Simon Cowell’s ‘The X-Factor’ canceled after 17 years

Time to stop the music. Simon Cowell’s singing competition series "The X-Factor" has been canceled after 17 years on the air.

The U.K. channel, ITV, confirmed the news and said "there are no current plans for the next series of ‘The X Factor’ at this stage."

The show was created by Cowell, 61, and first aired in 2004. Through the years, 445 episodes have aired. The last season hit the airwaves in 2018.

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The series has launched the careers of several successful British musicians and boybands that you’ve heard of such as One Direction, Leona Lewis and Little Mix.

During each episode, singers perform their musical acts on stage as a panel of judges critiques their abilities. Cowell is at the helm of the judges’ table alongside Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger.

In February 2020, the network announced that "The X-Factor" would be going on hiatus, but would return in 2021. Several months later, Kevin Lygo, Director of Television at ITV, revealed at the virtual Edinburgh TV Festival that there was no guarantee that the show would ever return. "It’s not definitely returning, it might return, and if it does the format will tweak," he said. "Simon controls it more than we do. When does he want it to come back, how does he want to come back? Hopefully, we can be part of it."

The former "American Idol" judge came up with the idea for "The X-Factor" as a replacement for "Pop Idol," the British parent show of the FOX musical competition series. "Pop Idol" originally ran from 2001 to 2003 and spawned several international versions.

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Cowell’s next TV show will be "Walk the Line," a musical quiz show for ITV. While the series has yet to set a premiere date, the six-part show will debut before the end of 2021. Each episode will feature several musical acts that will be competing for a cash prize.

The two acts left standing will need to decide to cash out of the game or move to the next step of the competition. The prize will get bigger and bigger the longer a contestant stays.

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