Ironically Lacking the X Factor

On September 21 of this year something terrible happened: another reality singing competition premiered that I found myself watching. In my defense, it was The X Factor and it brought Simon Cowell back to the US. Anyone who watched American Idol before Simon left knows that he is deliciously and cruelly honest (and sometimes he just likes to screw with people because he can), which made his coming back as a talent judge on X Factor so appealing. Both Idol and X are Fox network shows, though one is sponsored by Coke and AT&T and the other is sponsored by Pepsi and Verizon. They are both singing competition shows, and the formats are similar.