… to launch a US version of The X Factor for FOX in 2011. If you thought the UK version was OTT…
Our fave comment comes from Grace Dent on Twitter: “loving American tweets saying ‘Wow! Cowell is quittin Am Idol and starting X factor! So glad to see the back of this format!’
Digital Spy report that Paula Abdul might be a judge (which would be absolutely terrific as an opposing mentor), along with Cheryl Cole, and that Dermot O Leary might host. Basically nobody really knows anything for a show that isn’t going to be on for another year anyway.
So will this mean we (on this side of the pond) will have to pony up prize money for a USFXF tourney? Even with it coming to the US, I still think I’d be just as informed about the actual performances on the show as I was with the UK version. That is, guessing blindly.
Woohoo, Idol 2.0 reaches the US. Big whoop 😛
This is series 10 of AI yes? So figures to make it ten and out.
It’ll last one season – people will dismiss judges making the final call as ‘un-American’. Ignoring how they got their previous President in almost precisely the same manner.
I don’t think so – judge votes are used on the ever-popular So You Think You Can Dance? as far as I can tell, and American Idol has a judge veto as well.
It will work because Simon Cowell is in it. Basically.
Ah, yes, I think the ‘Un-American’ thing came out when judge vetos were introduced. Recall reading it in Weaver’s Week once now I think of it.
I ought to remember this, really. Ah, a news in brief item last March. Well remembered, sir!
Just another point about SC’s departure – this is the first year that SC is legally allowed to compete directly with Simon Fuller, following the settlement of X Factor and it’s apparent similarity to Pop Idol. This release allows him to start pushing the X Factor as a global brand, which appears to be already happening, if the mechandise in BHS was anything to go by (I even think Philip Green is involved somehow).
Mmm! Interesting point, although versions of The X Factor around the world have been going since 2005 so I wonder how that works?
Wikipedia’s got a decent list of versions and dates.
I’m not privy to the details, but I reckon the protection was only for the ‘big’ markets, and I guess it was more about him being able to influence the production of both shows while he was still an Idol judge.
I’m intrigued to see what happens to American Idol, if only because Walt Disney World spent a not inconsiderable sum on making a live version of it, replacing their version of WWTBAM.
I think it’s a certainly Paula Abdul will be one of the judges. Cheryl Cole though wouldn’t be wise IMO.
I think ultimately Idol and X Factor will probably only run side by side for one season – two at the most – as either Idol will falter without Cowell or the American’s just won’t take to The X Factor, especially in the shadow of Idol. Either way, by 2013 I suspect once Fox has made their decision Cowell will be with whichever show that remains.
I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if Cheryl Cole was a judge TBH.
Might Louis Walsh also make the trip across the Atlantic?