| The X Factor | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Reality |
| Format | Interactive reality talent show |
| Created by | Simon Cowell |
| Creative director(s) | Brian Friedman |
| Presented by | Steve Jones |
| Judges | Simon Cowell Paula Abdul Nicole Scherzinger L.A. Reid Cheryl Cole (2011) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 (as of December 22, 2011) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Simon Cowell Cecile Frot-Coutaz Siobhan Greene Richard Holloway Andrew Llinares Rob Wade[1] |
| Running time | 60-150 minutes |
| Production company(s) | FremantleMedia North America SYCOtv |
| Distributor | FremantleMedia Enterprises |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fox |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) |
| Original run | September 21, 2011 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The X Factor (UK) America's Got Talent |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The X Factor is an American television music competition to find new singing talent. The show is produced by creator Simon Cowell's company SYCOtv.[2] It premiered on September 21, 2011[3] on Fox.
As part of the British X Factor franchise, the program's format has numerous differences from its rivals, including American Idol, among others. The competition is open to both solo artists and groups and has no upper age limit. Each judge is assigned one of four categories—boys between 12 and 30, girls between 12 and 30, individuals over 30, or groups (some of which may be formed from rejected soloists after the audition process).[4] Through the live shows, the judges act as mentors to their category, helping to decide song choices, styling and staging, while judging contestants from the other categories; they also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning judge. Melanie Amaro won the first season and stands to receive a $5 million recording contract[5] and will also star in her own Pepsi commercial, which will air at Super Bowl XLVI on NBC.[6]
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Although American Idol went on to become an enormous success and rated number 1 for (as of present) seven consecutive seasons, in its home country of the UK, the original Pop Idol did not fare so well. After the massively successful first series, the second series suffered from low ratings. Many (including Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman himself)[7] considered series 2 winner Michelle McManus an unworthy winner as she failed to achieve the same success as series 1 winner Will Young. In 2004, Pop Idol was axed and ITV announced a new talent show created by former Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell, with no involvement from Idol creator Simon Fuller — The X Factor. Its ratings were average in the first couple of series, but by the sixth series in 2009, ratings were hitting 10 million each week. Pop Idol had been completely forgotten in the UK in favour of The X Factor, whereas American Idol was responsible for the highest rated TV show in the U.S. — with The X Factor virtually non-existent.
Then, in April 2009, reports surfaced that Cowell was attempting to launch The X Factor in the U.S. after his American Idol contract ended after the ninth season.[8] Under his then contract, Cowell was forbidden from launching The X Factor as a rival show to Idol.[8] In September, Fox, the broadcaster of American Idol, signed the deal to launch the U.S. version of The X Factor.
On January 11, 2010, News Corporation (through Fox News in the U.S. and The Times in the UK) reported that Cowell would leave American Idol after the ninth season in order to bring The X Factor to the U.S. in September 2011. Cowell told the Television Critics Association that he was leaving American Idol so that he can judge and act as executive producer of the U.S. version of The X Factor.[9] Additionally, Cowell signed a long-term business deal with Sony Music, who already support Syco Music artists in the UK, and will now be involved with the artists on the U.S. version of the show as well as becoming involved in its production.[2]
In November 2010, Fox began airing short commercials for the program, which displayed the text "Coming to America Fall 2011".[10][11] The New York Times described the commercials as the network trying to set up The X Factor as a television event.[10] In February 2011, during Super Bowl XLV, Fox unveiled the official logo for the show in a promo starring Cowell.[12] A second promo was shown during that night, featuring Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, The Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Lady Gaga, the Pussycat Dolls and Madonna. This promo started speculation on who would be joining Cowell on the X Factor judging panel.[13]
The X Factor premiered in the U.S. and Canada on September 21, 2011. The following day, it premiered in the UK and a handful of other countries.
To date, one season is planned for broadcast, as summarized below.
