X Factor: 2011

I believe that they're doing it at 'Stage 36' at CBS Television City which is bigger than Fountain but only very slightly. Fountain is 14,000 sqft including firelines and Stage 36 is 15,400 sqft including firelanes. It's the same stage used for American Idol and America's Got Talent.

Fountain is still the biggest purpose built TV Studio in the UK but has been overtaken in Europe by Brainpool TV's Studio 5 (I think??) in Germany.

Thanks for all that

I guess the lighting wasn't come across as well to me on that first live show then. Maybe next week shall be different.

It's been posted on Twitter by several including ITV's own twitter account that Alexandra Burke is guest judging tonight filling in for Kelly Rowland

Watched the US version today - some very dodgy editing going on there, though no blurry Pepsi cups that I could see. The set seems to be missing the raised platforms at the back so perhaps it is smaller - I'm not sure either if the screens at the side open up like ours do either.

It remains to be seen if Americans buy into it or not - from the reviews I've read so far critics just don't seem to get it, and they certainly don't get Nicole - who although didn't judge the acts themselves that brilliantly (actually none of them really did IMO) she did at least try to get some banter going between the judges, especially with Simon.

There is nothing wrong with the show itself, there is nothing wrong with the judges - it's just the talent. Unfortunately this year the singing is below average after the amazingly talented contestants from last years series. It's also unfortunate that this had to coincide with 3 out of 4 of the judges being replaced by newcomers - probably the biggest shift in the show's history, or at least since series 4.

I wish they would just have 1 hour shows though, anything more is just overkill IMO.

I think 90mins would be better, at least when there is 12 people singing,

Well in the early series performances were pretty much over before they started with the shorter shows. The biggest issue is how OFCOM relaxed the rules a couple of years ago which really affects longer shows - and pretty much encourages ITV to add an extra few minutes to get the extra ad break. Two hours is fine for 12 acts - and I think rather than the 2 1/2 hour running time the main issue with the early shows were that 16 acts are just too many, especially when talent is below par this year.

Have the X Factor USA got the phone lines sponsored by AT&T, looks like they have got the AT&T globe in the opening title shots...Either that or it's a very big coincidence.

No, Verizon are sponsoring the US X Factor.

In addition I wish ITV had gone to the expense of filming the "Live from London" camera shot at the beginning in HD. It really stands out in crappy SD.

I don't know what the point of bringing in Alexandra Burke was - she didn't get a vote at the end, instead it reverted to Kelly Rowland via sound link. Surely the chair could have been left empty like when Louis was absent in 2009.

Stage 36 is the same one as used by America's Got Talent.

Going by what I can tell by the technical specifications of both studios, the CBS studio is taller than the Fountain one.

[url]Strictly Come Dancing beats X Factor in ratings battle[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15519051/url]

Its happened, well it continual