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X Factor 5: 10 things that need to be changed


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Old 13-12-2007, 15:07
flagpole77
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It needs shaking up to give the show a second wind.

1) Sack Louis and Sharon. They're clearly demented and have no critical faculties. There needs to be an added professionalism to the judging and two new judges would bring that. I'd suggest bringing in Lulu and Mark Frith.

2) Rhydian has been a breath of fresh air this year despite the initial whiney "we don't know what we'd do with you" comments from the judges. Take on board the fact that aiming for core markets is pointless unless the acts can sing live consistently. To paraphrase Bill Clinton "It's the singing, stupid". Too many of the finalists this year were picked on who they would appeal to rather than whether they could hold up in front of a live audience week after week. As Rhydian has proven, different styles can work well.

3) To this end scrap the mentoring and the allocation of the groups to the judges until after the final 12 have been chosen. This would reduce the pressure on the individual judges, with their at times bizarre choices, and will ensure a stronger final group of contestants. Too often at the bootcamp stage it seems they're trying to second guess the sociopolitical voting habits of the public to ensure their group wins rather than just going for the best singers. It would also eliminate the completely fatuous "let's go to the judges' homes" feature which is then exposed as four rented apartments the week after.

4) Cut down on the sentimental drivel. Please. We'd rather like to know something about the contestants which shows more than the fact everyone in the history of humanity has either had someone die on them or been ill. Why not take them to a record shop and ask them about the music they love? Let us know something fun about them.

5) Have a word with the audience. It's become Pantomime central. If needs be introduce tazers and a water cannon.

6) The experiment with 14 year olds failed miserably. Take it back up to a 16 year old minimum age limit.

7) Introduce an upper age limit for the first time. Is there an real reason to go above 30 years old when you have no enthusiasm for the acts AT all and they'll never appeal to a mass market?

8) Try for younger guest artists. France's Star Academy has had Rihanna duetting with contestants this year and there's no reason why X-Factor shouldn't be aiming for that level of modernity and star quality.

9) Themes are good. But because you've been so poor at putting through the best singers, they've generally floundered whenever versatility has been required. Themes can work well if you have the talent and by concentrating on that you won't need to turn each week into another variation on "UK number 1s" because Disco Week was such a disaster. Good singers can successfully approach a week of Modern American Country Classics with confidence. Alisha and Leon couldn't.

10) Repeat after me:

Substance over Style
Substance over Style
Substance over Style
Substance over Style
Substance over Style

There's nothing that performing seals, roller skaters, glitter balls and rhythmic gymnastics can add to a performance to support a good vocal or detract from an off-key, flat-noted warble.

----------------

Freemantle Media can contact me by PM for details of where to send the consultancy fee.
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Old 13-12-2007, 15:10
georgietur
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The audience comment;

Not their fault, they are TOLD to boo, hiss, cheer, off off off etc.

So thats a production issue- tell the producers not to stand at the side encouraging loud reactions.
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Old 13-12-2007, 15:20
Sad Panda
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I agree with pretty much everything in the OP.

Not too sure about max age 30, the likes of Andy and Steve wouldn't have been able to enter then, maybe no-one over 50.

The storyline about the old couple did nothing for me.
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Old 13-12-2007, 15:24
antalmax
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Well said, flagpole.
I wish they paid the fee and listened to you.
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Old 13-12-2007, 15:24
richie4eva
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My recommendations:
[LIST][*]Stricter background checks to make sure those that do make it through to the live shows don't have a criminal record or something dodgy about their past[*]No more sob stories, judge on genuine talent not on who has the saddest stories[*]Take the age limit back up to 16[*]Get rid of Sharon and bring in somebody who actually cares about what acts they get[*]Make the finalists feel like they actually want to be there and get rid of the panto arguments between the judges[/LIST]
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Old 13-12-2007, 15:32
Callous
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Ban all votes (or acts) from Scotland.
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Old 13-12-2007, 15:35
pink sparkle
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The main thing would be no sob stories!! This yeat has been worse than ever!
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Old 13-12-2007, 15:41
d0lphin
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3) To this end scrap the mentoring and the allocation of the groups to the judges until after the final 12 have been chosen. This would reduce the pressure on the individual judges, with their at times bizarre choices, and will ensure a stronger final group of contestants. Too often at the bootcamp stage it seems they're trying to second guess the sociopolitical voting habits of the public to ensure their group wins rather than just going for the best singers. It would also eliminate the completely fatuous "let's go to the judges' homes" feature which is then exposed as four rented apartments the week after.
I agree totally with this one. This year, more than in previous years, there were some really bad decisions as to who got into the final 12 and hopefully this idea would eliminate the problem.
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Old 13-12-2007, 15:52
Tom1007
 
