You or I could release a song quite easily and with some good social media work, bag the Christmas Number One or indeed just a Number One.
Go on then.
You can't anymore - it was possible in the downloads-only era of the chart (hence charity singles and Facebook campaigns for songs getting to number 1 actually working) but in this streaming era of the chart where it actually matters how many times people are listening to a song rather than just buying it once and forgetting, it's much harder. Arguably it's more important than ever to have the marketing power of a big label behind you to get you noticed by the general public if you don't just want to have a dedicated online fanbase.
I used to watch X Factor every weekend like a lot of people, but in recent years I've dipped in and out and struggled to watch it religiously.
I don't know if the producers think the changes each series are exciting, but I find them to be painful as a viewer. It's like they're still drafting a final cut and you've got to witness each draft. In comparison, BGT has a format and judging panel which is now really familiar though not in a tiresome way imo.
Certainly think the show would benefit from being rested for a few years. It would give them the chance to work out how they adapt to the entertainment world now and I believe make audiences appreciate the show more. I doubt that ITV would scrap it altogether and I justify that with the age old reasoning of "what else could they replace it with which could bring in 5/6 million viewers?". Perhaps in the year's the show was being rested, they could trial new things which could be considered against the success (or lack of) when X Factor returned.
Last year's live finals had, as people have mentioned, some really talented acts but the format change wasn't welcome - especially rewarding the top act, it was just the same people over and over again, making the final 2 more predictable than usual.
I'm not hopeful for this year's series. Robbie Williams would've been a good addition a few year's back, I'm not convinced he'll return the show to its glory days now, however. I'll wait and see.
I guess in a week or so, there will be stories on top entertainment websites calling for the return of Louis Walsh. Frankly, I cannot see how this judging panel is going to work.
JM
JamesM0984
The problem is it's become a parody of itself. It either needs to become very self-aware and know it's a pile of bull and take the Mick out of itself. Every year we hear the "there's going to be changes, there'll be a revamp" but it's small silly tweaked.
I'm quite surprised that Williams in involved. He's got the nerve to blast Cowell if things aren't going well. As for Louis Tomlinson I suspect he'll be on Simon's side, at least he should have some empathy with the contestants.
It'll probably go haywire but it's an imaginative attempt at least.
:-(
A former member
Louis will almost certainly play the Cheryl role (and sit in ‘her’ seat) I’d say. Robbie for the Louis Walsh role.
If Strictly have a decent line up once again, it should be no problem for them to thrash X Factor in the ratings once again. There is now usually at 3 to 5 million viewer gap in the overnight ratings between the two shows.
I love how Louis Walsh tried to say it is all because Strictly have an older audience base. You simply can't use that as an argument for the ratings decline. 3 to 5 million gaping hole in viewers each week is not down to just older people watch it live, yes a little bit, but it does not cover all.
Louis chose to ignore the criticism of the show, and the flaws and weakness of a format which has been dying since 2012.
You do know Louis was just Simon's puppet, right?
I am not stupid, of course he was.
Well... the way you worded your post *did* give me the impression that you might not have known.
Whenever Louis says something like "X Factor is only being thrashed by Strictly because Strictly has an older audience base", I instantly get the impression that he's saying it out of devout loyalty to Simon. I don't think he actually ignores criticism of the show; I think he takes it on board and then comes up with the appropriate response that shows he's on Simon's side no matter what. And I'll bet there have been times, too, where Simon has actually told him what to say and he has readily agreed to say it.
If ever he says things like "Simon ruined the X Factor"... well, he'll be right, but I still won't take him seriously.
Great example. The thing is they could have completely taken the p**s with that, but they actually tried to give an illusion of it being genuinely random.
To be honest, maybe the best thing to do would be to move BGT to Autumn and change that to a multi week format, with maybe a different city's theatre used to host each week. I've never gotten into BGT but it certainly must be the more popular of the two shows (although that too got beaten by Eurovision this year for the first time since 2011.)
BM
BM11
BGT cant move to the Autumn unless I'm a celeb moved or one of them got a new host/s.
