The X Factor 210 Review - Teen Titans

Well... we all have to wait until next week to find out who has made it into The X Factor's Top 16.

Fortunately, we were held over with a whole bunch of talent from the Old Geezers and Teens categories. Sure, there were a couple of misses here and there, but like I've said many times already this season, there just seems to be much more talent this year than in 2011.

Let's take a look at who is in good shape to make it through to the live shows, and who might be in danger of heading home. Remember only four can make it through from each category...

Old Geezers

1. David Correy: While I still think The X Factor isn't as good of a strategy for finding his birth mom as actually going somewhere to find her, I still love this guy. That was a fantastic audition. He has the extra factor, AND a great voice. Loved him. Bieber's manager said it was pure passion.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 209 Review - Oh The Drama

The X Factor announced its Top 21 this week, put us through some incredibly fake drama before revealing the true Top 24, continued with more faux anger when L.A. Reid was given the Over 25s... and finally concluded with some singing on Wednesday!

This year's categories are different from last season. We have the Young Adults (roughly 18-24), the Over 25s (what I will affectionately refer to as the Old Geezers from here on out), the Groups, and the Teens (17 and under).

Who made it through? Who got the cut?

Young Adults
Cece Frey
Willie Jones
Jennel Garcia
Nick Youngerman - Who?
Paige Thomas
Jillian Jensen - She broke Demi's heart.

To read the rest of my review of Wednesday's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 208 Review - Don't Forget the Lyrics

They are just racing through these eliminations on The X Factor, as Thursday's Boot Camp Battles seemed to be the final test before cutting the 60 remaining contestants down to 24 for the judges' houses.

Other than speed and efficiency, this season of The X Factor also seems to be doing a much better job at finding talent...or at least showcasing it. There was a wealth of it on display tonight, so let's recap what all went down with The Good, The Bad, and The Judges...

The Good

Tara Simon vs. Jennel Garcia: Both sounded good, but Simon hated the song choice of "Landslide" because it was too mellow. It's really not fair to some that another contestant can bully them into a song, but that's how the game is being played, and life isn't always fair.  Even though Jennel wasn't comfortable with the performance, I think she has done enough to make it to the next round.

Carly Rose Sonenclar vs. Beatrice Miller: I don't remember seeing Beatrice before but she started "Pumped Up Kicks" with a nice tone. Yikes, when Carly jumped in though, the game was completely changed. For a 13 year-old girl, she has such great tone, power, and style.

To read the rest of my review of this past Thursday's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 207 Review - The Whitney-Off

For weeks now, The X Factor has been improving on not only its own mistakes from last season, but also the bad habits that American Idol has developed over the years. That didn't change this week, as the first night of Boot Camp was short and sweet - and nobody got hurt.

Well... the 60 or so contestants who were eliminated were certainly hurt, but because The X Factor decided to just show us some of the highlights, some of the train wrecks, and then get to the first round of cuts, the viewers at home were left unscathed by the boring middle rounds that these singing shows have forced on us year after year.

Boot Camp started with around 120 contestants. We are already down to half that amount, and it will end with just 24 hopeful acts. Let's take a look at who impressed us, and who had us looking away with The Good, The Bad, and The Judges...

The Good

Diamond White: She is just a complete professional. She was so girly and friendly while talking, but as soon as that music started it was go time! She put a nice little spin on "I Have Nothing," which is a song that everyone says you shouldn't sing.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 206 Review - Time For Boot Camp

The auditions are finally over, and if I haven't commended The X Factor enough on its second season already, I have to admit that this was the perfect length of audition episodes.

We saw a few more quality contestants, we witnessed a couple more train wrecks, and the judges got in a few more digs on Thursday night's audition finale. Now it's off to Boot Camp, but first let's relive the final X Factor auditions of 2012 with The Good, The Bad, and The Judges...

