Saturday night brought the return of dinner on your sofa and curling up in front of the TV to watch Britain's next batch of wannabe popstars. Who will be the next One Direction/Little Mix/Olly Murs? Simon Cowell has been massively bigging up this season, which sees Nick Grimshaw (BBC Radio 1) and Rita Ora join Simon and Cheryl on the panel. Every now and then, Simon/producers change some aspects of The X Factor to keep it fresh and relevant. This year, he's saying it's very different.
In case you missed it, here are the changes for 2015's Season 12:
- The judges and hosts. Bye dye Dermot, Louis, Mel B (yeah, Mel B was here last season!). Olly Murs and Caroline Flack, previously a super Xtra Factor duo, are back vying to be X Factor's answer to Ant and Dec. There are new hosts for Xtra Factor too, with Rochelle Humes and KISS FM's Melvin.
- Auditions - it appears backing dancers are allowed now. Just where do they come from!?
- No judging rooms. Doing two auditions was too tiring, anyway.
- Boot camp won't be at Wembley, and there may be a cut before.
- Judges Houses will be broadcast live.
- Fewer live finals and more boot camp stages. (The live final reductions echo a The Voice UK recent change.)
- Categories won't be decided by producers this year; instead you can vote via Twitter hashtags. Welcome to the 21st century.
The show featured plenty of comedy which had me laughing, a male Cheryl, dancing Caroline and Olly, standard tone-deaf acts, and the expected knock-your-socks-off acts. Stand-out acts included Tom, who you may know from that viral Flashlight e-duet with Jessie J. And an adorable girlband whose sassiness and powerhouse vocals are admirable (4th Power, below), even if it's now been revealed they've already been on a number of similar international talent shows. But who am I to judge, since I can barely sing for toffee?
However... Despite new judges, new hosts and a 'new format', it still feels largely like I've seen it all before. And maybe that's because I - and we- all have. Even the background pop tracks are the same. The awful out-of-tune acts which we all love to hear, are also here to stay. The production - a few acts waiting nervously backstage and then the one who's all "I'm SO nervous" walks onto stage and is spectacular. And the judging cliches, with Simon's "I didn't just like that...I loved it" to receptionist Lauren and "You have no idea how good you are". Deja vu?
The viewing figures have been released, with a reportedly lower audience than many previous years, down 2 million from last year. (Of course, if the changes are for the better in the long run, I expect people will be hooked line and sinker on a Saturday night in anyway.) I think the drop in average numbers may quite possibly be linked to that super-cringey opening Mission Impossible themed sequence. Is it trying to be camp or is it trying to be a credible music discovery show? Or both? And then there was the odd choice of opening act who could clearly not sing, but the entertainment value wasn't really quite there either. And she sailed through. Within those first 5 minutes alone, I would be tempted to switch off. Obviously, I would never, but it says a lot..
On the other hand, it may sound like a 500-word slate of The X Factor, but it was highly entertaining. And it did feel more fresh. But it just didn't feel all that different. Having said that, I don't know what I would want them to act on anyway. The show's received criticism of late, but it's responding. And surely the millions of viewers (if they stick around) speaks louder than the handful of critics saying The X Factor has well reached its sell-by date. The success of this season's changes and whether they'll paid off will all be revealed in time. But I for one can't really imagine a September-December Saturday TV night without it.
- Sunday, August 30, 2015
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