As entertainment shows go the search for new talent in whatever field of life is big business. It may be a cookery based product such as master-chef, entrepreneurial talent as in the apprentice or any number of differing dance styles be it amateur of professional.
The biggest section of course is reserved for those who can "sing" hence the raft of pop based programmes like pop idol/American pop idol and of course the greatest show on earth(well Ealing at the moment) is the X factor, designed(so they claim) to search out and promote the best new singing and entertainment talent hiding behind hairbrushes in Britain's bathrooms.
Through the summer a barrage of applications are received and vetted(not very well) to weed out those with severe mental problems; no doubt to ensure they appear along side Mr and Mrs mediocre to make them look great. Stadiums and hotels around the country look forwards to the amazing talent search as it brings huge amounts of money to their local community as fans and contestants swell the population for the duration of the trials. Oil companies applaud the shows input to the world economy due to the amount of trucks and trailers needed to put on the show and no doubt Simon Cowell is bombarded by bank managers Nationwide in the hope that they may provide perhaps a minute amount of capital to finance his yearly extravaganza in the hope that some of the magic will rub off.
As for the "talent" this initially is the one thing which cannot be controlled until the cutting room, it used to be that they(the producers) could use vocal enhancement techniques to either promote or demote potential contestants but after an out-cry by the media they were denied that choice; they still however get to choose out of the many thousands of hopeful wannabes, who they would like to go forward to the next round. Increasingly over the years those with the saddest story have been chosen along with a few reasonable singers which has led the viewers down the garden path in my opinion as surveys and opinion polls along with focus groups may have been used to gauge the likeability of each contestant before going on to the next stage which is the judges house.
At the Judges house all who enter may or may not go forward to the live finals depending on how well they perform/act/crawl to the judge; My own opinion again is that those to go forward are chosen long before any of this gets to the screen, how else could two acts who failed to perform one song to its conclusion be judged to be better than others? as was the case with Cheryl(simon is my hero and I will do "anything" for him) Cole's group of under-performing girls.
So on to the live shows where things get a bit tricky for Simon and co. Once the finals start the viewers are given a chance to donate to the ever increasing bank balance of syco productions by voting over the phone or by text for their favourite performer, the lowest ranked by the public are then given one last chance before the judges who then decide who stays and who goes. This is of course another time that the producers are in control because there has never to my knowledge been published actual voting figures for the voting public to see, we are expected to believe that a middle aged pot bellied Brazilian cabaret act who has no sense of timing or tune is preferred by the British Public over two reasonably good singers, or for that matter the young boy whose name I forget, likewise the song he ruined gets preference.
The results are in the votes have been counted and the winner of this years X factor is once again Simon Cowell As for this years actual winner... Cher has been favoured along side Katie Waissel so expect at some time they will be against each other so the judges will have a heart rending moment before sending Katie home while one female who can actually sing(Rebecca) will no doubt be dumped before the singing Brazilian or Aiden (good for the teeny audience) Grimshaw.
As for the over aged..... once more Luis is punished but he gets paid plenty to be a whipping boy as it takes the heat off the fact that the others are crap...
Well that is my opinion but then I am just an ordinary bloke who was brought up with singers who could sing and girls who could promote a song while still keeping their clothes on.....
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