The X Factor 2016

I think http://www.tvforum.co.uk/forums/post971455#post-971455 illustrated how long this series has been dragged out to, from 29th August to 13th December.
- Auditions: 4 weeks - 4x Sat 1-1/2hrs + 3x Sun 1hr (average)
- Bootcamp: 2 weeks - 2x Sun 2hrs (rugby world cup)
- 6 Chair challenge: 3 weeks - 3x Sun 2hrs (rugby world cup)
- Judges House: 1 week - 2-1/2hrs Sat + 1-1/2hrs Sun
- Live finals: 7 weeks - Sat various length + Sun 1hr

Whilst it could be argued the Rugby World cup hasn't helped I'm sure in the past the auditions has been spread out over more weeks instead. Over the years they've added the Sunday shows, which arguably aren't really required until the judges house stage. Similarly the results show appears to have originally been 45 minutes, though that may have been before it moved to Sundays.

The wildcard element has lost it's novelty makes the judges house selection slightly pointless. Also by adding an extra act it means the need for (more) double evictions. They may as well just have 4 acts each through to the live finals and then the first week an act from each group goes (similar to The Voice), or just stick with 3 acts (and no wildcards).

I agree that the shows are too long but come off it, people don't just watch to see the 4 minutes of sing-off and results. It's an overall package. The results shows are fine as they are.

The main show is the part that's too long but, to be fair, there isn't *that* much padding out. The VTs before each performance, the judges comments - these are all integral parts of the show. TV wouldn't be very exciting if every show quickly whizzed through the most important bits and cut out everything else.

As a singing competition, the bit which they seem to me to struggle to fit in to the live shows is the actual songs. When did they start singing such cut down versions? There's been a couple of performances I've heard this year where they've ended the song before it gets to the challenging bit. I'd quite happily have 1 min less of vt's / judging pantomime so they could actually fit in full songs.

They've always cut the songs down as far as I can remember.

Yep. Only the winners single gets sung in full. That's not a new thing,

They scrapped it for a week though then paniced and got him back. Surprise surprise it made no difference to the ratings. Agree with your other suggestions though, especially the last where they could make more use of the presenters during the judges comments stage.

I really don't think the show takes itself anywhere near as seriously as it used too - they've long given up the pretence it's a track to guaranteed success. The Voice takes itself far more seriously. I think the trouble is the show thinks it can gets it's viewers to laugh at the same jokes they were laughing at six years ago.

The main issue is the show is just too long - Saturday shows they could actually do 7 performances in little over an hour, and then a recap, guest performance, clear up a ton of confetti and give the result (but no sing-off) in the space of 30 minutes.

Yes, but not to the extent they are these days. They used to all be a good 2-3 minutes long, whereas the other week there were a couple only just over a minute long. Nobody can seriously believe viewers want to spend more time listening to the sob stories than they spend listening to the actual singing, can they?

Looks like X Factor has had it. We have confirmation now that ITV do have The Voice.

Mr. ITV (his name escapes me) has said this doesn't necessarily mean it'll be dropped. I'd rather neither were on our screens but there's nothing to say The Voice will die a death when ITV start showing it. There's still a chance that they'll lose viewers with the new panel next series.

Peter Fincham

In the unlikely event it does continue it'll only damage both shows further by them being on the same network. We saw that with Idol and X Factor in the US - it just doesn't really work.

I just hope Britain's Got Talent doesn't become a casualty in all this, either as a bargaining chip for Cowell or being pushed out of it's traditional slot to make room for The Voice - although if The X Factor does go I suspect Cowell would prefer BGT to move up to Sept/Oct rather than The Voice take the slot. It could work I suppose with the live shows in October half-term, and then rejig the weekend scheduling slightly so I'm a Celeb effectively fills the gap left by The X Factor with extended weekend shows - that could cover four weekend in November.

Worth noting that the Royal Variety performance was on Friday 13th November. A quick glance on wikipedia indicates over the last 20 years the earliest performance has been at the end of October, whilst the latest has early December. Assuming that Britain's Got Talent keeps a performance on it as a prize then that limits to some extent when it can be shown/moved.


I imagine that The Voice will be used as leverage in any renewal negotiations. It means Cowell/Syco no longer have the upper hand as ITV have a replacement if necessary for X Factor.