MMTV: Mediocre Music TV Edition #1: The History of The X Factor (And
What To Expect From Season 2) Part 1
Written by: Wences Acosta
Boys and Girls, Gather around and let Uncle Wences
tell you about something magical. The X Factor.
However, before I let you know what to expect during this 2012 Season in
the U.S., let's take a trip down memory lane and see how we got to this
point.
Also note, I would say what to expect in the 9th Season of The UK's X
Factor, but I can only say one thing, which I will get to that towards
the end.
"The Beginning"
Now, let's rewind back to 2001. American Idol was making waves over
here, which means naturally there would be spinoffs in every country,
including The UK. Now, with Simon Cowell being in charge, this series
was called Pop Idol. Now, for the first season, it was a success.
However, afterwards like every good thing, the series went down after a
second season. After the show was put on Hiatus in 2003, Simon Cowell
wished to produce his own show which ended up being "The X Factor" which
made it's debut on September 4th 2004.
The show itself started off as a basic reality show. You had 3
categories: All Contestants Under 25, All Contestants 26 and Over, and
The Groups. 3 Performers for Each Judge, Making 9 Contestants in the
Finals. The Original Panel was Simon Cowell (Obviously), Louis Walsh,
and Sharon Osbourne. As most know, Ms. Osbourne has a history with
reality shows such as this since she is a current judge on America's Got
Talent (along with Howie Mandel and Howard Stern), but more on her a
little bit later.
Every Week, the contestants would sing, and the audience would vote on
the Bottom 2. What made this format different from others however was
whoever was in the Bottom 2 was judged by whoever was the judging panel
for that season, and unanimous vote sent a person home. This format was
kept for the show and for it's U.S. Counterpart, but again more on that
later.
After Season 1 (Won by Steve Brookstein) they made an edit in the show's
format in which instead of 9 acts, it was upped by 12. So instead of 3
per category, it would be 4. This season was won by Shayne Ward, who, at
least in my point of view, is a pop act worth listening to at least
once.
Season 3 Came Along, and after keeping with the format from last Season,
the show fell upon it's first contestant to cross over majorly into the
U.S. Pop Mainstream Media. Ladies and Gents, I give to you Ms. Leona
Lewis:
Now, as you can hear from this song, she was pratically destined to
crossover. Her voice is angelic and the fact that we in the states have
not heard anything new from her since "Better in Time" is in fact a
shame. I will go on a rant about her and other acts from the U.K. in a
few seasons more, because I do have feelings about this, but for now, we
shall continue....
But not until next week. Check back to this column next week for
Part 2 of Wences' take on The X Factor from both the US and the UK.