The Good

Owen Stuart: While I would put Owen's silly puppy love idea to try out for The X Factor in order to reunite with his girlfriend into the Bad section of this post, his performance definitely belongs in the Good. Honestly, has he not heard of an airplane? Or maybe a Google Hangout? Luckily for Owen, he was great with "Airplanes." His flow was some of the best I've seen on one of these competitions, and he has a singing voice to boot!

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 205 Review - We Have a Winner?

In the final week of auditions, The X Factor showed America a ton of young hopefuls, a contestant passing out and the first singer to impress enough that I am calling him the Season 2 champion. Yes, already. Let's recap who we saw perform on Wednesday night, both The Good and The Bad...

The Good

Dinah Jane Hansen: She lives with 20 people in a four room house, or at least that's what she told the judges. Her performance of "If I were a Boy" started out a bit shaky with the whisper, but once things got going she was pretty darn good.

Arin Ray: You may remember Arin from last season when he made it through the first few rounds, but was then place on the Frankengroup called inTENsity. I hated inTENsity, but vaguely remember Arin being one of the only few bright spots. Even if he was good last year, the kid was MUCH better this time around. He sang an original, and it's difficult to explain why it was so good. Maybe it's confidence, maybe it's just an "x factor," but Arin killed it. He was one of the only people on any of these singing competitions to do that talking bit before the track, and actually have it sound professional. He sounded official, and that is definitely a good thing.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 204 Review - Turn The Lights Down Low

Apparently The X Factor wasted all of its talent on Wednesday night - because during Thursday's hour of auditions, we saw only two quality performers. In fact, we only saw four serious performances total.

Somebody from Greensboro might make it all the way to the end and win this thing, so it's still important to take stock of what went down in Gate City. As we do, let's take a look at The Good, The Bad, and The Judges...

The Good

Kalvin McManigle: Yes, I know this was an absolute joke of an audition, but it was one the few disasters that actually got me to smile. Old Man River forgetting the name of his song, and then mumbling his way through it, was quite humorous.

Julia Bullock: One of the two decently talented performers from this entire episode, Julia was most interesting because she was ditching her bandmates, which included her ex-boyfriend. I don't understand why she left him. Did she not see his super cool earring? Julia's rendition of "Pumped Up Kicks" was pretty solid. I'm falling out of my chair for it, but she was good.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 203 Review - Oops, They Did It Again

Whether it was the surprising wealth of talent, the lack of an onslaught of freak shows, or Demi and Britney continuing to prove the Powers That Be knew exactly what they were doing in hiring such charming new judges, The X Factor did it again.

It's still early, and things could change in a few weeks with Boot Camp or the live shows, but season two has been a breath of fresh air. I mean, honestly, there may have been more talent in this one episode than all of last season. With that in mind, let's take a look at The Good, The Bad, and The Judges.

The Good

CeCe Frey: Unlike the last time they showed a contestant doing dirty work back stage, CeCe actually made a splash once she got on stage. Her "Unchained Melody" didn't impress the judges, although it didn't sound nearly as horrible as they made it seem. After being asked to pick a different song, CeCe wowed everyone with her rendition of "Ain't No Other Man." It was definitely better, but the shock factor was played up a bit too much, because you could tell she had a good voice from the first song. It was just a bit too big for her.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 202 Review - I Love You Britney

I figured out why The X Factor and other singing competition shows usually spend two hours showing us auditions: because when an episode is only one hour, nothing really happens. At least that was the case on tonight's back half of The X Factor’s season two premiere.

There were a couple of nice moments, a few awful auditions and one extremely scary contestant, but it all seemed to go by extremely quickly. Let's take a look at what happened with The Good, The Bad and The Judges...

