrity luvvies - no wonder it's so hard to get a ticket to see it!
Claudia is becoming more surreal each week.
The judges clearly have their favourites and so I could note bias towards the ones they prefer.
The music choices were rather subliminal for what was meant to be a Halloween special.
The VT clips between the dances were infantile.

Despite all that, it is still wholly enjoyable.

Looks like the peak number was around 6.5 million