Monday 11th December
I have never liked X-Factor, or Britain’s Got Talent, or in fact any TV talent shows, and there have been rather a lot of them over the years. But, like X-Factor or not, it is sometimes hard to completely avoid it, and the few times I have seen the show has only confirmed my distaste for it. It is nothing more than karaoke and the worst of it is that I don’t even know the songs the hopefuls are karaokeing to, but even worse than the songs are the nasty comments from the judges, especially Simon Cowell who seems to delight in ridiculing the contestants (although I suspect that this is a large part of the shows appeal for many people).
So a few years ago when the BBC announced that they were putting on a new talent show called ‘The Voice’ I was not filled with enthusiasm. But I did catch one of the early shows and ‘surprise surprise’ I loved it. Well, let’s qualify that, I really enjoyed the blind auditions where the judges can hear but not see the singers and press a button to turn their chair round; but quickly got bored as the show progressed and the judges “mentored” their teams and eventually a winner was chosen. And the best thing about the show was the judges themselves; Will-i-am, Kylie, Ricky Wilson and of course the imperial Tom Jones. They were always positive in their comments and kind and encouraging even when none of them turned round. So I was devastated a couple of months ago when the news emerged that Tom had been dropped from the show; for me he was the star and I thought that was it, another stupid decision and the Beeb had blown it again.
But, a bit bored, I switched on this Saturday night to see how the replacements Paloma Faith and Boy George would fare. And it was actually a success. Paloma, who I barely knew, was intense and giggly at the same time and interesting to say the least, but Boy George was brilliant and witty and came out with some great lines, his best being “I’m not really a coach, more a camper van” So – sorry to see Tom out of the show but George is really a great replacement.