The Good

Jason Brock: This "nerd herder" was so excited to be on stage that he became quite the little chatter box in front of the judges, bringing us all in on his plans for the perfect concert. To be honest, I'm glad he didn't do the glitter explosion right then and there, but once he started singing the jokes ended. He was great. His voice showed strength and range.  He may have enjoyed the runs a bit too much, but his "New York State of Mind" was pretty darn good.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor 201 Review - New Judges Rule

I was really hard on The X Factor in its first season, mostly because it was a much more overproduced and less talented version of American Idol. Those two issues will need time to receive a full assessment, but after one night the addition of a pair of great judges made for a winning season opener.

After trips to Austin, San Francisco and Providence, Simon, LA, Britney and Demi saw a lot of talented singers, and as always, some that were anything but. Let's take a look at The Good, The Bad and The Judges.

The Good

Paige Thomas: A 21-year-old nursing student with an adorable little daughter, Paige wowed the judges with her version of "I'm Going Down." She was a big Britney fan because they are both hot moms, but LA instead compared her to Rihanna so that he could drop that name for the first time of the season.

Reed Deming: Just 13 and he already has better vocals than the superstar everyone kept comparing him to. Honestly, just because you have the Alabama Swoop for a hairdo, it doesn't mean you have to be compared to Bieber. Others had that before him. Anyway, Reed's two songs were both very good, and honestly I was shocked Simon stopped his first one. I loved it.

To read the rest of my review of last night's season two premiere of The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Season One- What Worked? What Didn't?

After some time to rest, and some time to reflect on the first season of The X Factor, let's now analyze what worked and what didn't work for FOX's new reality singing competition.

Join me as we look back at the highs of Josh Krajcik's "Wild Horses" and Astro's near elimination, as well as the lows of L.A. Reid's judging style and Marcus Canty's hundreds of backup dancers.

WHAT WORKED

Finding Favorites: As is the case for any reality competition, The X Factor was a platform for fans to pick a favorite and cheer for said favorite to win the $5 million recording contract. There is a reason why so many of these types of shows perform well in the ratings, and it is mostly because of the rooting interesting involved for the audience. I picked Drew and Chris Rene as a couple of my favorites early on, and even when I knew they didn't perform so well, I still wanted them to make it to the next round. That makes the viewing experience exciting, and it is a main reason why The X Factor will stick around.

Quick To The Finish: The fall season is much shorter than the spring. Where American Idol is able to have weeks and weeks of audition episodes, Hollywood weeks, and semifinals, before getting rid of one contestant per week during the live performances, The X Factor was not. Thank You! Simon and company chopped off a slew of finalists at the beginning of the live shows, and as the holiday season came quickly, the judges began cutting two at a time on the regular. The annoying judging table, the overproduced performances, and the statue that was Steve Jones would have become more and more difficult to watch the longer it went on. Short and sweet is advantage for The X Factor.

To read the rest of my commentary on the first season of The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Finals Review- I Believe She Can Fly

It was once again time to face the music, as Josh Krajcik, Chris Rene, and Melanie Amaro battled to become the first winner of The X Factor in the United States.

Apparently Simon Cowell didn't know that this was the first season of the show because he claimed that it was going to "be the closest finale we've ever had" before any of the performances started. Yeah, of course. It's the only finale you've ever had.

Let's take a look at what happened in round one of performances, which unfortunately for two of the finalists, paired each contestant with a famous recording artist for a duet.

Josh Krajcik "Uninvited" - He was boring me to death, and then Alanis Morissette came on and showed him up. Their voices sounded even worse together. When Josh had his own little moment again, he seemed to just be mumbling through the whole thing.
My Score: 4/10

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor Finals, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Semifinals Review- Who's Feeling Good?

In the semifinals of The X Factor's first season, we - you guessed it - faced the music. The final four contestants sang two songs for America's vote, and they did a pretty darn good job competing for the final three spots in next week's finale.

The best part of the night might have been when Steve Jones read some random fans Tweet that stated, "L.A. Reid...more like L.A. Rude." Then again, maybe the best part might have been one of the performances. Let's see how the final four did...

Round one was the Pepsi Challenge with songs picked by America.

