{"id":4523,"date":"2013-12-02T10:07:04","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T15:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/?p=4523"},"modified":"2013-12-02T10:07:04","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T15:07:04","slug":"franks-pop-culture-watch-the-x-factor-hits-series-lows-the-voice-hits-highs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/2013\/12\/02\/franks-pop-culture-watch-the-x-factor-hits-series-lows-the-voice-hits-highs\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank&#8217;s Pop Culture Watch: The X Factor Hits Series Lows, The Voice Hits Highs"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<?xml encoding=\"UTF-8\"><html><body><p>In a media landscape filled with so much &ldquo;sameness,&rdquo; it is peculiar when a show succeeds over a similarly themed program. Why do some singing competition shows perform consistently well, while others struggle for good numbers? This season, the divide is apparent.&nbsp;<i>The Voice<\/i>&nbsp;is hitting series highs and spearheading NBC&rsquo;s rising success, while&nbsp;<i>The X Factor<\/i>&nbsp;is hitting series lows and contributing to FOX&rsquo;s abysmal decline. How can this happen when the shows are, in essence, the same?<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 318px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fox.com\/programming\/_ugc\/images\/upfronts2013_x_factor.jpg\" width=\"318\" height=\"178\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo courtesy of Fox.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This is all the more confusing if we look at one fact in particular. <i>The X Factor<\/i> has the one person that single-handedly made singing competitions successful in the first place: Simon Cowell. What does <i>The Voice<\/i> have that <i>The X Factor&nbsp;<\/i>does not?<\/p>\n<p>For one, the gimmick behind <i>The Voice<\/i> is attractive to viewers. The idea that anyone can succeed regardless of appearance, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. is a great notion, and the show does it well. Another plus is that every judge on <i>The Voice<\/i> is a relevant recording artist in today&rsquo;s market. The judges&mdash;Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green, and Adam Levine&mdash;also bring an enormous amount of personality to the table. By comparison, <i>The X Factor<\/i> arguably only has one relevant artist and two with interesting personalities. Finally, <i>The Voice<\/i> is on twice a year&mdash;a strategy that attracts a larger fan base and keeps their viewers coming back.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4528\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4528\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/files\/2013\/12\/The-Voice-Logo-Wallpaper.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4528 \" alt=\"The-Voice-Logo-Wallpaper\" src=\"http:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/files\/2013\/12\/The-Voice-Logo-Wallpaper-300x240.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4528\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo courtesy of Swishost.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Also contributing to&nbsp;<i>The X Factor&rsquo;s<\/i> massive decline is the one thing that set the show apart from <i>The Voice<\/i>. Since season one, <i>The X Factor<\/i> has given the bottom two a chance to be saved by singing for the judges. <i>The Voice<\/i>, on the other hand, just sent home the lowest ranking contestants, and that was it. This year, however, <i>The Voice <\/i>has added an &ldquo;instant save&rdquo; component: the bottom contestants can be saved by viewers live via Twitter. Additional suspense and viewer interaction has allowed the show to take <i>The X Factor&rsquo;s <\/i>competitive edge, leaving its rival in the dust.<\/p>\n<p>In order for <i>The X Factor<\/i> to rebound, it must be seriously revamped&mdash;starting with the judging panel. With the exception of Simon, every other person on the panel&mdash;Demi Levato, Kelly Rowland, and Paulina Rubio&mdash;is just not quite right for the gig. <em>The X Factor<\/em> also needs to add interaction to draw viewers to the program. That is, if&nbsp;the show does not get canceled!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a media landscape filled with so much &ldquo;sameness,&rdquo; it is peculiar when a show succeeds over a similarly themed program. Why do some singing competition shows perform consistently well, while others struggle for good numbers? This season, the divide is apparent.&nbsp;The Voice&nbsp;is hitting series highs and spearheading NBC&rsquo;s rising success, while&nbsp;The X Factor&nbsp;is hitting&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":703,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,14],"tags":[836,1499,1814,1823,2006,2229,2230],"class_list":["post-4523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-columns","category-franks-pop-culture-watch","tag-fox","tag-nbc","tag-ratings","tag-reality-tv","tag-singing-competitions","tag-the-voice","tag-the-x-factor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/703"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}