The X Factor (American TV series)

The X Factor is a US music casting show hosted by Simon Cowell and produced by his production company SYCOtv. It is the U.S. version of the British casting show with the same name, which has already been broadcast on the local channel ITV since 2004. The show started on September 21, 2011 on the US channel Fox. The host of the first season was Briton Steve Jones, while in the second season Khloé Kardashian and Mario Lopez lead through the show.

As part of the X-Factor franchise, the show's format has many differences from its competitors, including American Idol. The competition allows both solo artists and groups to perform with no upper age limit. Each judge oversees one of four categories, girls between 12 and 30, boys between 12 and 30, people over 30, or groups (some of which are formed from rejected solo artists only after the audition stages). During the live shows, the jury members act as mentors for their category, helping the contestants with song selection, styling, and performance staging, while judging the contestants from the other categories.

The first season was won in December 2011 by Melanie Amaro, a singer who grew up in the British Virgin Islands.

Production

Although American Idol has become a huge success, winning awards as the most-watched show in its seven (as of November 2011) consecutive seasons, its original Pop Idol has not been as successful in its native United Kingdom. In 2004, Pop Idol was cancelled and ITV announced that it would develop a new casting show with former Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell, without the involvement of Idol creator Simon Fuller. Ratings for the first seasons were mediocre, but rose above 10 million a week by the seventh season in 2010. Pop Idol is long forgotten in the UK in favour of The X Factor, while the US version of it was still the most-watched show in the US.

In April 2009, reports surfaced that Cowell was looking to develop a US version of The X Factor after his contract with American Idol expired at the end of season nine. Under his contract at the time, Cowell was prohibited from establishing The X Factor as a rival to Idol. In September 2009, Fox, Idol's broadcaster, signed a contract agreeing to air the U.S. version of The X Factor. On 11 January 2010, News Corporation, via Fox News in the US and The Times in the UK, reported that Cowell would leave Idol after the end of season nine to bring The X Factor to the US in September 2011. He himself explained his decision at the Television Critics Association by saying that he had to leave the show so that he could serve as executive producer and as a judge on the US version of The X Factor.

In November 2010, Fox began airing short commercials for the show, reading "Coming to America Fall 2011". The New York Times described the commercials as attempts by Fox to present the show as a television event. During Super Bowl XLV, Fox unveiled the official logo for the show in a spot featuring Cowell. A second spot that day featured Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, The Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Lady Gaga, the Pussycat Dolls and Madonna. This action led to speculation about who would sit next to Cowell on the judging panel.

The X Factor launched in the US and Canada on September 21, 2011, followed by the UK a day later and a handful of other states.

Expiration

The content of the casting show is to discover a singing talent whose talent is referred to as the "X Factor" by the television network hosting the show. The winner receives a five million contract with record label Epic Records and will be featured in a Pepsi commercial that airs at Super Bowl XLVI on NBC. A season spans five stages, the "audition in front of the producers", then the "audition in front of the judges", then the "boot camp", then the "judges house" and finally comes the "live shows". The contestants were divided into the four categories, Girls between 12 and 30, Boys between 12 and 30, People over 30 and Groups in the first season and Teens, Young Adults, People over 25 and Groups in the second. Each jury member will take over one of the four categories from the third phase onwards to mentor the contestants till the end of the season. In the first phase, all candidates have to sing on a stage in front of the audience and the jury. The number of those who advance is reduced again in the joint bootcamp phase. The third phase is the jury house, in which each mentor selects his best eight candidates with whom he competes against the other contestants and mentors in the subsequent live shows. The remaining contestants sing songs in the live shows, most of which have been selected by the mentor. In each of the live shows, the two contestants with the fewest audience votes must perform a song of their own choosing in a so-called "final showdown". The jury decides by simple majority which of the two will be eliminated. Among the top three contestants, only the viewers decide who will advance and who will be the winner.