The X Factor Top 3 Performance Finale Recap: It's All Just a Little Bit of History Repeating

The voting portion of The X Factor‘s inaugural season ended not with a bang, but with some poorly conceived duets, repeat performances of the Top 3 contestants’ audition songs, weeping children, screaming mayors, a startling new twist in the sordid tale of Nicole Scallywag’s weave that we will never mention again, and the sad sight of an empty suit enthusiastically crossing its sleeves into an X formation — its sole remaining means of transmitting “personality.”

Even Simon Cowell struggled in the hype department, …READ MORE

The X Factor Top 3 Performance Finale: Follow Along With Our Jaunty Live Blog!

Predictions for The X Factor Performance Finale: One contestant will sing a monster-truck-style ballad. One will bust out an original composition. And one will play an instrument.

We’ll get a glimpse of the Paula Abdul Chair Dance (TM pending). Nicole Schlewbacca’s lashes will glimmer with …READ MORE

The X Factor Semifinal Recap: Feel Good Inc.

The X Factor: The Search for the Star of the World’s Next “Iconic” Pepsi Commercial reached its semifinal round on Wednesday night, and there was plenty of good news to share.

Nicole Shapeshifter announced that “God is good” and the boos (booze?) she’d been receiving from the American public had not only made her stronger, but …READ MORE

The X Factor Top 4 Performance Night: Follow Along With Our Jaunty Live Blog!

We’ve reached that wonderful point in the X Factor season where each and every one of us can agree on what needs to happen next: …READ MORE

The X Factor Top 5 Results Recap: Did the Right Act Go Home?

Sometimes it lasts on The X Factor, and sometimes it hurts instead. And indeed, this week’s Top 5 results-night telecast featured the hurting kind of conclusion — no matter which of the bottom two acts had your loyalty.

But enough of the Adele references …READ MORE

The X Factor Top 5 Performance Night: Follow Along With Our Pithy Live Blog!

Season 1 of The X Factor is down to just five contestants, but fret not: There are still five massive judges’ egos to help fill out the 90-minute episode. Actually, Melanie Amaro, Marcus Canty, Chris Rene, Josh Krajcik, and Rachel Crow will be singing two ditties apiece — starting with …READ MORE

Stacy Francis Talks X Factor: Astro's Tantrum, 'Purple Rain,' and That Tom Cruise 'Connection'

Stacy Francis brought drama to The X Factor stage right from her audition — a tear streaked rendition of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” — all the way to her final moments on the stage (a tense judges’ vote on whether to cut her, or petulant rapper Astro). TVLine caught up with Season 1′s 10th place finisher to ask her about controversy over …READ MORE

The X Factor Top 7 Results Recap: Simon, Are You OK? Are You OK, Simon?

“Do not move! Do not move!” commanded the world’s most high-profile automaton, Steve Jones, heading into another leave-us-all-in-suspense commercial break on this week’s X Factor results show. (Dude, if we’ve already endured a 15-minute recap of the previous night’s performance telecast and the umpteenth overbearing use of “Carmina Burana” to signal This Is An Important Show, we’re not about to go flipping the flipping channel.)

Anyhow, in case you’re unfamiliar with how these double-eliminations go: …READ MORE

The X Factor Recap: No One Wants to Be Defeated

“Paula Abdul is no longer a mentor,” a practically giddy Steve Jones informed us at the top of this week’s X Factor Top 7 performance show. But Strong Chin With Devastating Cheekbones (clad in double-breasted gray pinstripes!?!?) didn’t realize that his nemesis at the judges’ table wasn’t destroyed by last week’s ouster of Lakoda Rayne, but rather freed up to launch a sold-out tour of Cirque du Abdul: ¡Gobbledygook!

Indeed, Michael Jackson Week found Paula trotting out some of her loopiest critiques of the season, telling wee rapper Astro that …READ MORE