X Factor 2017

[aradia22]

Wow. This is the first year in a long time that I just completely forgot about this show. I wasn't excited for it to come back. I didn't make the conscious decision to not watch. It just completely slipped my mind until I was looking up some UK pub quiz/panel shows. Was it any good? How were the contestants? Is it worth catching up? Honestly, I'm not really motivated to do so unless they found the next One Direction or Little Mix and I'll actually have to know who these people are once the series (season) is over.

[SnarkyTart]

I watched a lot of the episodes.  I didn't like any of the performers, some of whom couldn't actually, you know, sing. 

[libby80]

When's the one for 2018?

[Mayaleigh]

Tonight!

[KWalkerInc]

I usually don't start watching on AXS until the live shows, but I've caught most of the episodes so far this year.  But why is it that at the beginning of the episodes, when they're supposedly showing highlights of the previous night or week's show, they just show a bunch of clips of different people going "Aaaah!" holding out high notes out of context without any way of telling whether they are good or what song it is?  Maybe they've always done that, but it's kind of annoying.

[Kazzy25]

This is my first time watching on AXS - actually watching X Factor at all, really - but I’m in it for Robbie and Ayda because I love them. Robbie’s my favorite singer.

[KWalkerInc]

I had never watched Judges' Houses before because it sounded boring, but it was pretty good.  I especially liked the American Idol reunion at Simon's (I'm sure not real because unlike Robbie & Ayda, they didn't say it was) house.  With Diane Warren involved too, it reminded me of a season 2 AI episode where she was guest judge and had to sit between Simon and Paula and wound up looking very confused and bewildered by whatever it was they were doing.  I thought I saw a brief shot of Extra reporter/Simon's ex Terri Seymour, which is weird because she's not in the music industry, but she interviews Simon so often that maybe she was there anyway.

[Kazzy25]

Yes, I definitely saw Terri Seymour there too and thought it was so weird! Simon’s was the best - I loved seeing the mini American Idol reunion. I think he has the strongest category. 

[KWalkerInc]

The girls are really good.  I could believe that he was agonizing over the decisions.  It was too bad for the one girl with visa problems, because she wasn't there to be able to connect with the audience, and in those circumstances she wasn't going to have a chance considering the strength of the competition.

[pythonite]

I really enjoyed the live show and was surprised even by acts I didn't initially support like LMA Choir. Great show.

[KWalkerInc]

I read that some viewers were upset about minor things, that the judges were already seated at the table instead of walking out with an introduction, and that they didn't introduce their own acts.  (These comments reminded me of how Sharon would never know who was up next or would mispronounce the person's name half the time, especially Saara Aalto a couple years ago.)  It was probably because they needed to get 16 acts in and had no time to waste!  I don't know what the time constraints were for the live show, but on the replay on AXS all 16 performed in less than two hours with about 10 minutes to spare, which is impressive. 

It's interesting that they've gone back to their traditional results show with judge participation after the drastic changes last year didn't help ratings at all.  It was kind of weird last year with only two categories each night and declaring a winner for the week to get a prize.  Maybe they just didn't want to give them as much air time for the Sundays, so they switched back.

[Happy Belly]

My TiVo is giving me a really hard time with this year’s airings. i have it in Season Pass and because of the description of each episode, its not picking them up. The descriptions say that these are shows that aired in 2014, so I have to manually go in every week or so tp schedule it myself. its no big deal but I dont know why this is happening. 

[Kazzy25]

I don’t have TiVo but my DirecTV DVR isn’t picking them all up, either - sometimes it’ll skip them and then I have to watch it when it shows up On Demand. I wonder if it’s the same issue - maybe it’s getting that wrong date and not picking it up. I never thought to check.

I’m still enjoying the show and I’m rooting for Gio, Danny, and pretty much all the girls. As much as I love Robbie I’m not a fan of his groups. United Vibe is terrible! And I cannot stand Brendan. I fast forward through all his performances. Something about his singing just bugs me.

[KWalkerInc]

Even Robbie didn't seem too thrilled with United Vibe.  Of course, that might have accidentally helped them get a sympathy vote.  After the show airs on Monday, I look at some of the articles the UK tabloids have about the show online, and they said some fans were mad at Robbie for not liking the group's name and acknowledging that they needed work.  It does seem like the artists that really get criticized (often rightfully) get more votes and others slip through the cracks.

There is also something weird with the way the show is listed in the Zap2It listings (which is also what Comcast uses for its menu).  If I search for the show, it comes up, but there are no episodes listed.  To see the show times, I have to scroll all the way down the page to the AXS listings and click on the show there.  So there is definitely something wonky overall.

ETA: When the entire first half of this week's results show consisted of a re-airing of every performance from the previous night in its entirety, I thought that one of the musical guests hadn't shown up and they were just filling time.  So I was baffled when both guests performed after that.  It turns out that they had major sound problems in the original airing of the performance show when Danny and Anthony sang, so they had to throw out the votes and have people just vote again during the first half-plus of the results show.  (I remember when American Idol had to bump a results show by a day and show the performances again because some phone numbers were listed wrong and they threw out all the votes.)  I couldn't look up during the show to see what was going on, because then I would have seen who was voted off.  It was funny to again see Simon get scared when the clowns jumped out from behind the desk during Acacia and Aaliyah's performance.  They're talented, so I feel bad for them that they were in jeopardy, whereas Honey G got through fine doing the same song during her season.  I didn't read the article, but apparently some people are mad at Robbie over United Vibe being eliminated, as if it's his fault that they sound like that.

Edited November 6, 2018 by KWalkerInc
Added comments about this week.

[sharifa70]

Oops...deleted

Edited November 19, 2018 by sharifa70
Wrong thread

[pythonite]

I miss Gio. He brought a lot of energy. It's weird having a judge disappear. This season is a lot faster.