Does anyone on here miss X-Factor, or believe it's had its day?

[Lencoboy]

Just curious to know, as there were already plans to end said show at the start of 2020, even before Covid really took off.

Personally, I found the X-Factor overrated and believed it was already old hat and a pale shadow of its former self by the mid-2010s, plus for the most part of its first decade on air its winners almost always seemed to hog the Christmas Number 1.

[Carnation]

It was fresh on the tv when it started.
Over the years they changed the format, cha the contestants, had several judges that made or broke the show and it lost viewers over time.
I watched at the beginning but lost interest years ago Lencoboy.

[Catkins]

I also watched it at the beginning, but lost interest later on. Same with Big Brother, it was interesting when it started out but then lost its originality.

[WiredIncorrectly]

The x-factor was a con from the start. Simon Cowell would use millions to propel the winners into the #1 spotlight, and then profit from their marketing. The winners got a small percentage of the profits they generated.

The show wasn't fair and was always fixed by Simon. He worked the winners to the bone until they wore out and faded away. Only a select few continued on.

I forgot her name, but one of the winners spoke about this. Will try and find it.

So no, I will have to say I do not miss the exploiting of people for profit.

[pulisa]

Was it Alexandra Burke who spoke out?

[Magic]

I watched the X- Factor I have two winning Cds. One of which is Alexandra Bure's cd. i am not sure who it was who spoke out.
I will not miss the programme I liked Britain's Got Talent though.

[Lencoboy]

Some interesting views and opinions so far, and pretty much in line with what I was most expecting.

I guess pretty much all music-related programmes are fresh and exciting when they first start out, but eventually start to become tired and lose their way, though there have always been exceptions that stood the test of time, e.g, TOTP, but even that in itself was already a pale shadow of its former self almost a decade before the BBC finally pulled the plug on it in the summer of 2006, due to endless competition from the plethora of other channels, and of course, the Internet.

[fishman65]

The X-Factor was a vehicle for production-line, manufactured pop. Music by numbers, packaged smartly and sold by the ton to impressionable youngsters with Mr Cowell et al laughing all the way to the bank. He knew this, he knew that we knew this but still we kept watching with morbid fascination.

[Lencoboy]

The X-Factor was a vehicle for production-line, manufactured pop. Music by numbers, packaged smartly and sold by the ton to impressionable youngsters with Mr Cowell et al laughing all the way to the bank. He knew this, he knew that we knew this but still we kept watching with morbid fascination.

Most ironically the first 5 years of the show were when CD singles went the way of the dodo, and by the very early 2010s when the show was reportedly at its peak in terms of overall viewing figures, we just couldn't get them anymore, which I think was partly responsible for the decline in variety of musical styles in the singles charts since the late 2000s.

As for your comment about Mr Cowell et el laughing all the way to the bank whilst we still continued to watch with morbid fascination, it's a bit like all the Black Friday stuff over the past few years, which many of us appear to have developed a likewise morbid fascination with, and still continuing to fall for a lot of its endless hype every year, though that's a whole 'nother story!

[pulisa]

I hated all the sob stories the contestants wheeled out in a desperate attempt to win votes..and also all the "journeys" they went on.