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1) Keep all 4 judges, but only have 3 categories. As Simon will be working with the act in the end anyway as he is signing them up, Simon should be an impartial judge, and helping the other three with their categories.
2) This years 14+ thing didn't work, and neither did the 14-24 girls category, which was partly Sharon's fault but there was never going to be a girl in the final 5 out of all 6 girls. The show should revert back to the old format with Louis, Dannii & Sharon and Simon helping each judge.
3) Rejects from previous series that actually seen the main judges cannot reaudition. By all means those who never got past the producer auditions can return.
4) When the final 12 in each category have been decided by the judges, each person should then recieve a police check so that later in the series noone loses their place and are not replaced.
5) Wide themes are good such as songs from the movies, number ones etc but themes like disco are a big no no.
6) Celebrity guests should mentor the acts throughout the week as Celine, Girls Aloud and Michael have done. They should not be allowed to come on to promote their new tour or single and have 2 minutes talking about the acts like Duran Duran.
7) Smaller audience, bigger set. In X Factors around the world, they have absolutely fantastic sets but with that come small audiences. I think this could work well, and the audience should be allowed to cheer or boo at judges comments, but they have to turn the sound down on the audience and up on the judges. Whilst I'm on the topic of sound, the vocals need to be heard over the backing track, not the other way around.
8) Sack Brian Friedman, with his salary pay for a live orchestra. Acts always perform better with a live band and it enhances the show.
9) No sob stories. If they have to do a sob story then let them do it in the auditions, not repeating the same story throughout bootcamp, judges homes and the live shows. Also, everyone loves to laugh at a demented person thinking they can sing but when they are stealing the place in the celebrity judges audition room over a genuine contender then it isn't fair.
10) Put a time limit on each audition, say 10 minutes per audition. That way, they can see a lot more people. 3 other people involved with the show (Kian from Westlife, vocal coach etc) should be in a second audition room, and although not filmed they should do the exact same job as the proper judges, meaning twice as much talent can go through.
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Old 13-12-2007, 16:09
SteveOwen
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Great post flagpole, I agree with almost every word you wrote.
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Old 13-12-2007, 16:13
Chisato Geeste
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Sack Louis
Sack Sharon
Replace Fearne with someone far less biased
Scrap the themes
Scrap the "special guests" plugging their albums
Scrap the "duets" in the final to prevent some acts getting a massive advantage over others
Bring back Kate Thornton
Introduce a song writing element ala Fame Academy
Don't try and hype mediocre acts way beyond their abilities
Scrap the mentor BS and let the acts decide their own songs.
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Old 13-12-2007, 16:19
coda
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Great post flagpole, I agree with almost every word you wrote.
... except the bit about Lulu.

Cathy. Dennis.
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Old 13-12-2007, 16:32
superstar111
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Well the age limit is still 14 for this year
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Old 13-12-2007, 16:54
bbc4ever
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Ban all votes (or acts) from Scotland.
Oh, great, a nice bit of xenophobia! How about we ban all votes from Wales? or England? Thought not.
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Old 13-12-2007, 16:54
Bluesowner
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Get rid of Walsh and Osbourne.

Raise the age limit back up to sixteen.

Scrap the duets in the final.

Change the producer(s) in charge of this year.

Ditch all the sob stories.

Let the public have the vote on who stays and who goes, right from the beginning.

In fact I agree with almost everyything everyone has said!
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Old 13-12-2007, 16:56
Amy86
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Keep Sharon and Louis it would be absolute dross without them 2.

