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"Fox has described its singing competitions American Idol and X Factor as the &amp;quot;gold standard&amp;quot; in reality television.  The network&amp;#039;s executives spoke about the two shows during a conference call this morning to promote the fall schedule, which was announced earlier today.  &amp;quot;The fall is scheduled around our new tentpole the X Factor on Wednesday and Thursday,&amp;quot; said Kevin Reilly. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a large scale TV event owned by the largest star in reality television, Simon Cowell.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a massive show, really fun, and our goal is to achieve the same level of incredible success, and fandom and spectacle as the X Factor gets in the UK... If we could capture even a fraction of that audience well have the biggest show in television.&amp;quot; When asked if the success of NBC&amp;#039;s The Voice - which premiered in April - could impact on the X Factor, the network&amp;#039;s chairman of entertainment Peter Rice insisted that Fox is confident in the appeal of its shows.  &amp;quot;I think there is competition in television. We feel we have the gold standard in Idol and X Factor,&amp;quot; he said.  &amp;quot;Idol has been the number one show for many seasons now and it&amp;#039;s been rejuvenated this year, and in Simon Cowell, we have the absolute star of the genre at the pinnacle of his game.  &amp;quot;We just shot the first live audition last week in Los Angeles and it&amp;#039;s amazing to sit there in front of 5,000 people watching that. There&amp;#039;s excitement and buzz around the show we&amp;#039;ve never seen before. We had more people show up for auditions for X Factor than we ever had show up for auditions of Idol.&amp;quot;  The first-ever X Factor audition in Los Angeles drew a record-breaking crowd to the LA Sports Arena, while more than 20,000 people turned out to a later audition in Newark.  Thousands more tried out in Miami, Seattle and Chicago, with the final open audition taking place in Dallas on May 26. &amp;quot;Now we are shooting the live auditions and it&amp;#039;s fun to watch Simon tell the audience they are the fifth judge,&amp;quot; added Rice. &amp;quot;There is a whole other element there. We feel good about our two shows and think they are being produced exceptionally well and there is a buzz and excitement from the audience about them.&amp;quot; American Idol is currently airing its tenth season on Wednesday and Thursday nights at 8/7c on Fox, and will return for its 11th season on January 22. The X Factor will air on Wednesday and Thursday nights this fall. &amp;gt; Scorecard: What&amp;#039;s in and out at Fox &amp;gt; Night by Night: Fox&amp;#039;s 2011-2012 lineup &amp;gt; Read our full American Idol headlines &amp;gt; Read our full X Factor headlines "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/american-idol/news/a319794/x-factor-idol-creating-buzz-says-fox/>