Last week I interviewed "X Factor" host Steve Jones backstage, and he came across as a thoroughly pleasant, likable, charming fellow. But onstage? That's a whole different story. Viewers at home don't seem to be feeling Steve Jones, if irked comments across the Twitterverse and blogosphere are anything to go by--and no, this audience/host disconnect cannot be blamed on some sort of cultural divide due to Steve's Englishness, since we all know "So You Think You Can Dance" hostess Cat Deeley is one of THE greatest reality emcees ever.

The problem is Steve seems so concerned with preventing the show from running long and preempting "Bones," he comes across as utterly un-empathetic, almost autistically unable to get an emotional gauge on certain onstage situations. On a show with many young, sensitive contestants who need to be handled with care, this is quickly becoming an image problem.

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Simon Cowell seems determined to one-up his old show "American Idol" in every possible way. And last night he found another department in which to outdo "Idol": The Epic-Fail Lip-Synch Department.

Yes, "Idol" has long come under fire for its hokey opening numbers, many of which have featured perfectly good singers pretending to sing, for some bizarre reason. But at least most Idols have managed to do a decent job of miming along to their pre-recorded tracks. Um, not so much with this new "X Factor" crew.

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It was big news when Simon Cowell invited his "American Idol" crony Paula Abdul to sit beside him on his "X Factor" panel this year, but after the first results episode of the "X Factor" season, Paula may be wondering if she should have accepted his job offer after all. She may even want to give CBS a call to see if execs over there will reconsider renewing her old TV show, "Live To Dance." You see, despite all of her valiant efforts, two of Paula's three protégés in the groups category wound up in the bottom two this week, and she was faced with the Sophie's choice of having to send one of them home at a very early stage the game. And it all ended in tears, as things often do when Paula is involved.

Most viewers, including myself, had predicted that the talented but soft-spoken LeRoy Bell would be the first to go, or that Chris Rene might be in jeopardy after two consecutive performances that failed to match the brilliance of his much-hyped earlier auditions. But it was in fact Paula's R&B boy band Stereo Hogzz, who got rave reviews this week even from Simon, and prefab kiddy collective InTENsity, whom Nicole Scherzinger had dubbed ""fun-tastic" and "fun-omenal," who received the fewest votes.

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Christa Collins, my favorite "X Factor" contestant this inaugural season, received pathetically little facetime during her all-too-brief time on the show, with her first audition and Boot Camp solo performance not even being made available on the show's official YouTube channel. So when I found out my esteemed Yahoo! colleague and regular co-host Matt Whitfield wouldn't be able to make it to "The Day After" this week, I figured I'd invite Christa to be my guest, so she could get the extra screentime she so deserves.

So last night, the top 12 competed for America's votes for the first time on "The X Factor," and Christa was watching to cheer on her friends on the show. Today, we discuss who she's rooting for, as well as her own "X Factor" experience, her very interesting past (most of which was oddly not mentioned on the show); that whole Stacy Francis "scandal"; her advice to the show's young contestants (Christa was once a Disney child star, so she knows what she's talking Read More »

This week, "The X Factor" welcomed its "fifth judge"--aka, the American public--as the top 12 contestants competed for viewers' votes for the very first time. And Simon Cowell seemed superhumanly confident, as he often does, that America would get it right. So obviously someone had swiped some sort of Men In Black-esque memory-erasing pen in front of his smug face, causing him to forget his entire nine-season tenure on "American Idol"--you know, when he witnessed, aghast, America's premature eliminations of Tamyra Gray, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry, Michael Johns, Allison Iraheta, Alex Lambert, Lilly Scott, et al. Would "X Factor's" voters choose a little more wisely?

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Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox have sadly already parted ways with their record labels, but there's still one great blonde hope for "American Idol" Season 9: third-placer Casey James, who's working on his debut album for Sony/BMG Nashville and has just released the official video for his first single, "Let's Don't Call It A Night."

One thing's certain: The camera certainly loves Casey. And I'd imagine that a lot of country fans would love this song.

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Nigel Lythgoe and his band of crazy-like-a-Fox-network masterminds could not have built a more all-American American Idol than Scotty McCreery if they'd sculpted one out of apple pie filling and Cracker Jacks. Seriously, the baseball-loving boy-next-door always seemed so fully sprung from a three-dimensional Norman Rockwell painting, he might as well have sang every "Idol" song while holding Fourth of July sparklers in each hand as Rockettes in Statue-of-Liberty costumes line-danced behind him.

But this is no act. Scotty really is that humble, that polite, that sweet, that wholesome. He may claim he's so "Saint Scott," but he comes pretty darn close. (And please note, I didn't say "damn close." Scotty would not approve.)

I learned firsthand that Scotty is the real deal when Yahoo! Music traveled to Nashville to tape the Season 10 "American Idol" winner's first-ever live performance with his new band for Yahoo!'s Ram Country program. (Live performance videos coming soon!) Fronting a group of veteran Nashville musicians probably about 10 years his senior, Scotty seemed totally comfortable and at ease, holding his own. And when I got to chat with him on the scene, he was wise and well-spoken beyond his mere 17 years.

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British television presenter Steve Jones was a complete unknown in America when he was tapped by Simon Cowell to fill the Ryan Seacrest role on "The X Factor USA" this year. And after his original co-host, Nicole Scherzinger, got an unexpected promotion to replace ousted judge Cheryl Cole, Steve suddenly had to go it alone. Up until last week, his appearances on the show were mostly limited to Boot Camp voiceovers or waist-up shots of him sitting in the passenger seat of a speeding Mack truck...but last week he was finally tested in a major way, when he hosted the 150-minute first "X Factor" live show on Fox, without any sort of safety net.

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