A lengthy article about competition singing show fatigue from TV Guide has some interesting tidbits:
Frot-Coutaz admits that the decision not to make any major changes to Idol this season (after last year’s game-changing additions of Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler) may have hurt the show in the face of its shiny new competitors. “It was a great show last year and we came back with something similar, and we suffered from that, probably,” she says, but adds, “changing things for the sake of changing things is something you don’t want to do.”
The decision to overhaul The X Factor comes out of a desire to better differentiate it from Idol. “The ambition is to grow the show [and] one of the issues was it wasn’t distinctive enough. We looked at viewer feedback and that’s why we made the changes that we made,” says Frot-Coutaz. “I don’t think people want two shows that look the same. People who fell in love with it wanted to see something different than American Idol… My role is to make sure that the two shows don’t run into each other, which can be tricky in a world where ultimately they’re both singing competitions.”
Frot-Coutaz says that Paula Abdul was removed specifically because her interaction with Simon Cowell was too reminiscent of their Idol days. “There was no way around it,” Frot-Coutaz adds. “In terms of making the show feel different, everyone felt we needed to put it in a different situation.”
Actually, I don’t think Paula’s interactions with Simon were ANYTHING like their Idol days. He seemed to pick on Nicole a lot more. Also, interesting that Idol producers wish they made more changes to the show. They’ve overhauled the middle rounds numerous times and added tweaks to the finals. NOW they have to change the auditions, which have become a tired formula.
Cowell and Fox have already drawn up a wish list of new judges — and according to insiders, deals are expected to be finalized within the next few weeks, long before they begin shooting in May. Cowell recently confirmed that Whitney Houston might have been on the list but hadn’t been approached before her untimely death.
As for The X Factor hosting gig, Frot-Coutaz says Cowell is eager to replace former emcee Steve Jones with a male-female hosting duo. “Simon’s vision was always to have a man and woman host this and to make it feel a little bit like an award ceremony — a glamorous girl and a good-looking guy doing a kind of double act,” she says.
With The Voice moving to the fall, expect even more changes to X Factor.
Source: TV Guide
