Idol Chatter & Voice Views

So The X Factor has axed host Steve Jones, and judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul are leaving, voluntarily or involuntarily.

Apparently someone had to pay the price when the show failed to meet Sir Simon Cowell’s expectations of getting American Idol-like viewership.

Yep, that’s going to fix The X Factor, all right: Firing a much-maligned host and bidding farewell to both female judges.

I’m being facetious, of course.

Steve Jones was the least of The X Factor’s problems, and Paula was more coherent on X Factor than she’d been late in her Idol run.

As for Nicole … well, considering the disrespect Simon showed her, she should have driven one of her spiked heels into his smug noggin’ about three shows into the finals.

Here was the problem with the X Factor: The show was over-hyped to the point where you would have thought we were about to watch the greatest show on earth and something nearly as important.

Then it trotted out fifth-rate vocal talent like Chris Rene, and pretended having him sing “Young Homie” 100 times and an original song that included about six words was new and revolutionary.

Plus there was the immature brat named Astro and a cute and bubbly Rachel Crow, who would have been great on a Disney show, but was far from a ready-for-prime-time singer.

I’m hardly a Nicole Scherzinger fan, but if you look at the biggest decisions the judges had to make — who to advance to the live shows — she certainly did as well as anyone.

It was Simon who foisted Rachel and Simone Battle and Tiah Tollliver on us when there seemed to be more intriguing vocal options. And who almost axed eventual champ Melanie Amaro. Though I’m still not convinced that wasn’t a ploy to give her a back-story to match her voice.

And it was L.A. Reid who opted for Chris and Astro and Phillip Lomax. Oh, yeah, remember Phillip Lomax, the guy who wanted to sing Sinatra tunes. That was sure to be revolutionary.

Yet Simon and L.A. are apparently the only judges returning for Season 2. Which means we can look forward to more of their bickering. Which, of course, is another of the show’s problems.

I think most of us tune in to hear talented, aspiring singers and honest critiques of their performances, not to watch judges hurl mean-spirited insults at one another.

My suggestion to Simon: Tone down the hype. Find more talent. Then make sure the focus is on that talent.

And if you’re lucky enough to find the right mix of hype and talent, viewers will come, regardless of who’s sitting behind the judges’ table.

American Idol proved that last year.

Without Simon Cowell.