The competition is high and so are the stakes for the U.S. version of The X Factor. Judges have been selected from the cream of the celebrity music crop and with a recording contract worth $5 million the winners in each category will need to be at their best and give the performances of their lives. Simon Cowell is creator of The X Factor and will oversee the talent as well as the judges, assuring the show goes on in an audience pleasing manner. Each of the judges will handle one of the four assigned categories that include boy singers (ages 12-25), girl singers (ages 12-25), group singers, and those who are over the age of twenty five. Unlike other programs of this sort there is no upper age limit for the competitors. Judges will mentor those in their category and offer help and advise as the competition progresses. Getting that advise from the likes of Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger, L.A. Reid, or Simon Cowell himself will be invaluable to the aspiring singers as they have helped fashion many super stars in the music industry. There are to be five competitive stages involved: Auditions by the producers, auditions by the judges, a Bootcamp, visitation to the judges houses, and finally the live shows where it all comes down to a single winner or group. As the five stages of the competition progress, it promises to get more exciting each week

Who would have thought that the same man who used to put surgical gloves over his head to gain laughs could become so enormously popular, not to mention talented as Howie Mandel. His most recent endeavor includes taking the concept of an increasingly popular concept of flash mobs and turning it into a successful Fox television program called Mobbed. The program combines the "candid camera" concept with surprise occurrences leading up to some pretty interesting programming. Among the plans are a marriage proposal, a pregnancy disclosure, and a job applicant finding she got the job. This is all done with the aid of thousands of guests so the surprise ending is saved for show's end. Viewers watch as guests prep for the main event and rehearse their lines and routines. Mandel is there to guide them through detailed plans until the grand finale. Starting with a few dancers the show moves into a grand scale type performance to conclude some pretty life changing events we can all watch on the show. Highly addictive new show!

What happens after 16-year-old girls become pregnant? MTV's Teen Mom TV Show chronicles the lives of four American teenagers who struggle early with family life and some juvenile teen issues relating to dating, school and friends. Follow Catelyn, Farrah, Amber and Maci as themselves in the Teen Mom TV Show, where they go through adolescence and adulthood in one giant leap. The Teen Mom TV Show is a sequel to the 16 and Pregnant TV Show which focuses on the unexpected pregnancies of the same teenage girls. Life after giving a baby will never be the same, not in real life and more so, on television. Teen Mom TV series garnered the highest rating for a premiere on MTV of 2009.

"Kourtney and Kim Take New York" chronicles the continuing adventures of the unmarried Kardashian sisters as they work their strange magic on adoring fans in the Big Apple. Like magnets among loose nails, the girls draw a crowd wherever they go, cameras stalking every step. Viewers enjoy more of the intense Kardashian programming they apparently craved and demanded. On any given day, E! empowers you to keep up with some kind of Kardashian in at least three ways during approximately twelve hours of non-stop first-letter-"K" programming. If it weren't for the success of Chelsea Handler, E! News, renegade women fleeing the Playboy mansion, and "Fashion Police," the Kardashians would fill entire programming days. Apropos of "reality" programming, "Kourtney and Kim Take New York" has neither plot nor script, but it has plenty of "situations." Kim, more or less determined to remain single for an entire year, nevertheless has no qualms about exciting hook-ups with assorted styles and flavours of eligible New York bachelors. Kourtney, ostensibly the more level-headed and businesslike of the two, apparently lives vicariously through Kim. Together, they allegedly run a business in-between pictorials, promotions, parties, and "Patron"-powered club appearances. Moralists might worry, as "Kourtney and Kim Take New York," they corrupt an entire generation of impressionable "˜tween girls, but studies show thirteen-year-old boys are the Kardashian sisters' biggest demographic.

It has become THE place to be seen and one of the most exciting shows on late-late night television today. Jimmy Kimmel left "The Man Show" back in January of 2003 to host his own talk show on late night TV and has since acquired a large following which includes an audience filled with eager to learn about celebrity lives folks as well as show biz big names that seem to be more than happy to divulge their inner most secrets. Kimmel began his career on Comedy Central where his quirky sense of humor made him popular working with Ben Stein. This led Jimmy to The Man Show where his popularity grew. Now with his own late night talk show he pretty much rules the roost (so to speak) as far as late night viewer are concerned. His latest ritual seems to be hosting the most recent loser from "Dancing With The Stars" on Tuesday nights. He then burns their shoes symbolically. There's a long running joke going with the talented actor Matt Damon where he invites him on but then, at the last minute, states he's run out of time on the show. Damon plots ways to get even with Kimmel and audiences are left to wonder if it's a joke or not.

Cooking shows are hot on television now days, creating serious competition among the celebrity cooks as well as prospective winners in various formats on TV. MasterChef features the likes of Gordon Ramsay (Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares) along side Joe Bastianich (restaurateur/vineyard owner), and Graham Elliot (chef/restaurant owner) as judges who oversee the contestants who come from a wide assortment of occupations including housewives, doctors, lawyers, private chefs, realtors, and travel writers. From what appears to be a huge crowd in the initial tryouts they whittle the prospects down to 100, then down to 38 or so and put them all to the test. With each contestant offering their "signature" dish to the judges, the competition begins and so does elimination, one by one. It is amazingly difficult to please all three judges as they are diverse in their likes and taste preferences, and the pressure is on to perform and show they have a talent for cooking. The coveted crown of MasterChef will be given to whomever can best please the judges and keep their head about them in the heat of the kitchen.