Re: American Idol / X Factor US
American Idol has also, over the past few seasons, allowed its contestants to play their own instruments, so that has been an interesting addition.
I don't know. I'm a big proponent of trying the X Factor here, and I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the allure of the X Factor being 'British' to my American self (like 'WOW! A show with Cheryl Cole AND Dannii Minogue as judges!'), and depending on how they brought it over here, it would probably be a disaster (I can list any number of American adaptations of 'foreign' [to the US] TV shows that have flopped big time). But I just think the whole format is interesting. I don't know how much 'mentorship' the American Idol contestants really get from the celebrity guests, and they've all basically said after the show that Paula Abdul was the only one who paid them any mind, so it's not like they were getting it from the judges. Although, I'm sure the amount of 'mentorship' that Louis/Cheryl/Dannii/Simon provide is also up for debate.
Maybe if they had four famous acts serving as the mentors, and then had a judging panel that was outside of that process? I dunno. And as much as I love Cheryl Cole, and maybe she'd make for great TV in the US and they'd fall in love with her, Joe Q. Public could probably give a hoot about her being in a famous British girl group that has never released anything in the States.
Edited to add: Nobody knew who Simon Cowell was either when American Idol started, of course, but he had a 'bit' -- he said snarky things and we weren't really used to that level of snark/honesty from a TV show. And personally, I don't really know what Cheryl's 'bit' is besides 'singer in Girls Aloud and former competitor in similar type of TV show,' which personally I think is great, but I think that's the part that would be missing for her for the rest of the viewership.