Simon Cowell may be giving the thumbs up but
Fox may be giving thumbs down on his X-Factor
USA singing competiton show in May of this year.
Simon Cowell had dreams of his X-Factor USA becoming the top-rated singing competition show, but instead it has been solidly in third place behind The Voice and American Idol. Cowell predicted that X-Factor USA would draw 20 million viewers a week. Instead the show has never attracted less than 13 million, in its most watched episode in the three-year history of the show. The Fox network will make a decision in May, on whether to bring the show back for a fourth season.
It has been recently announced by Examiner.com, that even if X-Factor returns for a fourth season, that the hours will be greatly reduced. The show which has aired for four months in the first three seasons may be cut back to one or two months due to the low ratings garnered by the show.
Cowell is even selling his mansion in LA, which is another sign he will be spending less time with the show. Another option is that the show may cut back to one night a week. Fox only has two hours of programming, for each night of the week, so when X-Factor takes up both hours and delivers low ratings, so Fox will have to make some tough decisions.
There is speculation as to whether Cowell even be a judge, if X-Factor does return. The judging panel has shown no continuity at all. Cowell is only judge that has been on judging panel the first three seasons. The show has already used nine judges in the first three seasons.
Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger left the show after the first season, then Britney Spears and L.A. Reid left after Season 1. Demi Lovato a holdover from being a Season 2 judge returned for the third season, along with new judges Paulina Rubio and Kelly Rowland.
Demi Lovato has already announced she will not return for Season 4, if there is a Season 4 and Paulina Rubio and Kelly Rowland may not be returning either. It may be that Cowell is waiting to see if the show is renewed in May, before making any decisions regarding the judges.
Melanie Amaro Mystery
Season 1 winner Melanie Amaro still has not released her debut album, even though she was declared the Season 1 winner, in December of 2013. The original advertising for Season 1 promised a $5 million recording contract to the winner. Evidently X-Factor USA producers didn’t think her album Truly would not generate much income, so its release has been postponed indefinitely. Meanwhile Season 2 winner Tate Stevens, who won in December of 2012 released his debut album four months later in April of 2013. His album has received very good reviews at Amazon.com with 61 five-star reviews and only 2 one star reviews. However, the album is listed 33,133rd in music sales at Amazon.
So right now Amaro is in limbo waiting for her album, to be released 25 months after winning Season 1. It would be interesting to know the back story on the delay, in releasing her album.
It will be interesting to see how soon Season 3 winners Alex and Sierra release their album and if it does well in sales.
Host Changes
Steve Jones who hosted Season 1 was an unmitigated failure as host, as he looked on edge most of the time he was on-screen. Then Season 2 had Mario Lopez and Khloe Kardashian sharing hosting duties. Kardashian was apparently given the ax, after Season 2 ended.
Season 3 found Mario Lopez taking over the hosting duties alone. I look for him to return if the show is renewed for another season.
Ratings Disaster
X-Factor USA has been a ratings disaster of the first magnitude. The show averaged 12 million viewers the first season, then fell to 9 million in the second season, then tumbled to 6 million in the third season. The show has lost half of its viewers from Season 1 to Season 3.
The ultimate insult was when A Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon show aired for the 46th time, but still attracted 6.5 million viewers, while the Season 3 finale of X-Factor drew only 5.8 million viewers, during the time both shows were on the air. Season 3 finale showed a drop of 50 percent in viewers compared to the Season 1 finale.
Ratings For The Voice, American Idol and X-Factor USA On Finale Night
American Idol…….14.31 million
The Voice…………..14.01 million
X-Factor USA……..6.22 million
American Idol narrowly won the battle of the singing competitions, when comparing number of viewers on finale night. The Voice lost approximately 1.5 million viewers for the Season 6 finale, when comparing it to Season 5 finale numbers.
Future of Singing Competitions
American Idol starts Season 13 on January 15 and the judging situation should be much better, than that of Season 12. Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj were constantly at each other’s throats during Season 12 and it distracted from the contestants. American Idol has three judges who should get along well this season with Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. comprising the judging panel. We will miss Randy Jackson’s judging comments. No more comments like “You blew it out of the box”, “Yo-dawg”, ‘That was too pitchy for me”, That didn’t do it for me” and “You are in it to win it”. However, he will still be on the show replacing Jimmy Iovine as the mentor.
The Voice had their best season, for me at least in Season 6 and will be returning for Season 7 in February. The judging situation has been stable with Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera, Cee-Lo and Blake Shelton being seen as the judges in five of the six seasons. Shakira and Usher are apparently returning for Season 7 after being on the panel for Season 5. Adam Levine and Blake Shelton will be on the panel for the seventh straight season.
X-Factor USA really has no future, until Fox discloses in May if the show will return for Season 4. Nothing can really be decided, until the announcement is made in May, since we may have seen X-Factor USA for the last time.
Nostalgia and Now 