Entertainment

The Simon Factor

Simon Cowell knows that everything is on the line with “The X Factor”: His star power, his credibility as a show creator and his management skill as the executive producer of yet another singing contest that is his answer to the unstoppable hit that made him a star, “American Idol.”

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The show was supposed to be the perfect vehicle for bringing the Prince of Darkness back to American TV after an absence of more than a year. But transplanting “The X Factor” from Great Britain to America has been a well-reported struggle, including a major shake-up on the all-important judging panel: Very early on, British judge Cheryl Cole was sacked. Cowell’s former partner in crime, Paula Abdul, was hired at the 11th hour. And the original two-host format was jettisoned when former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger was taken off co-hosting duties to sit alongside Cowell, Abdul and heavyweight record producer Antonio “LA” Reid as the fourth judge.

“We’ve been very public when things weren’t going right,” says Cowell, sitting in a luxury suite at The London Hotel in West Hollywood and sipping the ginger tea that smooths out the rough edges of his punishing trans-Atlantic schedule. “More than once, I thought, ‘This is a disaster.’ ”

So the man who has made a monster career out of reducing bad singers to piles of ash admits that now, he’s the one who’s nervous. “And I show my nerves,” he says. “I get angry when people are complacent. [Personnel changes] are the way the show started in the UK. We had so much controversy there in the beginning. People would come and go, we would change our minds. But it was what we felt was the right thing to do.”

That second guessing wasn’t happening in a vacuum: In Cowell’s 16-month absence, “Idol” not only held its own but thrived with the addition of two glamorous new judges, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. And NBC launched its own singing contest, “The Voice,” a surprise hit that stole some of “Factor’s” thunder by featuring two very important similarities in format: Both shows have a wider age range and famous judges who step out from behind their judging “wall” to personally mentor the finalists.

“And that’s what I explained to my team,” says Cowell, 51. “We’ve gotta come up with something that’s better and different from everyone else.”

So, in response, Cowell did what any great impresario would do: He threw money at the show. He enticed not only solo singers but duos and groups (ages 12 and up) out of junior highs, churches, small clubs — and showers — by offering a $5 million dollar prize on top of the usual recording contract.

“My real fear,” he says, “was that we would get one or two thousand people to turn up in every city, and it’s simply not enough. You don’t want to give $5 million dollars to somebody who’s just gonna win a show and not sell any records.”

The auditions attracted tens of thousands. Still, there were enough marginal songbirds to make even Cowell’s palms sweat. “You’ve gotta hope that somebody’s gonna come through who’s gonna be able to compete with Beyonce, Rihanna, Katy Perry,” he says. “The business has really changed since Lady Gaga emerged. So I still feel that pressure, but this time it’s just a bit more visible.”

In person, Cowell looks rested and re-energized. To counter jet lag from flying back and forth across the Atlantic, he’s geared his working day around “London time” and shifted his work hours to suit his hometown body clock. That means he starts his Los Angeles days at two in the afternoon. “And then I finish at five or six in the morning,” he says. Gone is the bored expression, replaced with unbridled enthusiasm. “The truth is that when I left [‘American Idol’], I’d kind of switched off,” he says. “I didn’t believe we were making good TV in the final year, compared to what we did years ago.”

Harsh comments from “Idol” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe didn’t help. Lythgoe said the new “Idol” was a “lighter” place, with a happier atmosphere in Cowell’s absence, more singer-friendly. “And I called him out on it,” says Cowell. “I said, ‘Nigel, even if you feel that way, you’ve got to remember that I put nine years of my life into that show and was part of the reason it became such a hit. This is unprofessional, it’s disrespectful, and it’s not what you should be doing as a human being and as a producer. So just stop it.’ And it stopped. It was stupid. All of us, Nigel, myself included, we’re Brits who’ve been allowed to make shows in America which are hopefully going to do well. So enjoy it. Why do you want to be negative? That’s why I left the show, because I just didn’t like that attitude.”

But there is no time for looking back. Cowell says he believes he’s got “five or six” people who’ve got “The X Factor,” that certain something that signifies an undeniable star, and he can’t wait to go on the air. What will success be in his eyes? “We’ve gotta beat everyone else,” he says flatly. “Make no mistake. I will put every single second of my energy into this to make it the No. 1 show, and if it’s not, I will be disappointed. But even if it’s No. 2, I’ll work harder next year to make it No. 1.”