richardbarley.com

So the X-Factor is heading towards the final and this year I think there have been some really strong contenders. In particular, Alexandra Burke is truly world-class and, like the judges have said, probably the best singer they have seen since Leona Lewis. She really is amazing and delivers every week.

There are others too. Ruth, who voted off this week, was a really strong singer, and Diana, although getting a little annoying now, has a great quirky style and could do well given the right songs.

I won’t mention Eoghan, a talentless little schoolboy with a limp voice and even limper personality, as he seems to have enough hype around him already to sink a battleship - nothing to do with him being mentored by Simon Cowell, I’m sure.

Anyway, diddy irish kids with dodgy hair aside, there were some cracking performances, all sung live under the harsh glare of the judges, and all the result of hard work and determination,

Contrast that if you will, with the “star guest” of the night - Britney Spears.

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Oh my god. What a mess.

The whole night - nay the whole week - had been building up to how amazing it was going to be to have her on the show, and the first half of the night was dedicated to singing songs from her back-catalogue (a bad choice as hers are hardly classics and very hard for the boys to sing with any conviction). When she was finally rolled out, after a pretty good performance by her fellow american Miley Cyrus, expectation was high. Was this the big comeback? Would Brit finally win back the love she had lost after her recent “troubles”?

Well, no, quite frankly. She was pants. She flopped around the stage like a bored teenager and mimed badly to her latest hit “Womanizer”. I mean, really, come off it! How can she have the cheek to mime on a show like X-factor? Even No-Voice-Eoghan put in a better performance than her and that’s saying something.

I think James Corden summed it up well on ITV2 after the show:

Here’s a group of people not trained, not sold five million albums, not all that stuff, coming out singing live every week and being judged really harshly. Then out comes Britney Spears, mimes a sort of half-arsed performance of the thing and then leaves to go and play at Heaven tonight at midnight. I was just watching it going: ‘You’re still a bit mental’.

And i would have to agree. Go home Britney and don’t bother coming back.

Another year, another chance for the british public to go totally bonkers about something they haven’t actually witnessed.

Last time it was the Celebrity Big Brother racism scandal, where thousands of people screamed blue murder about being offended by something they hadn’t actually seen. But thankfully the media was there to tell them just how offended they should be, so they could all complain anyway.

And now here we are again, this time its Jonothan Ross and Russell brand stiring up trouble (nothing new there) by leaving rather unsavoury messages on the answerphone of Andrew Sachs (he of Manuel fame).

I heard the show on the Russell Brand podcast and found it pretty funny at the time, but I did feel that it all went a bit too far. Sachs is, from what I can make out, a pretty decent guy and not likely to take great offence at this kind of behaviour. But his granddaughter probably didn’t deserve the publicity to be honest. 

The funny thing for me is how the number of people complaining about this has increased so dramatically. After the original show there were only 2 complaints. That means 2 people heard it and thought “hey that’s wrong” and complained. Good for them, exercising their right toeedback to the BBC. And some people may well have heard the show in the podcast, perhaps accounting for a couple of thousand complaints.

But as I write, the complaints are up to 18,000! Count ‘em. Eighteen Thousand. how many of these people do you think have actually heard the show in question? And how many have just read the transcripts in the papers?

How does that work?

Joe Bloggs picks up “The Daily Mail”. Reads the headline “Thousands complain about offensive Brand and Ross stunt”. Reads the article. joe is so offended that he needs to complain to the BBC.

Why, Joe, why? There were 17,999 people there before you. Its unnecessary. And hey, you knew you were going to be offended because you read the headline, right?

It’s true, Brand and Ross crossed the line, but People Of Britain, please get a grip! This is not affecting you. It affected Sachs and his family. Yes the BBC should have stepped in sooner and not even transmitted the pre-recorded show. Then all this would have gone away quickly and quietly after they apologised to Sachs privately. No need for several days of front-page news. No need to waste everyone’s time, least of all Gordaon brown, who should really have more important things to worry himself about just now.

Wow, who would have thought that the BBC would ever have an article that mentioned John Brrowman, Andrew Marr and D:Ream (”Things can only get better” folks) on the same page? Nope, me neither, but they have managed it in the article about the upcoming Torchwood radio play on the day the LHC is fired up. And i wonder if there’s a hint of innuendo in the title “Big Bang day”, given that it also mentions Eddie Izzard along with everyone’s favourite multi-sexual time agent?

[BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Torchwood set for 'Big Bang' day]