Simon Cowell blames himself for The X Factor's failure in America; he simply set the bar too high.
"I stupidly said at the beginning, 'We're going to get 20 million people,'" he told FT. "I didn't realise the market had changed so quickly and we got 12. So I felt from the outset that we'd failed and so did everybody else. I should have thought, 'Actually, 12 is fantastic', and kept my mouth shut. I think, on both sides, it was a mistake to throw the towel in."
But the UK hitmaker is keen on bringing the series back to the states, and threw a little shade at other current singing shows.
"I think it will come back again," he said. "The thing about X Factor is you know what you're getting... [I]f we said, 'There's a low base of five to six million', we might build on that but it won't be less, compared to a new drama that might only be a million. There's a reason it produces so many stars, unlike the other shows. It doesn't rely on gimmicks: a spinning chair, or a wall going up and down. I genuinely do believe it's the best format."
Cowell founded the original UK version of the show in 2004, a couple years after he helped create American Idol. A little less than a decade later, X Factor got off to a rough start in the U.S.
"I think if they'd stuck with it and I'd had a bit more confidence, I would have turned that show around in a couple of years," Cowell said. "I would have just kept on banging away, banging away. You get one lucky year with casting, you get a One Direction, and the whole thing turns on its head."
Oh, that's right. Cowell is the owner of 1D's record label, Syco.
"[I]f I'm being honest, it's more of a buzz being part of One Direction than being on television," Cowell said. "I always say to my staff, when we sit in creative meetings, beating ourselves up, 'One good idea a year can pay for the next 10.' I was at the Rose Bowl, looking down at the crowd that was watching my group. I felt like I'd really used my brain, rather than being a d---head on an American TV show."
