Tuned In

The X Factor Previews, Promises to Keep It Real

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlY15RjXRMY]

During last night’s All-Star game—I believe the baseball team won—Fox ran its latest preview of fall singing contest The X Factor, which made a couple of things clear. First, from the amount of on-screen placement, it seems more as if this show should be called The X Pepsi Chevrolet Factor. Second, the series looks like it’s doubling down on Simon Cowell’s Mr. Bad Guy persona, distinguishing it from the more, shall we say, nurturing tones of the judges’ panels on certain other singing contests.

The curious thing about this is that it means Fox is marketing The X Factor as counterprogramming not just to NBC’s sunnier The Voice but, in a way, to its own American Idol, with its new, more-positive panel. The tone of the show is not the only distinction The X Factor could draw, given that it also has singing categories divided by demographic groups, so we’ll see if later promos emphasize that difference more. In the meantime, did this glimpse make you more like to watch?