Why isn’t X-Factor a Mega Hit?

This was supposed to be the season of The X-Factor.  FOX was supposed to have a vice grip on the fall TV schedule with this Simon Cowell-produced hit like they do on the spring with American Idol.  Instead, we’re seeing a whole bunch of half hour comedies (New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, Modern Family, Up All Night, a freakishly resurgent Two and a Half Men, even NBC’s underperforming but buzzy Thursday night lineup) get all the headlines and all the chatter.  

Not that X-Factor isn’t pulling respectable numbers; they’re just not the Idol-sized ones that Cowell brashly predicted.  Why not?  It could simply be that the viewing public has tired of singing competitions.  After all, NBC’s The Sing-Off, which boasts a wealth of unique a capella talent and a zippy pace, is a ratings disaster.  Maybe Idol loyalists don’t want to stray?  Maybe Cowell overestimated the appeal of his loopy sidekick, Paula Abdul.  All are solid arguments.  I have a few more salient points.

The network missed an opportunity.  They handled the promotion well. The X-Factor logo was everywhere this summer, from billboards and radio ads to just about every commercial break on FOX’s air.  There were extended clips that appeared online and after the All-Star game.  Awareness was not the issue.  What they should have done was get a jump on the competition and launched the show a week or even two before the rest of the networks premiered their slates.  Idol always starts in the wasteland of mid-January, when many shows are on a post-holiday, pre-sweeps hiatus, allowing it to more easily hook viewers for the long haul.  As it stands, X-Factor’s season will now end just before Christmas, when viewing levels typically drop off anyway.  They would have benefited from staying clear of the clutter.

And if their concern was getting to their live shows prior to the end of the baseball playoffs (a valid concern in light of last night’s pre-emption as the result of a rain delay), then why not resist the urge to air those bloated two hour episodes right out of the gate, maybe leave the people wanting more?  But, then, FOX is often all about putting its eggs in one basket.

Here’s where I shift fault to those in charge of the production.  Anyone who’s seen the UK version of this show, read about it, or seen those extended promos with Cowell, knows this show is not an American Idol copycat.  It’s got a different age range–starting at 12 with no upper limit–and invites groups to participate as well.  The prizes are a little bigger.  And, much like NBC’s spring hit, The Voice, the judges here also serve as mentors.  And they all have either impeccable producing or performing credentials to back them up.  Better than those on the Idol panel, actually (the exception being Steven Tyler, when he’s awake).

With all of that, we were still subjected to the same tired audition rounds (although they were more reminiscent of America’s Got Talent with the spectators in the auditorium).  They were populated with a mixture of talent and crazy that we’ve all sort of seen before, many times.  The things that should have been highlighted early were set aside in favor of a man dropping trow and traumatizing Paula.

Now, a few weeks in and in danger of losing any chance at relevance, the show is just getting around to the judges working with their charges.  This comes after a “bootcamp” round that was just confusing looking, and lacking in the well-crafted drama that almost always makes Idol’s Hollywood week such compelling stuff.  In short, anyone checking in through this first month to see if they should bother saw a very lackluster product, in my opinion. Producers and editors could have and should have seen what they had to work with and, quite frankly, just done a better job at deciding which stories to tell and how to tell them.  So far, all they’ve succeeded in doing is boring people.

Can the show be salvaged?  Of course.  And it’s not exactly a flop; averaging nearly 12 million viewers a night.  What it’s not is the juggernaut everyone thought it would be.  Perhaps the switch to the live shows will provide a much needed spark, along with what we hope will be some exciting performances.  Simon Cowell promised to amaze us, and we are waiting patiently.

Have you been watching X-Factor?  If so, do you think I’m on target, or way off base?

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