Randy Jackson: 'X Factor' Just Copying 'Idol'

Hm. Randy Jackson has an interesting take on history.

The "American Idol" judge - the last of the original trio of himself, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell remaining on the show - apparently isn't especially impressed with fellow FOX prime-time talent search "The X Factor," which now features his fellow two "American Idol pioneers. With his own show starting its 11th season later this month and "The X Factor" starting its second this coming fall, Jackson feels his show is the originator and "X Factor" the imitator.

"Simon and Paula are dear friends of ours," he told CNN.com entertainment blog The Wrap. "They started this whole 'Idol' tradition with us. I think that 'Idol' is still the best TV show that's come on anywhere. We're the original, we kind of invented this whole game that everybody's now copying, and I say that ['The X Factor'] are copying it, right?

Still, he harbors no ill will toward Cowell in particular, who left "Idol" in 2009 largely to help launch "The X Factor" on FOX.

 "So, I mean, listen, I mean, Simon's done well with his show, probably not the expectations that he wanted, but you know, we wish him well and you know we've gone on with this and done well," Jackson said during the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

That's nice, Randy. But about that "original" thing . . .

You know your show is actually a localization, right?

Surely, after 11 seasons, he realizes that what he's calling the "original" was actually nothing but the American rendition of Britain's "Pop Idol," on which Cowell was a judge before "American Idol" was a twinkle in Simon Fuller's eye. So where he gets the "we" business isn't exactly clear. Cowell could say that, because he was on the show that spawned all the global take-offs on the concept.

So if anything, wouldn't the Cowell-produced "X Factor" - which originated in the U.K. in 2004 - just be Cowell imitating his own big break? What's so wrong with essentially plagiarizing oneself?

FOX attendees on the winter press tour weren't nearly as kind toward NBC's "The Voice." Alternative Entertainment President Mike Darnell considered it a compliment toward "Idol" that inaugural winner Kelly Clarkson has been announced as joining as a mentor Christina Aguilera, Cee-Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton on the show's second season later this year.

"We're not hiring a lot of people from 'The Voice' to be on our show," he added.