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Simon Cowell Once Compared a Contestant’s Singing Performance to Being at a Funeral. Some Felt That Way About the ‘X Factor’ This Past Season. Fox Cancels the Show as Cowell Returns to the U.K. After 12 Years in the U.S.

Feb 7, 2014  •  Post A Comment

" ‘The X Factor is being crossed off Fox’s schedule," writes James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly.

Hibberd continues, "The network is canceling the singing-competition series after three seasons of declining ratings. The news comes the same day judge and producer Simon Cowell announced he would return to the UK version of the show.

"Cowell, Fox entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly and FremantleMedia North America president of entertainment Trish Kinane released statements pinning the decision on Cowell deciding to return to the UK series. But Fox had an option to renew ‘X Factor’ and debated for months whether to bring it back. For awhile, Fox considered renewing the series for a fourth round with fewer hours per week, mirroring a production-tightening move that ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ made this fall. The recent season of ‘Factor’ averaged 7.1 million viewers and a mere 2.3 rating among adults 18-49 on Wednesday nights, including seven days of DVR playback."

Hibberd added, " ‘X Factor’ particularly struggled to break through against NBC’s rival hit ‘The Voice,’ which started airing a fall edition last season. It was also blamed by some observers, right or wrong, for hastening ‘American Idol‘s’ ratings decline, since it added to the number of singing competition shows on the air."

The Guardian in the U.K. wrote this about Cowell’s return to be a judge on the British version of "The X Factor": ‘Simon Cowell is to return as a judge on ITV’s ‘The X Factor’ for the first time in four years in a bid to reverse the show’s falling ratings."

The Guardian added, "Last year’s final, won by Sam Bailey, had an overnight audience of 9.6 million viewers, the lowest since Shayne Ward won the 2005 series. It was down from 11 million viewers in 2012 and a high of 17 million in 2010. A wholesale revamp of the show last year, which saw the return of Sharon Osbourne to the judging panel, failed to halt the slide. His U.S. show on Fox has fared even worse, with one episode last year dipping to fewer than 4 million viewers."

simon cowell.pngSimon Cowell

2 Comments

  1. Wow, I knew the show was bad, but I didn’t know that it was so bad he had leave the country!

  2. This article is so typical of why I loathe the mass media. They build someone up like a Simon Cowell because it’s good business to ride a rising wave and then later on they go orgasmic in tearing them down.
    I wish someone had the power to send the media packing, never to be seen again.
    P.S. And don’t bother telling me how important it is that we have a free press and an informed citizenry. We saw how well the media did their job in 2008 and 2012.

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