There are those whos lives revolve around this show and theres those who find it predictable, embarassing , formatted , bland ,played out and f***ing annoying .

Which one are you ?

Didn't you start the x-factor thread last year as well clubber. I think the boy doth protest too much :P

There are those whos lives revolve around this show and theres those who find it predictable, embarassing , formatted , bland ,played out and f***ing annoying .

Which one are you ?

When I'm at lunch or hanging by the coffee machine, I find it a handy way to sort out the people I want to talk to vs. the people I don't want to talk to.

I hate it. My 15 year old daughter loves it.

That sums it up for me.

It's great entertainment, lighten up old man :P

A glorified Kareoke show that makes that dwarf Cowell loadsamoney

I don't hate it any more or less than I do any of the other 'make it big quick' shows on TV, which pretty much means I find it dull and offensive!

What amuses and maybe saddens me in equal measure is that we have got to a stage in society where people will happily sacrifice an entire evening (and a bloody Saturday evening at that) to watching the same show every week. By 'same show' I don't mean X-Factor in general, what I mean is that it is exactly the same script every week but just with a different soundtrack

You can guarantee you will get:

1. Tears because 'it means everything to me'

2. Tears because a wife/gran/mother/father/brother has died at some point in the past 12 months and is 'looking down and would be proud'

3. Tears because one of the contestants shares a two bedroom flat with their 5 sisters and brothers and the pressure is on them to make a better world for their family.

4. Tears because one of the contestants is a single mum in her early 20s with a young child and they need this break to give the child the opportunities they didn't get.

5. Tears from the contestant who has actually had a silver spoon up their sphincter for the past 20 years and for the first time in their life has been told they are not very good.

The British public love a cry baby don't they!

I don't watch it, but I do watch some clips from the show on youtube. That way I can catch the more interesting performances instead of seeing all of them.

There are those whos lives revolve around this show and theres those who find it predictable, embarassing , formatted , bland ,played out and f***ing annoying .

Which one are you ?

HATE IT!!

Now Strictly Come Dancing on the other hand B)

HATE IT!!

Now Strictly Come Dancing on the other hand B)

What's gooey, white and wriggles on the floor? B)

Edited October 12, 200916 yr by d-vder

I watch it up to the later stages when you get the see the loonies.

I prefer this show to to strictly come dancing as I have this petty hate of celebrities doing more than they are actully known for, nothing but media whores. Also, why do actors/celebs get major work and financial reward for doing voice overs? Any mug could do it, within reason, and would demand a fraction of the wage.

HATE IT!!

Now Strictly Come Dancing on the other hand B)

I watch both! Hahah, I'm such a depressingly sad child.

I prefer this show to to strictly come dancing as I have this petty hate of celebrities doing more than they are actully known for, nothing but media whores.

I would agree with that. I can't understand why people want to watch a famous person doing something they are only average at - if you want to see people dancing averagely, just gate crash a wedding party!

I watch both! Hahah, I'm such a depressingly sad child.

I've never seen either. Which makes me ... lucky!

HATE IT!!

Now Strictly Come Dancing on the other hand B)

I watched it once

I think there were 8 dances each about 1 and a half minutes long - that makes a total of 12 minutes - it left me with 2 questions:

How the f**k did the program last over an hour - answer - loads of sub standard padding

Why did the camera director make about 30 different camera changes in each dance where within each shot they were either panning or zooming in or out - net result you couldnt really see the dance or how good the dancers were

As for the extended delay before they dish out the verdict at the end - moronic w**k

The wife loves it!

In my day it was called Opportunity Knocks

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In my day it was called Opportunity Knocks

...after which it evolved into a show called "New Faeces"

Where are they now - The Zaporozhian Cossacks?

I appreciate this might not seem like the correct thread however I feel it is as it demonstrates quite how fantastic the combination of television, passion, and dedication can be in comparison to the cheap, nasty, churned out, manipulation that is the X-Factor and many many show like it.

I am not sure if serendipity is the right word for it but tonight I,as someone who watches very little television, stumbled upon the first episode of David Attenborough's latest nature program (called 'Life'). Apparently it took three years to make and that dedication, that determination to present something stunning, that love for what you can discover over what you can earn was evident in every second of the show.

That is what television can deliver given the right people but, more importantly, given a society that is brought up to be interested rather than brought up to simply get by.

I appreciate this sounds a tad melodramatic but, for me, there is a root cause why shows like the X-Factor, Celebrity Come Dancing, I'm a Celebrity, blah blah blah blah (you know all the ones) put bums on seats in such repulsive numbers. Capitalism is such a norm now that it is no longer considered an option, we live entirely to satisfy our own needs and we care so little for what exists all around us that everything around us has dumbed down to the extent that we are being told,and largely accept, what we should enjoy on television.

Every media form demonstrates it. X-Factor gets millions tuned in. Dan Brown sells 10 times the number of books as an author of genuine ability. A Hollywood blockbuster rakes in hundreds of millions because it has guns, tits and a few smart arse lines of a quality that I think we surpass on here on a daily basis.

So why do we accept the quick fix? I don't believe for a second that anyone thinks Dan Brown is a great author or Vin Diesel makes films that will stay with us for years to come - have our lives become so vacant that we seek short blunt fixes to escape from it for just an evening before we return to where we came?

This is exactly why very rarely watch anything on TV except football and the news. I choose to watch old programmes. Tonight I've watched another episode of The Saint, and one of Dad's Army. Last night I watched episode two of Michael Palin's Pole to Pole and an episode from series one of The Mod Squad, a classy US detective series from the '60s, that starred Peggy Lipton who went on to play Norma Jennings in Twin Peaks.

Not that all modern TV is rubbish. Series such as The Sopranos, The Wire and so on are excellent, of course, but these I'll tend to catch up on following a recommendation. What I won't do is waste my time on any kind of celebrity novelty or reality TV or bargain basement no-talent TV dross.

It's all about the choices you make.

I'm a Strictly Come Dancing man myself.

As Tim rightly pointed out, television has always hosted talent shows. The X Factor, American Idol and all the others are just the modern incarnations of an age old tradition. It's all a bit more OTT these days but I don't see the harm myself. If you like it then watch if not there are plenty of other things to watch or not.

What I do really hate are the "reality" shows which don't seem to have any justifiable reason for being other than to satisfy the Wenger voyeur in us.

A mate of mine is going on X factor next week and wanted my help to win, so I popped round and murdered his family.

A mate of mine is going on X factor next week and wanted my help to win, so I popped round and murdered his family.

They will be there with him on the stage, he makes them proud every time he sings Westlife cover versions

They will be there with him on the stage, he makes them proud every time he sings Westlife cover versions

Good post on that Attenborough programme Loz - thats what television should be about, entertaining aswell as informative, thought provoking and educational. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Some amazing footage shown last night.

I went past a village pub today with a board outside telling people they should come and watch the X factor live Saturday night !! If I go out on a Saturday night it would be to avoid the X factor at all costs