[Red Moon]

Who is right and why?

The X Factor - for or against?

Is The X Factor as exciting as ever or is it looking old and tired? We weigh up the pros and cons.

The X Factor final – a must-see

By Neil Midgley

2008 hasn't seen many things get better. Share prices and house prices have plummeted. Thousands have lost their jobs. We had endless weeks of Sarah Palin. And yet, from ITV, shines out one glorious triumph: the current series of The X Factor, which ends on Saturday.

Last year's contestants were all a bit odd. This year, even the odd ones have been oddly normal: even kooky Diana Vickers turns out to have a standard teenage love life.What's more, they can sing. Eoghan Quigg – when he's not busting out Busted songs – has a roof-raising voice that's matched only by his hairdo.

But this year belongs to Cheryl Cole. The X Factor's new judge showed that you don't have to be mean to express an opinion; that you don't have to be Simon Cowell to make a decent song choice. Alexandra Burke, who must surely win on Saturday, has quite plainly blossomed in the sunshine of Cole's tutelage. Somehow WAG glamour has brought out more in contestants this year than Sharon Osbourne's mumsy self-regard did in series gone by.

Think back to last year's final: a listless Celtic face-off between Rhydian and Leon. Saturday's show will have a proper competition, with proper singers who are – perhaps all – destined to be proper pop stars. Don't miss it.

The X Factor final – a big bore

By Michael Deacon

At the end of the audition stages two months ago, I wrote that this year's series of The X Factor was below-par because of the format: it felt too long and mechanical and repetitive.

Well, I've changed my mind.

Now I think it's below-par because of the contestants and the judges.

The contestants have been nothing special (and The X Factor, in the past, has found special contestants: special in the sense of gifted, like Leona Lewis, or special in the sense of entertainingly absurd, like Same Difference). Alexandra has talent, but style-wise she's just a counterfeit Leona. Simon Cowell called Diana, who sounds precisely like the banshee from The Cranberries, the "most relevant" contestant – evidently forgetting that The Cranberries haven't had a Top 20 hit in this country for almost 10 years. Eoghan Quigg is this year's Ray Quinn: it's hard to concentrate on his singing because his startled man-child face is so eerie.

When the contestants have shown talent, the judges have squashed it flat. In the audition stages, JLS were a promising and potentially quite edgy R&B group. Under the tutelage of Louis Walsh, they've become a boy band: dilute, drippy, drearily middle of the road. In other words, he's transformed them into Westlife. Everything the man touches turns to cheese.

Dannii Minogue may as well not be there, and not just because she's got no acts left. Last year she was useful: she brought out the worst in Sharon Osbourne. But when Osbourne left, so did Dannii's purpose. Now she does nothing but praise – and, on what's supposed to be a fiery reality show, there's nothing duller a judge can do. Well, except weep. Cheryl – please.

The X Factor used to be a wonderful show. Next year, it may be wonderful again. Those of us who have been disappointed with this series can at least reflect that, next time, Eoghan won't be there. And neither, with any luck, will Louis and Dannii.

Source: Daily Telegraph