Contestant in the "Boys" category
Contestant in the "Girls" category
Contestant in the "Over 30s"category
Contestants in the "Groups" category
| Season | Start | Finish | Winner | Runner-up | Third place | Winning mentor | Host | Sponsor | Judges | Guest judges |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One | September 21, 2011 | December 22, 2011 | Melanie Amaro | Josh Krajcik | Chris Rene | Simon Cowell | Steve Jones | Pepsi Sony Verizon Chevrolet |
Simon Cowell Paula Abdul L.A. Reid Nicole Scherzinger |
Cheryl Cole (Los Angeles & Chicago auditions; originally planned to be a permanent judge) |
At the time of announcing the U.S. version, Cowell was the only confirmed judge for the show.[14] He later said that he was taking the choices of who to join him on the show very seriously, saying, "It's pointless hiring judges who don't know anything about the music business. I'll probably go and find someone who did what I did for a living. I was an A&R guy for 20 years."[15] Many people were rumored to be in the running to join the judging panel, including Nicole Scherzinger, George Michael,[16] Nicki Minaj,[17] Rihanna, Katy Perry, Elton John, Mariah Carey and Jessica Simpson, though Cowell denied that Perry and John were.[16] Eventually, Grammy Award-winning record executive, songwriter, and record producer L.A. Reid,[18][19] former UK X Factor judge Cheryl Cole,[20][21] and Cowell's former American Idol colleague Paula Abdul[22] were confirmed to join Cowell in the judging panel.
Cowell had previously indicated that the show may have two hosts.[23][24] Numerous people were speculated to host the series, including High School Musical star Corbin Bleu and UK X Factor host Dermot O'Leary.[25][26] At one point, singer-songwriter Lady Gaga was rumored to have a non-judging role on the show.[27] Initially, Nicole Scherzinger was to act as co-host with Welsh presenter Steve Jones.[28][29]
On May 26, 2011, it was reported that Cole had been removed from the show and was set to be replaced by Scherzinger. Reports varied over whether she was fired because American audiences had trouble understanding her accent, because of a lack of chemistry between her and Abdul, or that she had stepped down herself due to homesickness.[30][31] Cole's departure was officially confirmed on June 6 in a statement from Fox, which also confirmed Scherzinger as her replacement. Jones now serves as the sole presenter.[32] On August 5, Cowell announced that the reason why Cole left was because he offered her the job in the UK version back and that he felt that she would be more comfortable there. He said if her departure had anything to do with her not getting along with Abdul then he would not be judging the show.[33]
Key:
The show is primarily concerned with identifying singing talent, though appearance, personality, stage presence and dance routines are also an important element of many performances. Each judge is assigned one of four categories—either girls between 12 and 29, boys between 12 and 29, individuals 30 and over, or groups (some of which may be formed from rejected soloists after the audition process).[4] Through the live shows, the judges act as mentors to their category, helping to decide song choices, styling and staging, while judging contestants from other categories.
The winner of the competition is awarded a recording contract with Syco Music in association with Sony Music Entertainment, which would include cash payments totaling $5 million.[34][35] A press release on behalf of the show on February 7, 2011 called the recording contract "the largest guaranteed prize in television history."[36] Unlike the British version of the show,[37] the costs of recording and marketing the winning artist will be paid for separately from the $5 million initial contract payment. The $5 million will be paid directly to the winner in five annual installments of $1 million. Cowell said in a conference call with reporters on February 7, 2011: "I think it should be a life-changing prize and just to be clear, this isn't a dressed-up $5 million, this is a guaranteed $5 million payable to the winner. The recording, marketing, and video costs are completely separate to that. It will be paid over five years at $1 million a year."[38]
Cowell said in the same conference call that the specific music label within the Sony family with which the winner would actually sign would likely depend on which specialty label could provide the best support to the winner in light of the type of music that the winner chooses to perform.[39]
There are five stages to The X Factor:
The show is open to solo artists and vocal groups aged 12 and above, with no upper age limit.[34][35] The successful auditionees audition in front of the judges where the judges must come to a majority vote to allow the auditionee to proceed to the next round, in this case, at least three judges have to say yes for the hopeful to go to Bootcamp.
