The X Factor - love it or hate it?

starbelgrade

Love it or hate it, there's no doubting that this show is a cultural phenomenon.

I used to be entirely cynical about the show - seeing it as a cynical exploitation of young people's desires to be famous & in itself creating a medium for that desire to grow. The song "Stars in Their Eyes" was a very good take on that.

But having watched the first few episodes of the new show, there's no doubting that it's an entertaining piece of television.

Many of the entertainers I grew up loving were manufactured - cool bands like The Monkees & The Supremes - so maybe my cynical sense is being too cyncial? Or is it?

After all - there's lives being made or destroyed by this show.

So, what is your take on this.... The X Factor - love it or hate it?

Jesus Wept

It's a yes from me.

starbelgrade

The-Rigger wrote: »

It's a yes from me.

You had a Gary Barlow face on when you said that, I bet!

efb

this is going to be so one sided!

im invisible

Tonight matthew im going to be... Underworld.

chucken1

Love it

pragmatic1

Hate it with every little bit of hate that I can muster.

Jesus Wept

I could see you were given it your 'art and soul starbelgrade, it's a mass-wiv yes from me.

Temptamperu

I love the genius that comes out of it. original ground breaking music :pac:

chucken1

starbelgrade wrote: »

You had a Gary Barlow face on when you said that, I bet!

Nah..Simon! Im not getting Gary hard man at all

starbelgrade

chucken1 wrote: »

Nah..Simon! Im not getting Gary hard man at all

Neither am I. But he's looking really well. He's like the ugly duckling of Take That come good.

And funny too.

Who would have thunk it!?!!!

retalivity

standard fodder for the proles to keep them occupied.
meanwhile, my plan for world domination continues unabated....

chucken1

I think..people are afraid to admit they enjoy "reality" tv..

Watching it doesnt make you less compos mintis.

Chuck Stone

starbelgrade wrote: »

I used to be am entirely cynical about the show - seeing it as a cynical exploitation of young people's desires to be famous & in itself creating a medium for that desire to grow.

This ^^.

The song "Stars in Their Eyes" was a very good take on that.

A very under rated song indeed - good choice Sir.

chucken1

retalivity wrote: »

standard fodder for the proles to keep them occupied.
meanwhile, my plan for world domination continues unabated....

Whats a Prole?

efb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTr7wSLvqY

BASHIR

I cant stand it, it is exploitation of some magnitude. fair enough it gives access to normal people with great voices a medium to be heard and recognised for their talent but come on a whole month long process of picking winners and losers.

If the person is good enough to win then surely they wouldn't need the show to go on that long. Its all about the spectacle, making cash churning out sh!t songs for the cash cow at Christmas.

not to mention the gombeens who ring up to vote **** sake like have ya nothin better to be spending your money on 2 or 3 quid to vote for your favourite singer jez give it charity for Christs sake

Chuck Stone

chucken1 wrote: »

I think..people are afraid to admit they enjoy "reality" tv..

I really genuinely don't like it.

The thing is Chucken that it's nothing like reality. The nearest thing to reality TV is good drama ('The Wire' for example).

Watching it doesnt make you less compos mintis.

I agree.

I'm watching that hearty 'Odlums' lady from TV3 AM baking at the moment!

I think she's fantastic and how your man drools over her shoulder makes me LOL.

chucken1

Chuck Stone wrote: »

I really genuinely don't like it.

The thing is Chucken that it's nothing like reality. The nearest thing to reality TV is good drama ('The Wire' for example).



I agree.

I'm watching that hearty 'Odlums' lady from TV3 AM baking at the moment!

I think she's fantastic and how your man drools over her shoulder makes me LOL.

Ah now,I put Reality in """"

I do nothing only cook :eek:..Cos I loves it

retalivity

chucken1 wrote: »

Whats a Prole?

http://tinyurl.com/63g96zw

Jesus Wept

Chuck Stone wrote: »

I really genuinely don't like it.

The thing is Chucken that it's nothing like reality. The nearest thing to reality TV is good drama ('The Wire' for example).



I agree.

I'm watching that hearty 'Odlums' lady from TV3 AM baking at the moment!

I think she's fantastic and how your man drools over her shoulder makes me LOL.

Ah I missed her. Shame, she's a sound woman.

KittyeeTrix

Love it:D

OPENROAD

starbelgrade wrote: »

Neither am I. But he's looking really well. He's like the ugly duckling of Take That come good.

And funny too.

Who would have thunk it!?!!!

Well musically I always knew, even back in 2000 that he would have the last laugh.

jive

I can appreciate why people like it but it's not for me. I don't mind the latter stages where everyone is actually decent and/or entertaining but I'd have to record it so I could fast forward past the self-important judges who generally just wreck my head with monotonous clichéd opinions. Having said that I don't like it enough to record it :pac:

starbelgrade

chucken1 wrote: »

Whats a Prole?

A proletarian. A worker. A person who is too dumb and / or too bust to know what's going on.

It's a literary term. I think.

marcsignal

there should be a kind of 'entertainment nuremberg trials' for this kind of shite, and the offending producers should be dropped in an acid bath,
live on tv

plink plink fizz :cool:

chucken1

starbelgrade wrote: »

A proletarian. A worker. A person who is too dumb and / or too bust to know what's going on.

It's a literary term. I think.

Will I go there? I may show my brainz

chucken1

marcsignal wrote: »

there should be a kind of 'entertainment nuremberg trials' for this kind of shite, and the offending producers should be dropped in an acid bath,
live on tv

plink plink fizz :cool:

Alka Selserz??

tolosenc

I'd hate it if I cared enough.

CorkMan

It is annoying that the winner gets to have the Christmas No 1.