Marcus Canty "I'll Make Love To You" - This song seems ridiculously inappropriate for this setting. He absolutely murdered the vocal, though. Like I've said a thousand times already, he belongs in the mid-90s, and this Boyz II Men performance proved that. One question, who was that random girl in a red dressing dancing in the background? Simon makes a good point that the song wasn't changed at all from the original.
My Score: 7/10

Chris Rene "Fly" - This is really the song America picked? I'm sorry, Chris. It's nice to see all of his friends joined him on stage, but he's really not getting to do much with this chorus. He kills the original verse within this madness. There is such great originality from him every single time.
My Score: 7/10

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Top 5 Results- Shocker!

The X Factor went from five to four tonight, eliminating one more contestant before next week's semifinals. After listening to performances by two people who would be in the Over 30s group on this show - Lenny Kravitz and Mary J. Blige - Steve Jones and the gang got to the results.

In no particular order, it was revealed that Josh Krajcik, Chris Rene, and Melanie Amaro were safe for another week. Not a huge surprise here, as Marcus Canty is always a bottom dweller and Rachel Crow finished with the least amount of votes from America.

That's when things got interesting. Both contestants sang songs from Top 11 week. Marcus was great with his second performance of "I'm Going Down," but Rachel was ridiculously awesome in her second outing with "I Would Rather Go Blind." I gave her a 9/10 and touted Rachel "BEST OF THE NIGHT" with this song a couple weeks ago, and she might have been even better here. There was just so much emotion in the performance as she feared elimination.

As always, it next went to the judges. Let's see what they decided...

To read the rest of my post on The X Factor's Top 5 Results show, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Top 5 Review- Mesmerizing Melanie

Just in case anyone was wondering, everyone faced the music yet again on The X Factor this week. The Final Five performed two songs, one dance hit and another chosen by the contestants.

How contrived was it the "they have one day to practice this song" bit, though? After the Pepsi songs didn't come through, they were given 24 hours to prepare another track? If it's their "Save Me" song, everyone but Marcus Canty should have it in the holster ready to go.

Although the Chevy commercials in between the live performances were much, much better, let's still take a look at how the contestants did...

Melanie Amaro "Someone Like You" - Why would you waste such an epic song like this by turning into a dance beat for this week's theme? She was good, but it could have been a lot better.
My Score: 7/10

Marcus Canty "Ain't Nobody" - This took me back to the 80s and that's not a good thing. He did the song justice, but it did not feel organic whatsoever. Simon said that Melanie's wasn't karaoke. But his was.
My Score: 6/10

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Top 7 Review- The Jackson 7

You guessed it. We faced the music once again on The X Factor, as the remaining seven finalists performed tracks from the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

After we said hello to Michael's brothers Marlon, Tito, and Jackie of the Jackson 5, Michael's mother and children were introduced before any of The X Factor's contestants were brought out on stage. Intermittently asking the Jackson family about their thoughts on the show proved one thing: Prince Jackson is all about the limelight. He and Paris didn't let Blanket say one word.

Let's get to the performances, shall we?

Josh Krajcik "Dirty Diana" - The sound mix was off again. I couldn't really hear anything he was saying. I didn't like how very talky Josh was throughout this. The backup singers then came in and over powered him completely. Then there was the fact that he had the guitar on his back for the first 2/3 of the performance. He finally broke out the axe for a solo where he yelled "come on!" a bunch of times. This was definitely not his best effort.
My Score: 5/10

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Top 9 Review- Thankful For Wild Horses

This week on The X Factor, we faced the music and gave thanks. What was I thankful for? Melanie Amaro's post-performance speech, and the fact that she broke out a Virgin Islands accent after months of speaking with none at all.

There was still plenty to not be thankful for on this week's episode, specifically L.A. Reid's atrocious method of judging. I don't know why he thinks it is his job to come in to a show prepared to hate every contestant that isn't on his team, but he does.