The contestants selected at auditions are further refined through a series of performances at "bootcamp", and then at "judges' houses", until a small number eventually progress to the live finals. At bootcamp the judges collaboratively choose 32 acts (eight from each category) for the next round, and only then are told by the show's producers which category they are to mentor.
The judges then disband for the "judges' houses" round, where they further reduce their acts on location at a residence (often collectively spanning the globe) with the help of a celebrity guest.
The final 16 perform live, to get a place in the Final 12. There will be no public vote in the first week, instead each of the judges selected one of their own acts to eliminate. In season 1, Cowell had to eliminate two acts, because he included Melanie Amaro as a fifth contestant in his category, as he thought he had made "a huge mistake" at judges' houses by not choosing Amaro for the live shows. Therefore, season one had a final 17 instead of a final 16.
The finals consist of a series of two live shows, with the first featuring the contestants' performances and the second revealing the results of the public voting, culminating in either one or two acts being eliminated. Celebrity guest performers also feature regularly.
The winner of the competition is awarded a recording contract, stated to be worth $5 million (£3.2 million), with Syco Music in association with Sony Music Entertainment.[34][35] A press release on behalf of the show called the recording contract "the largest guaranteed prize in television history."[40] In comparison to the UK version of the show, where a portion of the £1 million ($1.6 million) prize is used to pay for the costs of recording and marketing the winning artist,[41] these expenses will be paid for separately from the $5 million initial contract payment offered on the U.S. show, which will be paid in five annual installments of $1 million.[42]
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of The X Factor on Fox.
| Season | Premiered | Ended | TV season | Timeslot | Season ranking | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Viewers (in millions) |
Date | Viewers (in millions) |
||||
| 1 | September 21, 2011 | 12.49 | December 22, 2011 | 12.59 | 2011 | Wednesday 8:00 pm (performance show) |
TBA |
| Thursday 8:00 p.m. (results show) |
TBA | ||||||
| 2 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 2012 | Wednesday 8:00 pm (performance show) |
TBA |
| Thursday 8:00 p.m. (results show) |
TBA | ||||||
Auditions in front of the producers for the first season took place in Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Seattle, Chicago, and Dallas.[43] It was reported that The X Factor had broken the auditions record in Los Angeles on March 27.[44] The last set of auditions took place in front of the judges and a live studio audience during May and June 2011.[45]
An early preview of The X Factor aired during the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 12, 2011. The second major preview came after the NFL double-header game on September 11.[46] The show premiered on September 21, 2011 with the auditions from Los Angeles and Newark. The live finals started on October 25, 2011 with a two and a half-hour show. On December 22, Melanie Amaro was announced as the winner of the show, and received a $5 million recording contract.
On November 2, 2011, it was announced that The X Factor has been renewed for a second season, which will begin airing in Fall 2012.[47]
Following the announcement of the show coming to America, several other broadcasters around the world expressed interest in acquiring the rights to show the American version of the show in their country. The below mentioned countries may have their own version of X-Factor, dubbed equally or under another name.
On January 7, 2011, Fox, SYCOtv and FremantleMedia North America announced that Pepsi will be the official sponsor of The X Factor.[4][10] The sponsorship includes an extensive multi-platform on and off-air marketing partnership.[4] On June 9, Chevrolet was announced as the second official sponsor of the show. Chevrolet's sponsorship will also include an extensive multi-platform on and off-air marketing partnership.[55] Sony was confirmed as the third official sponsor on July 26. Sony's sponsorship of The X Factor will also include an extensive multi-platform on and off-air marketing partnership.[56] Verizon also sponsors The X Factor USA, they are the official wireless sponsor.[57]
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