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"After months of hype, The X Factor USA finally burst onto America&amp;#039;s TV screens last night. Boasting a record-breaking $5 million (\u00A33.2 million) recording contract, Simon Cowell&amp;#039;s comeback, the reunion of the much-loved Saula, and of course, Cheryl Cole&amp;#039;s debut and subsequent exit, everything was set to make the first two-hour episode a classic X Factor episode. But did it live up to expectations? Digital Spy takes a look at some of the initial reviews coming in from the US. E! Online kicks off by noting how the very first auditionee - 13-year-old Rachel Crowe - illustrates &amp;quot;one big difference&amp;quot; between Cowell&amp;#039;s baby and American Idol. The increased age bracket receives a warm welcome following her highly-praised performance of Duffy&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Mercy&amp;#039;.  The reviewer adds that Cowell himself is more &amp;quot;tolerant of the crazies&amp;quot;, noting that it is LA Reid who delivers the &amp;quot;meanest metaphors and similes&amp;quot;. With Idol and The Voice both performing well during recent seasons, the review concludes that &amp;quot;maybe they are doing something different&amp;quot; on The X Factor.      Having auditionees perform in front of a large audience is the focus of many initial reviews, while MTV News is impressed by the time put into highlighting some of the singer&amp;#039;s background stories; stating that The X Factor &amp;quot;is going for a more hopeful, positive vibe than Idol, focusing on contestants&amp;#039; inspirational backstories rather than gag auditions&amp;quot;. USA Today, while praising the added &amp;quot;energy&amp;quot; of live auditions, notes that the crowds have &amp;quot;clearly been coached to over-react to everything, good or bad&amp;quot;. The review states that Cowell&amp;#039;s exit from Idol has benefitted both himself and his old show.  However, Nicole Scherzinger&amp;#039;s arrival on the panel during the second half of the programme proves less popular with the reviewer, who observes: &amp;quot;When she goes into her little-girl act, judge/mentor Nicole Scherzinger makes Paula Abdul look smart.&amp;quot;      &amp;gt; &amp;#039;The X Factor&amp;#039; USA premiere launch: Show One - Live Blog &amp;gt; &amp;#039;X Factor&amp;#039; USA premiere screening - what the judges said As with the UK version of the series, the X Factor&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;emphasis on &amp;#039;moments&amp;#039; over pure ability&amp;quot; looks set to divide both viewers and critics. Chris Rene&amp;#039;s audition, which closed the first episode, is described as being a &amp;quot;carefully edited to climax&amp;quot; audition by Entertainment Weekly, whose reviewer writes: &amp;quot;The show is designed to allow the judges to bend some newcomer into a star with a hit single and a great backstory for interviewers.&amp;quot;         Cole&amp;#039;s unexplained departure is questioned by many reviewers; &amp;quot;Ms Cole showed glimmers of being interesting,&amp;quot; the New York Times complains, while Scherzinger&amp;#039;s arrival takes the brunt of first-episode criticism. The Chicago Tribune laments that the Killer Love singer &amp;quot;doesn&amp;#039;t come off as an obvious improvement in the early going. She&amp;#039;s more earnest like Kara DioGuardi than loveable like Jennifer Lopez.&amp;quot; The reviewer also berates Cowell for not having &amp;quot;moved faster and further away from the format of Idol&amp;quot;, but concludes that the show &amp;quot;mostly does work, in the same fundamental way that Idol does&amp;quot;. The X Factor USA continues tonight in the US on Fox, with the first episode receiving its UK premiere at 8pm on ITV2. &amp;gt; &amp;#039;X Factor&amp;#039; USA reveals episode schedule, live finale dates "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-x-factor-us/news/a341684/the-x-factor-usa-what-are-the-critics-saying/>