The Christmas No 1 used to mean something, now it is Simon Cowell getting 90% of the profits, the singers voice getting so synched up by a computer i'm surprised I can recognise it so well and the singer not contributing **ck all else to the track?

Does the singer write the song by chance? NO. Does the singer help make the tracks, or is it some company producer who is brought in for the occasion, rather than the traditional Music band? What do you think?

I like the auditions. Then I stop watching it. Well actually I don't always watch the auditions, only if I happen to remember they're on or something. They're usually entertaining.

Tar.Aldarion

LOVE IT so bad >_>


way worse without simon, and yer man just being told to try and be like him when he clearly isn't at all. like how funny it is and i like to sing along heh. dont like how there are probably strings pulled to see who goes through etc

mikemac

The token Irish candidate to suck up the votes from Ireland, more money for the producers

Teyla Emmagan

What annoys me about it is that every half wit in the country spends the whole winter wittering on about it.

If it happened, and I was blissfully unaware of it, I would feel an awful lot more favourably towards it. As it is I HATE IT.

Joe10000

I had never heard of Tulisa before so it gets a thumbs up from me.

hondasam

I hate the auditions, really annoying. I only start to watch when the live shows kick off.

EGAR

Meh

stovelid

Detest it but not snobbish about people that do enjoy it.

7sr2z3fely84g5

CorkMan wrote: »

It is annoying that the winner gets to have the Christmas No 1.

The Christmas No 1 used to mean something, now it is Simon Cowell getting 90% of the profits, the singers voice getting so synched up by a computer i'm surprised I can recognise it so well and the singer not contributing **ck all else to the track?

Does the singer write the song by chance? NO. Does the singer help make the tracks, or is it some company producer who is brought in for the occasion, rather than the traditional Music band? What do you think?

And in most cases they are never heard from again,usually in the music business for the first album,the company would "lend" the singer money to finance the production,so they make it up through sales which the singer gets flip all profit out of it.

orourkeda

The show exposes some peoples desperation to become famous to such a point as to be embarrassing.

Even people who dont watch the show cant escape the really poor and embarrassing singers. Some of the people who havent a note in their head seem to take their failure to progress so badly. Is this contrived or are there really that many people who are so deluded about their abilities?

Miss Olenska

Hate it, it's an awful pile of shíte.

Well, TBH, I'd be more 'meh' if it wasn't so omnipresent at this time of year.

Biggins

retalivity wrote: »

standard fodder for the proles to keep them occupied.
meanwhile, my plan for world domination continues unabated....

To room 101 with you! Big Brother will not allow your sedition!

Liam Byrne

Hate it and hate the attitude - as posted earlier - where people who like it convince themselves that people only pretend to dislike it.

If it wasn't rammed down our throats I'd be able to ignore it.

emeraldstar

starbelgrade wrote: »

After all - there's lives being made or destroyed by this show.

Incredibly few. 99% of them sink back into their previous obscurity. Thank God.

Miss Olenska

bluewolf wrote: »

I like the auditions. Then I stop watching it. Well actually I don't always watch the auditions, only if I happen to remember they're on or something. They're usually entertaining.

The auditions are the worst part - exploitative crap.

They do pre-auditions to decide who will meet the panel, and pick people who can sing, people with sob stories who may or may not be able to sing, and unaware possibly mentally impaired people to laugh at. The equivalent of the Victorian habit of paying to laugh at the inmates in the asylum.

CrazyRabbit

I watch it & Pop Idol / Britain's Got Talent purely to gain money. With a little research it is extremely easy to determine who is going to win. Since many bookies offer novelty bets on the outcome, and with decent odds, it's a nice little earner.

When Diversity beat Susan Boyle, I walked away with almost €400. I've placed 14 bets through Paddy Power on these reality talent shows and have won 12 of those bets. Easy money.

Lord TSC

I enjoy it but you've got to realise its an entertainment show and not a "talent" show. Strikes me alot of people get annoyed with it cause they miss the fact its not about who the best singer is but about who the most popular contestant is...

Irish Guitarist

I think it's crap. The crappiest thing about it is the way the judges automatically assume someone that isn't attractive has no talent.

Anytime I see that overweight woman singing and see Simon Cowells face I want to punch him. The expression on his face says "hold on a minute; she's over the age of 25 and isn't anorexic but she can actually sing. I thought her only talents would have been eating and being unattractive, but no. How can this be?".

The Monkees may have been manufactured but there was a lot of talent involved. Neil Diamond wrote songs for them and Glen Campbell played guitar on some of their songs. Two of their members were actually musicians before joining The Monkees and they later all started playing and writing songs.

Liam Byrne

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

I enjoy it but you've got to realise its an entertainment show and not a "talent" show. Strikes me alot of people get annoyed with it cause they miss the fact its not about who the best singer is but about who the most popular contestant is...

Define "popular" though......John & Edward were correctly slated all over the place while it was on, and yet the same people who swore they'd never watch it again if they were kept in next week (a) still watched it and (b) were somehow brainwashed into becoming fans of the irritating talentless twits

Da Shins Kelly

I don't think there's anything wrong with liking it so long as you see it for what it is. It's purely entertainment, and has nothing to do with real talent. It's as much about the judges (if not more?) as it is about the contestants. It's not about finding the next Bob Dylan/Beatles/Tina Turner. It's about finding someone that vaguely reflects what's currently popular (the Amy Winehouse/Adele sound seems to be it at the moment) and milking it for everything it's worth. It is what it is, and it can be entertaining.

flutterflye

It's absolute tripe, but I love it!

X-Factor, American Idol, Britain/America's got talent, and The Apprentice are the only reality shows I watch.

I spend the entire time cringing and wondering why on earth I'm wasting my life watching them.
But yet I never miss an episode!