The X Factor (American TV series)
The X Factor (also known as The X Factor USA) is an American reality television music competition show created by Simon Cowell and produced by FremantleMedia North America and SYCOtv, a partnership between Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment, which aired on Fox.[2] Based on the original UK show, and an addition to The X Factor franchise, the series found new singing talent (solo artists and groups ages 12 and over), drawn from public auditions, and they competed against each other for votes. The winner is determined by the show's viewers via telephone, the Internet, and SMS text voting, and is awarded a recording contract with Cowell's record label Syco Music, worth $5 million in seasons one and two, and $1 million in season three. America voted for the following winners: Melanie Amaro, Tate Stevens, and Alex & Sierra, respectively.
The X Factor
Simon Cowell
United States
English
3
80
- Simon Cowell (uncredited)
- Cecile Frot-Coutaz
- Siobhan Greene
- Richard Holloway
- Andrew Llinares
- Rob Wade[1]
- Various (auditions)
- CBS Television City (live shows)
60–150 minutes
September 21, 2011 –
December 19, 2013
The show began airing on September 21, 2011, through negative reviews,[3] and aired annually from September through December. The series employs a panel of judges who critique the contestants' performances. Each contestant is assigned to one of four categories. The group acts are one category and the others are based on age or gender. For example, in season 1 the categories were girls, boys, groups, and over 30s. Each judge was assigned to one of the categories,[4] and acted as a mentor to the contestants in his or her category, helping with song choices, styling, and staging, while also judging contestants from the other categories after each of the live performances. They competed with each other to try to get one of the contestants in their category to win the competition, thus making them the winning judge.
The most successful act to emerge from the series is Fifth Harmony, with all members launching solo careers.[5]
Kane Brown,[6] a well-known country music artist, was also a contestant on The X Factor USA.[7] However, he left the show before completing the competition. This shows that the show has been a platform for many artists who later pursued successful careers in music, even if they didn’t win the competition.
The original judging panel consisted of Cowell, Paula Abdul, Cheryl Cole, and L.A. Reid, with Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones as co-hosts. Scherzinger would later replace Cole on the judging panel after two audition sites. Demi Lovato and Britney Spears joined the panel in the second season as replacements for Abdul and Scherzinger, while Khloé Kardashian and Mario Lopez replaced Jones as co-hosts. Reid and Spears did not return for the third season and were replaced by Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio, while Lopez became sole host after Kardashian was not asked to come back.
Announcement and launch[edit]
On January 11, 2010, News Corporation (via Fox News in the U.S. and The Times in the UK) reported that Cowell would leave American Idol after season 9 in order to bring The X Factor to the United States in September 2011. Cowell told the Television Critics Association that he was leaving American Idol so that he could judge and act as executive producer of the U.S. version of The X Factor.[8] Additionally, Cowell signed a long-term contract with Sony Music, who already supported Syco Music artists in the UK, under which he was involved with the production of the U.S. version of the show and also worked with the artists who won recording contracts.[2]
In November 2010, Fox began airing short commercials for the program, which displayed the text "Coming to America Fall 2011".[9][10] The New York Times described the commercials as efforts by the network to set up the launch of The X Factor as a television "event."[9] In February 2011, during Super Bowl XLV, Fox unveiled the official logo for the show in a promo starring Cowell.[11] A second promo was shown during the course of that evening, featuring Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Lady Gaga, The Pussycat Dolls, and Madonna. This promo gave rise to speculation about who would join Cowell on The X Factor judging panel.[12]
Format[edit]
Categories[edit]
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, to use their experience to help the artists. For season one, these categories were: "Boys" (aged 12–29 males), "Girls" (aged 12–29 females), "Over 30s" (solo acts aged 30 and over), and "Groups" (including duos). Season two's categories and age group boundaries were changed, with the "Boys" and "Girls" categories becoming "Teens" (solo acts aged 12–17) and "Young Adults" (solo acts aged 18–24), and the "Over 30s" became "Over 25s" (solo acts aged 25 and over). For both seasons, some groups were formed from soloists and other groups rejected 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.
Season three's categories and age group boundaries were changed, with the "Teens" and "Youth Adults" categories becoming back as "Boys" (aged 12–24 males) and "Girls" (aged 12–24 females) and the "Over 25s" (solo acts aged 25 and over).
Stages for seasons 1 and 2[edit]
There are five stages to the competition:
Pre-show[edit]
The Pepsi Pre-show Live is a podcast, sponsored by Pepsi, that is broadcast through the X Factor website one hour before every episode in the live rounds of the show. This program features behind-the-scenes looks backstage, acoustic performances, and interviews with celebrities, judges, contestants, and X Factor alumni. This program is hosted by Jesse Giddings, Adrienne Bailon, and Jim Cantiello.
Controversies[edit]
In the quarter-final of season one, Scherzinger voted to eliminate contestant Rachel Crow from the show over Marcus Canty; this sent the result to deadlock. Following this, Crow was eliminated and Scherzinger was booed off the stage and her future on the show was put in jeopardy.[42] She subsequently received death threats from some viewers.[43] Scherzinger had been proven to be an unpopular judge, with her performance during the season being panned by critics, as well as controversy even before the show airing, regarding her replacing Cheryl Cole on the judging panel.[44][45] Scherzinger was let go at the end of the season and later transferred to the UK show to replace Kelly Rowland for the 2012 UK series. On the UK show, Scherzinger became a more popular and successful judge.
The airing of the season two judges' houses episode on October 17, 2012, was cut short abruptly in the middle of Lovato's selection for the top 16 to return to MLB on Fox coverage of Game 3 of the 2012 National League Championship Series, which had been in a lengthy rain delay and restarted (the game started at 4 p.m. ET so that Fox could run their primetime lineup upon the game's completion).[46] After viewer complaints and a Twitter message from Cowell that consisted of his reaction being "It's what's known as a total f up," the episode was re-aired the next week in full.
In season three, due to graphics errors made in the top 13 round of the live shows regarding voting, all voting results posted in that episode were invalidated, and the contestants sang once more on November 7, 2013, show, with the results revealed on November 13.[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 The X Factor, dubbed equally or under another name.
Sponsorship[edit]
On January 7, 2011, Fox, SYCOtv and FremantleMedia North America announced that Pepsi would be the official sponsor of The X Factor.[4][9] The sponsorship included 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 would 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 would also include an extensive multi-platform on and off-air marketing partnership.[56] Verizon also sponsored the show; they were the official wireless sponsor.[57]
In 2012, the show was the second-highest revenue earning show of the year, with US$5.55 million ad revenue per half-hour, behind American Idol.[58]
For the third season, Honda and Procter & Gamble replaced the previous major sponsors of the show, with Procter & Gamble using it as a platform to promote its CoverGirl, Herbal Essences and Secret personal care brands.[59]
Potential NBC revival[edit]
In November 2014, it was reported that Cowell was considering re-launching the American version in 2015, though this was proved untrue.[60] However, Cowell has said he was more than willing to give the American version another go, and that they received offers to bring it back on other networks, though he said he would bring it back when there is less competition in the TV talent show landscape.[61] In December 2022, The U.S. Sun reported that, while an official deal has yet to be reached, Cowell was in talks with NBC, which had offered to revive the American version of The X Factor.[62]