The perennial third place singing competition is trying again, with Simon Cowell leading another judges panel on “The X Factor,” this one all otherwise female — a kind of Charlie’s Angels with surviving host Mario Lopez as Bosley.
“It’s one of those ideas that sounds great on paper, and then you actually do it,” Cowell says of the otherwise all female panel that adds Paulina Rubio and Kelly Rowland to the returning Demi Lovato.
But, no,” he added during a session closing out the Fox day at the TV Critics Association summer press tour Thursday, “it’s been fun. It’s exactly what I thought it would be. We said at the time, it’s a girls’ world at the moment in the music business. So many girls doing so well in the charts, we thought the panel should reflect it. But be careful what you wish for.”
Still, Cowell says he doesn’t mind not being balanced by another male on the panel after L.A. Reid left. “I was bored of them,” he says.
“There was enough testosterone, I think between us,” says Lopez, whose female co-host Khloe Kardashian was canned as well.
The idea of “X Factor” is still to create stars, though it has struggled at that so far. “No show can survive without that,” he says of creating stars. “I mean, you’re making a promise, essentially, to the contestants that you’re going to try and turn them into a real life artists or the show finishes. It’s not a guarantee, but that is your commitment. Otherwise, it’s just a game show.”
“What we’ve proven with the show over the years is that it’s got an incredible track record of breaking artists internationally and not just in one country,” he says. “Obviously, One Direction is probably the best example of that, but that’s why we make the show.”
So far, no such direction here. And the game show aspect of the show — a $5 million recording contract offered last year — has been quietly reduced to $1 million.
“We got to a point where I think the idea was to raise attention, but it almost this is going to sound crazy coming from me: it was almost too much,” Cowell says. “You know, we want artists who really want to be artists. The prize will be a million dollars, which is still a lot of money.”
The show is also saving money by no longer having Britney Spears on the judges’ panel. Her contract was a reported $15 million salary.
As big a profile she brought to the show, Cowell says, the mix wasn’t right.
“It’s like having a dinner party, you know. You invite people for dinner, and sometimes it’s a fun night,” he says.” Other times, it’s not as much fun as you thought it was going to be.”
Referring to his new judges panel, he said, “This is a fun dinner party.”