The Better TV Show Recap: How The USA X-Factor And Simon Cowell ChoseThe Final 12

The new singing competition show "X Factor" seems to be based on lessons learned from "American Idol". This competition is more in keeping with the reality of viewer preferences and performer potential.

Now, older singers, singing groups, and singers who would be rejected because they are not what the market algorithms like are able to compete.

Another new feature of the competition is that, after serious weeding out, the remaining singers go to the "homes" of the judges for intensive mentoring, training, grooming, and elimination.

Finally, instead of the contestants choosing their own songs, mentors will choose the songs take all of the heat for bad song choices.

The mentoring duties were assigned this way:

Simon: Girls

Paula: Groups

LA Reid: Boys

Nicole Sherzinger: Over 30's

The two obvious biases were Simon Cowell's reluctance to accept very young performers and the women's toughness with other women. Cowell is serious about whether the very young can keep up with the rigors of the music industry no matter how gifted they are. He also accused the women of being "catty" about the women contestants. But it was the other male judge, LA Reid, who proved to be the nastiest and cattiest of the judges when he trashed one of the singers.

After weeks of brutal competition that eliminated thousands of hopefuls, 17 acts were presented in the first live finale . Five acts had to be eliminated inorder to get to the final 12 singers and groups who will surely have much better careers.

Judges and judging are much improved. L.A. Reid, Nicole Scherzinger, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell are the X Factor judges. For the first live finale, each judge presented their best four proteges and retained the sole decision of sending one of them home. Simon presented five contestants and eliminated two of them.

The public voting begins next week. This will probably create controversy and infuriate the audience as the performers attempt to make it to the final 6.

Most interesting will be how the final six American Idol performers head toward good careers. With the high caliber of X Factor contestants some of the earlier eliminations are already headed toward better careers.

The ultimate award is a $5 million contract.

As an added note, X Factor is so much better without the horrific and annoying bagpipe like music that punctuates every commercial break over at American Idol.

L..A. Reid was the first with four contestants.

Astro has the potential to be the next Lil Bow Wow or even the Michael Jackson of Hip Hop. His performance was flawless. Simon called LA Reid "crazy" if he did not put the young man through.

Chris René has the potential to be a huge idol. He has a quirky style that went over well, but the song choice of "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" was criticized by Paula. He already made some Idol history when his original song, "Young Homie" reached over 7 million viewers on YouTube.

Marcus Canty is from Bowie Maryland. He could be the new Bobby Brown or Usher of R&B. "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" was his song. No, really, he owned the song as if he had written it for himself.

Sent home: Phillip Lomax is from Seattle Washington. He has a highly charismatic Frank Sinatra style of Jazz expression. He performed "I'm A Believer" in pure Las Vegas style. The song was a fatally wrong choice and Simon aimed his criticism at LA.

Paula Abdul was next with four groups. The excitement was high given Paula's double threat dance and singing mentorship.

Stereo Hogz is a diverse group of young R&B singing and dancing pros from Missouri Texas. The song was "Try A Little Tenderness" and the performance was off the charts for all of the judges.

The Brewer Boys are two brothers from Temecula California. Their offering was a mash of "Rich Girl" and "Faith" that needed to be heard with a dance floor available. LA was not overwhelmed, Simon mentioned "progress" and did not like the choreography. This was the most damning critique so far.

Lakoda Rayne is a group of four girls from Capetown, Baltimore, New Jersey and Texas who performed "Come On Eileen". The judges buzzed that these girls are ready for contracts now.

Sent Home: InTENsity is a group of ten teenagers from California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Ohio. The group performed "Footloose" and garnered a judgment from Simon that they were like a group from the television show "Glee".

Nicole Sherzinger had the boys.

LeRoy Bell is already a published performer and a well connected one. His uncle is Thom Bell. His Album "A Change Is Coming" is on the Amazon market. He covered Adele with a soulful voice that Simon called the performance "one of the best in the competition", but mentioned a lack of confidence.

Stacy Francis is a 42 year old stay at home mom who has a diva inside. She covered "Teacher" in one of those performances that gives the listener chills. But Simon called her a "church singer" as opposed to a pop star.

Josh Krajcik has to be the scruffiest contest ever. He hails from Wooster Connecticut and flawlessly performed another skin tingler, "Forever Young". "You are the artist that I fear" was Simon's assessment.

Sent Home: Dexter Haygood is a former funk rock star from Memphis Tennessee. He performed "I Kissed A Girl" in a way that Simon called "the weirdest milkshake in the world". The good news is that Haygood may have been sent home so that X Factor can help with reuniting his hot 80s Funk Rock band, Xavion.

Simon Cowell was the only judge to present five contestants and to cut two of them. He took the girls, giving the viewer expectations that there would be fireworks.

14 year old Drew from Chino Valley Arizona performed the "What A Feeling" from "Flashdance". She did a credible job on a weak song.

19 year Melanie Amaro from Sunrise Florida was given the boot, but Simon deeply regretted his decision, went to her home and got her back. Vowing not to take a second chance for granted, Melanie brought down the house with her rendition of "I Have Nothing".

13 year old Rachel Crow is such a powerful and brilliant performer that Simon or the show might have lowered the age limit to accommodate her. She is currently in Los Angeles. Rachel killed it with "Where did Our Love Go?". LA recognized that her potential goes beyond music and into acting.

Sent Home: Tiah Tolliver, from Chula Vista California performed "Sweet Dreams". She was the most supermodel quality beautiful, but disliked and controversial contestant on the show. After creating newsworthy drama behind the scenes, she finally dragged the judges into battle with each other. She performed "Impossible".

Sent Home: Simone Battle is from Los Angeles California. An eccentric singer who was not popular with the audience, Battle also got a nasty rap form judge LA. Why LA was so nasty to this particular contestant was "boo" worthy. But LA's opinion means nothing to Simone Battle. She released her first single "He Likes Boys" about a gay lover. Her video was at 45 on the Yuby top 100 video charts.

Next, the competition will go into the live performance and public voting phase. The beauty of this show is that the competitors are the best that have ever started a live competition and the hopes are high for all of them.

X Factor is a show that everyone can watch.