Songwriters compete for a chance to have their work selected by a major recording artist.

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent, contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. Created by Simon Cowell, the show began in September 2004 and has since aired annually from August/September through to December. The show is produced by FremantleMedia’s Thames and Cowell’s production company SYCOtv. It is broadcast on the ITV network in the United Kingdom and TV3 in Ireland, with spin-off behind-the-scenes show The Xtra Factor screened on ITV2. It is the originator of the international The X Factor franchise. The X Factor was devised as a replacement for the highly successful Pop Idol, which was put on indefinite hiatus after its second series, largely because Cowell, who was a judge on Pop Idol, wished to launch a show to which he owned the television rights. The perceived similarity between the two shows later became the subject of a legal dispute. The “X Factor” of the title refers to the undefinable “something” that makes for star quality.

The original judging panel was Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. Dannii Minogue joined the panel in series 4, and Cheryl Cole replaced Osbourne in series 5 after her departure. After series 7, Cowell and Cole both left to judge the American version of the show whilst Minogue left the show due to commitments on Australia’s Got Talent. Kelly Rowland, Tulisa Contostavlos and Gary Barlow then joined Walsh on the judging panel for series 8, though Rowland announced she would not return for series 9 and was replaced by Nicole Scherzinger. Osbourne later returned in 2013, replacing Contostavlos. Since 2007, the show has been presented by Dermot O’Leary, who replaced original host Kate Thornton. The show is split into a series of phases, following the contestants from auditions through to the grand finale. In the original televised audition phase of the show, contestants sang in an audition room in front of just the judges. From series 6 onwards, auditionees sing on a stage in front of the judges and a live audience. Successful auditionees go through to “bootcamp” and then to “judges’ houses”, where judges narrow down the acts in their category down to three or four acts to mentor for the live shows, where the public vote for their favourite acts following weekly live performances by the contestants.

Young aspiring vocalists are mentored by famous musicians in hopes of scoring a record contract with a major label in this reality competition.

When Marcus Lemonis isn’t running his multi-billion dollar company, Camping World, he goes on the hunt for struggling businesses that are desperate for cash and ripe for a deal. In the past 10 years, he’s successfully turned around over 100 companies. Now he’s bringing those skills to CNBC and doing something no one has ever done on TV before … he’s putting millions of dollars of his own money on the line. In each episode, Lemonis makes an offer that’s impossible to refuse; his cash for a piece of the business and a percentage of the profits. And once inside these companies, he’ll do almost anything to save the business and make himself a profit; even if it means firing the president, promoting the secretary or doing the work himself.

Three rival freelance stringers scour the streets at night to film crime scenes, fires, accidents — and anything else they can sell to news outlets.

When Miss Robbie Montgomery, a 1960s backup singer and former “Ikette,” suffered a collapsed lung and had to stop singing, she decided to pour her talents into another creative venture—a soul food restaurant called Sweetie Pie’s. This docuseries follows the loud, loving and often singing Montgomery family as they work to expand their empire, one soulful dish at a time.

TLC explores the scary, exhilarating, frustrating, joyful and ultimately life-changing experience of parenthood with new series RATTLED. As seen through the lives of four diverse couples from across the country, viewers will go along for the ride as they watch these new parents experience a wide range of challenges, triumphs and milestones, for the first year of their newborns’ lives. Executive Produced by Flower Films’ Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen. The couples featured all face different circumstances as they navigate how their new baby will fit into their already established lives. Whether it is balancing work and their newborn, feeling pressure from family members’ about how they think the baby should be raised or making sure that their relationships with their significant others remain intact, they will never forget this period of adjustment in their lives.

Quintessential reality star couples are forced to face their personal demons in an extreme relationship boot camp, hoping to fix their broken unions. Raw, unbridled truth ensues when they are pushed to their emotional and physical limits to see if their relationships are worth saving or they should pull the plug.

At the Sacramento County Jail, incarcerated women fight the power and one another as they try to make the best of life — and love — on the inside.

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Shipping Wars is a reality TV series on A&E that began airing on January 10, 2012. The show follows six independent carriers who have discovered that fortunes can be made transporting items that traditional carriers either cannot or will not haul. The series also features uShip, the world’s largest online auction house for independent truckers. For Season 1, the featured carriers are Marc Springer, Roy Garber, Jennifer Brennan, Jarrett Joyce, and Suzanne and Scott Bawcom. Starting with Season 2, the Bawcoms are replaced by the team of Christopher Hanna and Robbie Welsh. Season 3 premiered on December 12, 2012 . New shippers Johnny Chavez and the team of Chelsea Grant and Courtney Aguilera appear in Season 4.

In a typical episode, the carriers place bids on two jobs listed on uShip, in a reverse auction format. Each client has the option of awarding the job either to the lowest bidder, or to a higher bidder based on feedback from previous clients. Ties are broken in favor of the carrier with the higher average feedback rating. Winners load their cargo and attempt to deliver it intact by the client’s deadline. Feedback ratings from clients are displayed as the loads are delivered. At the end of the episode, each carrier’s net profit or loss is tallied on-screen, with the expenses subtracted from the bid amount to determine the overall profit or loss. At times, a carrier will arrange to haul one or more additional loads on the same trip, with the extra money figured into his/her tally.

Four of “Ink Master” Season 8’s top female competitors – Ryan Ashley, Kelly Doty, Nikki Simpson and Gia Rose – travel the country and go head to head with some of America’s most talented tattoo artists. Competitors face a variety of tattoo-based challenges to see who has what it takes to beat the “Angels” and earn a spot on Season 10 of “Ink Master”