Why Britain needs the X Factor (and other useless reality TV shows) Go Back
Only a few years ago the main reason for buying a newspaper was to explore the
goings on in the world. Of course this was before the days of 24‐hour news
channels that herald even the most innocuous item of news with massive red
banners displaying the massive tagline:
BREAKING NEWS: The Duke of Edinburgh just Farted in the Sultan of Brunei's
Face!
So now, what do we use the empty space in the newspapers for? Partly for semicelebrities
to write weekly columns on the daily rigours facing their highly
lucrative lifestyles. Partly to examine the frailty of the current economic situation
and to emphasise that it wasn't poor planning on the governmental side of things
that led to the biggest stock market slump in recent times. It was actually those
crooked banks. You remember that don't you? Boy! That was a hard eighteen
months for me… Or not, in fact, if I had been better prepared, I could have bought
myself a house. I qualify for a mortgage right now, the only problem being that I
don't have nearly enough for the 10% deposit. Hold on; let me check down the
back of the sofa. Nope, still not enough.
If you were one of the majority of the country who kept a job throughout the
financial crisis (which due to the way this country operates means we're still
technically in recession, despite the rest of the civilised 'first world' countries
have made it out and are already recording growth again) you'd have found that
things were cheaper to buy, mortgages were more difficult to get, but houses lost
a lot of their value very quickly.
If you lost your job, my heart bleeds for you, it truly does, after all, it's not like
anyone saw this coming... right?
I feel I must take this opportunity here to point out that the well‐respected
papers have never needed to cover celebrity 'news' in any great details. By this I
mean The Times, The Guardian, The Independent and The Telegraph. The
newspapers I refer to are known collectively as red tops or tabloids. (If you are
wondering what sort of paper you read is classified as, open the front cover and
if you see a nearly naked woman smiling back at you congratulations, you're
reading a tabloid.)
So newspapers have trouble filling their pages with actual content. What's more,
TV channels have trouble filling their 24‐hour stations with erm… content? Not
only are there single channels, there are multiple channels that are lacking
programming. It should have been clear that if for example, ITV1 doesn't have a
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full schedule for 24‐hours a day, 365(366) days a year, ITV2 shouldn't have been
created. However, the answer to this problem was to arrive with an Orwellian
name from none other than The Netherlands. Of course Big Brother, it's all so
clear now, we have an hour or two long highlights program of the highlights of
the last 24 hours shown every night. Not only that, but we can broadcast live for
the remainder of the day. Then all of a sudden we had an explosion of the reality
TV genre with dozens of shows with public integration as a key dynamic of the
show.
Then Pop Idol was born, it was genius, promoting an effective battle of the bands
to produce a pop star with which the public had already formed an emotional
attachment. Fame Academy came and went. Then it was time for The X Factor.
Easily the most successful of the reality 'talent' shows. It's spawned countless
international versions and launched careers of a number of singers.
Not to mention filling in all of those column inches which were left empty by the
introduction of news channels on TV. Whilst I dislike the majority of X Factor
Contestants, I have indeed found myself watching this year. Whilst at first it was
for nothing more at laughing at people who had been told all their life they could
sing when they can't, but it gets better, they then start arguing that they've been
hard done by with the decision that goes against them. It becomes, a case of well
who needs you, I'll do it by myself and then you'll be sorry.
This is genius, showing people who can't sing being mocked and ridiculed and
then showing a truly talented person. I keep mentioning the basics of humanity,
and this is another one. People like watching other people getting ridiculed for
doing something badly. It's called schadenfreude in German, but whatever it's
called, the outcome is funny television.
The British social interaction has always been based on a number of scenes and
conversation starters. Firstly, in a pub we have the ever traditional: "Did you see
the match yesterday" which will always lead to a heated debate over which
judgments the referee got wrong, what the problem with x player is, what you
would have done in that situations. Discussions of what you'd do getting paid
£75,000 a year let alone per week and so on.
In the office you have conversation starters such as "what did you get up to at the
weekend?" when you walk in on Monday morning with a massive black eye and
broken nose and I'm sure you can imagine where that conversation could lead.
Personally, I can see topics being covered starting with sex touching on racism
and finishing with a night in a police cell to sober up. Although, recently, it's
become very much the "did you see The X Factor on Saturday/Sunday night?"
"Can you believe that Simon sent it to deadlock" or "I really don't understand
how Jedward didn't go out?"
The X Factor is the Marmite of modern TV. You either Love it or Hate it and
there's about a 50/50 split of lovers to haters. I've hated every other year and
for once, I can actually see true star potential within this current crop. I refer of
course, to Olly Murs, whilst described by many as dull and lifeless, Olly has the
makings of a star. He's a natural performer and in many ways is similar to Robbie
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Williams in terms of how he acts on stage. Now, the beautiful part is that aside
from everything else that's going on in the world (The Public Inquiry into Iraq
has just started and it has emerged that Tony Blair and George W. Bush Jr. may
have entered into a pact to invade Iraq over a year before it actually went ahead.)
people will still argue that my opinion is wrong as if it's the most important thing
in the world. Day to day governance has been so far removed from the life of the
normal folk that when there is finally something that they can have a say on (ala
voting on The X Factor) it becomes the most important thing that's going on. This
is another aspect of humanity that is also true. Everyone wants everything that
they do to be important. This isn't even on a short‐term basis. Everyone wants to
have strangers turning up at their funeral saying how "so‐and‐so helped me
when I needed it most and for that I'm always going to be thankful"
It sucks that they aren't the ones topping the charts, but are the first to say…
"Oh, I voted for Leona Lewis the whole way through. I just knew she was going to
win" because then, they get to share in some of that limelight. Especially when
discussing the live final with friends who were backing someone else.
Not only is the X Factor taking up prime real estate on weekend evening
television, it also uses the empty space in the red top newspapers. It has become
essential viewing for anyone who wishes to have a conversation the next day. Or
for that matter, any one who wishes to read the entire newspaper. Or anyone
who wants to listen to the radio and understand what's being said. Or anyone
who wants to know who this new celebrity is and why they're famous.
The X Factor and other reality TV shows have become essential viewing if you
want to talk to anyone the next day. It's an essential part of culture in the modern
world where scripted programs are brought to a halt because of arguments over
writers' earnings from DVD sales. There is nothing of the sort required for a
reality show other than a general idea, a camera and a bunch of idiots although,
they are sometimes talented, they are idiots nonetheless.