PRODUCERS LOOKING FOR X FACTOR FOR THE X FACTOR

The head of the company that produces Fox’s The X Factor has acknowledged that the show did not achieve Simon Cowell’s goal of reach 20 million viewers because “it wasn’t different enough.” FremantleMedia North America President Cecile Frot-Coutaz told a panel at the NATPE convention in Miami that she plans to meet with Cowell in London in the hope of overhauling the talent show. “We need to find out what’s really specific about The X Factor and push those things forward. It’s about making those things more distinctive,” she said. Frot-Coutaz also suggested that the show may be facing a fundamental problem. “There are too many of these shows,” she told the NATPE panel, adding that she won’t even consider another show featuring three judges evaluating talent. (The X Factor has four.) FremantleMedia may already have corned the market on such shows. It also produces American Idol and America’s Got Talent.