‘The X Factor’ Official Review: Best New Show On TV!

After seeing the first two episodes of Simon Cowell’s new reality show, ‘The X Factor,’ I can tell you it’s going to be the hottest show of the year!

I’m a reality competition show junkie. If you read HollywoodLife.com on a fairly regular basis, you know I cover Dancing with the Stars and American Idol religiously — and to be honest with you, the last thing I wanted on my plate was ANOTHER performing show. But then I saw The X Factor.

Going into the screening at the ArcLight Theater in Hollywood Sept. 14, I had no idea what to expect. Almost on purpose, I had avoided reading anything prior about how the show worked.

For those of you who have done the same, let me give you the premise in a nut shell: performers of any age who can sing and think they have “the x factor” audition in front of HUGE arenas of people — including four judges, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, L.A. Reid and Nicole Scherzinger.

From there, if the contestants get three or more votes they are put through to the next round. Eventually, each judge will end up with a group they’ll mentor during the live performances: either girls between 12 and 25, boys between 12 and 25, individuals over 25, or groups (some of which may be formed from rejected soloists after the audition process). The winner(s) end up with a Sony recording deal that guarantees them $5 million.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten the basics out of the way, let me tell you what makes The X Factor stand out against the competition.

Grandeur:Simply put, The X Factor is done on a larger scale than any other show. The auditions are held in front of thousands, which gives them heightened energy that’s indescribable. The production value is out of this world — everything seems bigger and better. Plus, the grand prize is bigger than any TV show has ever offered: a whopping $5 million!

Simon & Paula: They’re baaaaacccckkk!! It feels like it’s been eons since this ridiculous duo shared the small screen with each other, and their chemistry has never been better. Plus, on The X Factor, Paula will actually get to show off her choreographing skills during her time as a mentor, which I think will make her even more invaluable than she was on American Idol.

A sexy host: I’m obsessed with Ryan Seacrest, but The X Factor introduces us to fresh talent in the hosting sphere and he is positively dreamy. His name is Steve Jones; he’s Welsh, tall and an absolute hunk. This is all you need to know.

No age limits!Anyone from age 12 onward can audition for his/her shot at the recording contract and it’s refreshing. The kids blow you away and the older people inspire you. It’s a win/win.

Stories, stories, stories: One of Idol‘s big gimmicks is funny auditions, ala “Pants on the Ground,” the Madonna guy and others. However, The X Factor sticks primarily to talent. Of course, they do have a couple outlandish auditions thrown in there, but for the most part, the entertainment is derived from pure talent and touching stories. There’s the senior citizen couple, the impoverished little girl and the guy who’s fresh out of rehab — and all of them make you laugh and cry. There wasn’t a dry house in the theater.

The first ever U.S. episode of The X Factor premieres next Wednesday, Sept. 21 and is continued Sept. 22. Even if your DVR is packed with new fall shows, you should make room for one more. I promise you’re not going to be disappointed.

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This show absolutely sucks. Overhyped and so tightly edited with it’s canned applause and laughter soundtrack out of sync with the actual crowd shots. There’s more time spent staring at the hosts primping and posing than anything to do with performances. The obvious ripoffs from The Voice and Idol are so blatant that I don’t see how this qualifies as ‘new’. It’s like those two married and had a baby. The fact that the judge’s offer a ‘yes’ is puzzling. Yes to what?! It’s never clearly defined what ‘yes’ means. When someone says ‘You’re going to Hollywood!’ then I know WTF that means. Plus the fact that they’d even show the couple of clowns that go a chance to perform for their full 2 minutes while cutting short those that were there for a serious purpose shows they only care about ratings and nothing about the actual talent. Only at the end of the 2nd episode did we get to see the talented ones who got the ‘yes’ but only after being subjected to about an hour of the show filled with crap, model shots of the judges in every conceivable lighting setting they could contrive, and minutes filled with endless dribble between the judges like it was all supposed to be meaningful collaboration about the talent only to find they were just, well, dribbling about nothing. If this is the best show on TV then that tells me it’s time to cancel cable and get my Hulu + account revved up.

What?? You actually liked this show – for real??? I am a big reality singing competition fan, and I hated this show tonight. It was just like America’s Got Talent – yuck! It was cheesy and over-produced and over-dramatic. What a major disappointment.