"I came out wanting to be critical," he told Rachel Crow before praising her performance. He then told Lakoda Rayne "I was completely prepared to not like it," which was followed by more positive comments. Here's an idea. How about you just come in and judge them without bias?

We all may have our favorites on The X Factor, but as a judge of the talent, he of all people shouldn't come in prepared to hate on someone. Let's get onto the performances...

Rachel Crow "Believe" - The overproduction was once again in place as the gigantic chorus drowned out her performance a bit here. When they brought in 20 more backup singers and then dropped confetti from the ceiling, I knew it was going to be a ridiculous night. Rachel was good as always, but she was not nearly as interesting as a few of the past weeks.
My Score: 6/10

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Top 10 Results- A Poor Sport

If that wasn't the worst display of sportsmanship in singing competition history, I don't know what was.

The X Factor went from 10 finalists to nine tonight, but not before Astro embarrassed himself and made a mockery of the show by claiming he didn't want to perform for the judges' vote and pouted through his entire performance.

After Rihanna danced around on stage in a pair of ripped jeans straight out of 1991, the top eight vote-getters were announced in no particular order as: Leroy Bell, Lakoda Rayne, Chris Rene, Melanie Amaro, Josh Krajcik, Marcus Canty, Drew, and Rachel Crow.

That's right. That means that Stacy Francis and Astro received the least amount of votes from America. Now I could have been happy that most of America agreed with my take on the young rapper's performance last night, but instead I was quickly saddened how poor of a sport he became.

To read the rest of my thoughts on last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Top 10 Review- Canty-land

We faced the music yet again, but it was facing the judges bickering that had me covering my ears for half of The X Factor's Top 10 Rock Night.

I mean, come on, L.A. Reid! Your constant badgering about other contestants songs not sounding rock enough was ridiculous. At least Simon was complaining about your boy Chris Rene not choosing a rock song. You, on the other hand, were complaining about contestants taking a rock song and making it their own. Isn't that exactly what these competitions are all about?

Even Randy Jackson didn't put forth a judging performance this obnoxious until his third or fourth season on American Idol. Step your game up, L.A. Let's just move on to the performances...

Leroy Bell "We've Got Tonight" - Boy, do I hate when the crowd cheers and claps during the soft moments of songs, and they did a lot of that during Leroy's performance. Thankfully this was your average run of the mill performance, so I didn't miss much. I'm okay with seeing Elton John go through the motions on a performance at age 60 (which I did four years ago), but Leroy Bell doesn't have that same cache.
My Score: 5/10

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor, head over to TV Fanatic.

The X Factor Top 11 Review- The Taste of Crow

It was once again time to face the music, as The X Factor Top 11 hit the stage for Movie Night!

I hope you had your popcorn ready because L.A. Reid continued his stint as the worst new reality judge on television and Steve Jones remained steadfast in cutting off the panelists as many times as he could in a two hour span.

Oh yeah! The 11 acts also performed their hearts out for America's vote! Let's take a look at the performances...

Stacy Francis "The Queen of the Night" - No Nicole, Stacy having a big diva moment is not her stepping out her element. The upbeat nature of this song, however, was out of her element, and it proved to be detrimental as she seemed to be out of breath throughout the performance.
My Score: 4/10
Obscure Movie Score: The Bodyguard is way too popular to register in this ranking system. 2/10

Marcus Canty "I'm Going Down" - He almost dropped the mic, he could barely get his jacket off when he wanted to, but he still pulled off the performance. His vocals are good, and they are a lot like what you hear on today's Top 40 chart. He might need to learn how to calm down though, as this song was completely stripped down, but his performance was still a bit out of control.
My Score: 7/10
Obscure Movie Score: I've never heard of Car Wash, but it was made nine years before I was born so I'll stay safe and go 5/10.

To read the rest of my review of last night's The X Factor Top 11 Review, head over to TV Fanatic.