Simon Cowell is battling for X Factor in the US over judges, with American Idol, as well as organising ITV and Britain's Got Talent
Simon Cowell is back in Britain, with one or two things on his mind. It's Britain's Got Talent week ? although the show seems to have just about managed without him on the judging panel ? and, more to the point, The X Factor auditions are just about to begin in Birmingham on Wednesday and Thursday. Actually, the auditions were supposed to have begun nearly two weeks ago in Manchester, but somehow it wasn't proving possible to get everybody in the right place at the right time. Which is probably a fair summary of where the ITV X Factor is right now: a last-minute scramble to get everything done on time.
There are, at the time of writing, no confirmed judges. There have, of course, been plenty of leaks to the media ? Gary Barlow of Take That, Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child and Louis Walsh of Louis Walsh. Maybe Tulisa from N-Dubz ? or even a newly available Cheryl Cole from California. But no public confirmation, no dried ink, and many complications ? such as fitting in a summer Take That tour (there are dates on Tuesday and Friday next week to fit around those Birmingham auditions). No doubt, though, everybody at ITV is relaxed about the situation.
Meanwhile, if the balance of power in Britain means that Cowell has the whip hand over ITV, making key decisions late, and expecting the broadcaster to cheerfully fall in line ? last week's events in the United States tell a different story. So much for the hype of Barack Obama's "essential relationship"; across the pond even the most successful Brits have their chains jerked by the Americans. And immigrants further down the ranks, like Cole, haven't a chance if their TV footage isn't up to snuff (and that's before the accent). If Fox doesn't like a presenter, then that presenter isn't going on air ? even if the format belongs to somebody else ? which is not quite the conversation you can imagine the folks at ITV managing with Mr Cowell.
Cowell, of course, has repeatedly confounded expectations, but as the Cole fiasco demonstrates, there is no shortage of pressure this time. American Idol, which he quit to bring The X Factor to the US, has been surprisingly resilient. Jennifer Lopez as a judge proved to be a hit with the public. The ratings may have been down 7% for the series overall compared to 2010, yet they have been rising as the run has progressed. Last week's final was up 21%. And what with Simon Fuller, Cowell's rival, still taking 10% of the profits of Idol ? The X Factor has a battle ahead to become number one in the world's most lucrative TV market.
Meanwhile, NBC is due to run its second series of The Voice ? the singing competition in which the judges turn their back on the contestants to judge them purely on their vocal ability. Helped by the fame of judges like Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green, its first series performed fairly well on NBC (although still some way behind Idol) and its return promises to help saturate the singing-reality space to the point where it resembles the boxing market with its preposterous number of world titles. Next up, no doubt, will be The Look ? where the judges watch beautiful people like Katie Waissel perform in silence, judging them before finding out if they can sing.
Anyway, even the BBC is thinking seriously about bringing The Voice to the shores of BBC1. It is likely to be a Saturday night show, but because the Beeb is a serious broadcaster that does not do derivative or copycat, there is no chance that it will hire Dannii Minogue to act as a judge.
Somewhere, amid all this competition and chaos, Cowell will have to reassert himself. It has often been written how dependent ITV is on the impresario for its big money hits; however, the question, at this point, is whether its top man has actually peaked as he aims for simultaneous domination on both sides of the Atlantic.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2011/may/30/simon-cowell-x-factor-stretched
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