The biggest news of the day at press tour - unless you count Bradley Whitford's Ron Swanson mustache - was Simon Cowell announcing his departure from "American Idol" after this season to launch "The X Factor" in America.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Simon Cowell leaving "American Idol" to launch "The X Factor" for Fox in America
The biggest news of the day at press tour - unless you count Bradley Whitford's Ron Swanson mustache - was Simon Cowell announcing his departure from "American Idol" after this season to launch "The X Factor" in America.
Aaaaaaaand we're done.
ReplyDeleteAaaaaaaand we're done.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I'm not sure I'll watch Idol without Simon Cowell. The other three (including Ellen) are really just cheerleaders, and Idol needs a Simon to actually be honest with the contestants.
Love that you confronted them about re-evaluating the judges remaining on the panel. I wish someone would have followed up with questions about all of the production problems from last year (judges not having enough time to critique, the show running over).
ReplyDeletehows he going to film both xfactors at the same time? unless his leaving the uk version or flies back and forth over the pond twice a week
ReplyDeletebritains got talent must film around the same time as well
his gonna be a busy boy
or maybe i no nothing about tv production
Kara could possibly step into Simon's shoes--she's got the industry experience--if she'd quit trying so hard to be cool and all eloquent-like, and just give the kids straight-up advice. Unless she's as ditzy as she sometimes seems, which I wouldn't expect (see earlier ref to industry experience).
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'll miss from Simon. Yeah, he's brusque. Yeah, he's an overgrown child a lot of the time. But he gave more accurate assessments and useable advice than all the other judges put together.
This news makes the upcoming season of American Idol seem increasingly irrelevant. Time to start focusing on X Factor, AI is done with.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awful, awful idea.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I've seen The X-Factor. Cowell and Fox can talk about how different it is all they want, but it's a singing competition critiqued by a panel of judges and voted on by the public. It's almost identical to Idol. The only reason Cowell was able to successfully launch the show in the UK was because Pop Idol was already off the air. If Fox thinks they're going to be able to successfully air both shows, I think they're greatly mistaken. It's overkill. And if Fox decides to let Idol go, there's a huge possibility another network will just pick it up and beat Fox.
Most likely AI will decline and X-Factor America will fail, so it's an awful move by Cowell that will kill both shows.
ReplyDeleteAs obnoxious as he could be, he was capable of honest criticism when everyone else was fawning. He had his blind spots but he could be spot on.
ReplyDeleteJMO, but I loathed Kara's schtick. Paula was daffy but sometimes entertaining, mostly by accident.
The best comments were always from Clive Davis, on his appearance at the end of the contest . I don't think they used him last year and it wasn't the same.
I hope this means the end of both shows. Yes, even the one that hasn't started yet.
ReplyDeleteThere's a decent feature on Cowell concerning this and his other business ventures in the British GQ magazine. Basically, it's a ploy to acquire his own publishing rights again. He wants to attain, more or less, complete control over his business ventures so he can make the most profit. He had to relinquish them 5 or so years ago to Simon Fuller. Anyway, I really recommend the article if you're interested in Cowell.
ReplyDelete