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Ray Mickshaw/FOX
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(WARNING: The following contains spoilers for West Coast viewers, since the episode did not air due to baseball – you lucky, lucky West Coasters)
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Here on the East Coast ‘The X-Factor’ broadcast on Fox was a mess. Game 3 of the NLCS was in the middle of a 3 plus hour rain delay, so at 8 Fox ran the ‘Ben and Kate’ pilot (which is really good and that show just keeps getting better) and then at around 8:33 started ‘The X-Factor.’ Then at a little before 10, they cut out of ‘The X-Factor’ and picked up smack dab in the middle of last week’s ‘Mindy Project’ (bad pilot, but that show keeps getting better too). It made very little sense, but on the bright side, I only had to sit through a little more than an hour of ‘The X-Factor,’ so I consider that a bona fide win because, ugh, this show…

FOX
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There’s nothing quite like watching adults have to sing for the approval of a teenager wearing big, giant cataract sunglasses as fashion. It’s such an odd, backwards idea that real, seasoned performers – the kind who’ve honed their craft over the years performing for audiences, some of them probably in bars – should ever have to impress a kid who put a couple of videos on YouTube accounting for the entirety of his preparation for superstardom. Maybe I’m being harsh on Justin Bieber, but watching Tate Stevens perform for him made me sad. I couldn’t imagine what it made him feel. Maybe angry.

FOX
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Last night on ‘The X-Factor,’ Boot Camp ended and 24 acts were sent by speedboat to a bunch of rented houses that producers are insisting are the judge’s actual houses. They’re not. But, before they could do that the field had to be leveled. Oh and the groupings are different. Instead of “Girls,” “Boys,” “Over 30s,” and “Groups” it’s “Teens,” “Young Adults,” “Over 25s” and “Groups.” Whatever.

FOX
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Well, it’s day two of the single most difficult week in the history of all the weeks for our contestant. On said day – again, remember the hardest of days – the contestants not only had to sing ONE song, but they had to only sing PARTS OF IT as they would be DUETTING with a fellow CONTESTANT! I don’t know how they handle it. It. Just. Seems. Too. Hard.
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Simon Cowell wore a shirt with a neckline so plunged it may as well have been an open button down, while the contestants were paired off to sing against one another…or maybe it’s with one another and there was no mention of whether or not one would win out over the other or if they could possibly both be sent home or both retained and in the end no decisions were made, so I’m completely confused.

FOX
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Thank goodness for the Presidential debate! It’s because of said debate that we didn’t have to endure a full two hours of ‘The X-Factor’ last evening. I wish there was a debate every Wednesday for the season’s future, but it looks like we’ll have to take these little gifts where we can get them. So, instead of stink faces from Britney and inappropriate dances from Trevor Moran, we had Mitt Romney lying through his teeth while our President played rope-a-dope with the Governor. It’s a fair trade off, I think.