In an interview with Entertainment Weekly regarding his new show, an American version of the British hit The X-Factor, Simon Cowell commented on the newest hit talent show The Voice on NBC.

He said that it was silly to do a show that prized talent over appearance since the music industry relies so heavily on appearance.

Sooo...rather than try to change that, television should just...embrace it?

That comment was the final straw for me with Cowell. I always found him to be amusing on Idol, but as the years dragged on, some of his digs went a little too far.

He was constantly criticizing people who sounded too "musical theater" as if musical theater singers aren't the best-trained in the country. Even Randy Jackson, hardly the voice of reason in any situation, pointed out that a big part of Glee's success--you know, that juggernaut also on Fox--had to do with the popularity of musical theater. Simon just went back to sipping his Coke and texting from his IPhone. This is the same guy who told Season 9 Winner Kris Allen that he shouldn't have said he was married because it hurt his votes with the teenage girl crowd. Again, that might be true, but why justify that?

In addition to that, he would often talk about finding the "next" somebody--last year he talked about wanting to find the "next" Taylor Swift. So clearly, he wasn't interested in finding somebody new and original, he just wanted to get his name on somebody who could have one hit album since marketing to 12-year-old girls is usually a recipe for a one-hit wonder.

After watching The Voice, I found it to be incredibly enjoyable. (Apparently so did a lot of other people since it was one of NBC's biggest debuts.) With the "look" factor gone, I found myself actually able to distinguish one contestant from another, as opposed to American Idol where it's become one long line of pretty tweens. Not surprisingly, even some of the weakest contestants on The Voice sound like they could blow most of the Idol kids out of the water. The "last chance" stories were inspiring, and there, hold onto your hats kids--GAY people!

One of my biggest frustrations with Idol--and So You Think You Can Dance, for what it's worth--is the way they push their contestants' sexuality under the rug. Not that it matters, but every time Ryan Seacrest would ask Adam Lambert what kind of girl he was into, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. The fact that NBC already has two openly gay contestants on The Voice just proves that they're not concerned with anything but talent.

Since Cowell seems to disagree, I doubt I'll be watching The X-Factor.

It does seem funny to me though that someone so preoccupied with appearance would be the same guy who signed Susan Boyle to a record contract.

Just saying.