Put the age limit to 16 again.

No Sob Storys Just raw talent.

No Acts go home on the 1st week.

Public votes all the way through the live show.

Nicer audience? lol
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Old 13-12-2007, 17:00
SparkleBabe
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I too would get rid of Sharon and Louis and bring back Pete Waterman and Nicki Chapman. I'd also stop the mentoring crap and let the judges be impartial. I'd also make the upper age limit 30 because as awful as this sounds, really anyone over the age of 21 is 'old' in the music industry. Realisticly an older artist will only sell records if they have been established a long time.
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Old 13-12-2007, 17:20
Cao Cao
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I agree with almost everything in the OP, but I find Sharon and Louis entertaining at times and don't really want them to be sacked. I particulaarly agree with you about the annoying sob stories and someone should lock everyone responsible for the show in a room and repeat this to them until thye get the message:

Substance over Style
Substance over Style
Substance over Style
Substance over Style
Substance over Style
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Old 13-12-2007, 18:31
smibrilundun
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Ban all votes (or acts) from Scotland.
And people wonder why the SNP won the Scottish election. If this idea was used with say blacks it would be quite rightly called rascist.
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Old 13-12-2007, 18:37
EEfan24
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I think keep the 4 judges as they are. And I agree that 1 judge should be impartial throughout, and it would make sense if it was Simon.
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Old 13-12-2007, 19:59
coda
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Oh, great, a nice bit of xenophobia! How about we ban all votes from Wales? or England? Thought not.

No, not England. Quite right. Just Scotland....
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Old 13-12-2007, 20:10
lola14
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The 3 orginial judges for me

Bring back Kate and Ben

NO SOB STORIES

Age limit back up to 16

Get rid of BF

Bring back seperate boot camps, this year Simon had to much say in who went through.
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Old 13-12-2007, 20:18
GonzoTheGreat
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I'd suggest bringing in Lulu and Mark Frith.
.... you're from Strictly Come Prancing trying to sabotage the show right?

The simple way to sort the show out is to do a deal with Fuller and have 19 and Syco co-produce the show and bring it back as Pop Idol with Simon, Danni, Nikki and Pete. ITV won't do that though. It's a disgrace Idol is on everywhere in the world except the original country.

As X-Factor they just need to bring it back to basics. No sob stories, and although they need to have some fun auditionee's they shouldn't actually make it to bootcamp, needs to be a better degree of talent. I would get rid of bootcamp and have the public vote through people from the second round to the live finals (maybe 2 per show with the judges having a wildcard each week), and public votes throughout every live final. I would also like to see the return of a Friday night show live from rehearsals so you can see what the contestants did to prepare and build up the saturday show. I think it is time Sharon and Louis went, they make it too pantomime - there needs to be some more serious music industry experienced people. I agree Brian Freedman should get the boot also. There needs to be better song choices for the live shows and the acts need to be a bit more polished - they used to have a lot more time at Pop Idol to prepare. I think Fern should do the ITV1 show, Dermot doesn't know how to build tension - she is enthusiastic like Kate was at the start of Pop Idol.
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Old 13-12-2007, 20:21
lizjane
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Totally agree with all that has been said but most of all make it a serious search for untapped singing talent and lose all the rest of the c**p. Credit the viewers with a bit of intelligence and stop dumbing down, that way the winner has half a chance of becoming a credible artist.

Last edited by lizjane : 13-12-2007 at 20:38. Reason: oops typo!
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Old 13-12-2007, 20:31
georgietur
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My recommendations:
[LIST][*]Stricter background checks to make sure those that do make it through to the live shows don't have a criminal record or something dodgy about their past
[/LIST]
They do have very strict background checks, they all knew Sisi had a criminal conviction, it just added to the drama,

The contestants are NOT allowed to move to bootcamp until all background checks have cleared. They also have a time limit n if the form is not filled in and received by Xfactor on a certain date...they are NOT able to go to bootcamp.

The Emily thing, wasnt exactly a criminal conviction so that was probably unknown.
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