X Factor

"The X Factor" results show Thursday packed an even bigger surprise than the return of Diamond White to the competition the previous night. No, I'm not talking about the fact that Jason Brock was sent home and that CeCe Frey had joined him in the bottom two; those results were hardly jaw-droppers. Nor am I referring to the fact that the judges "deadlocked" on the elimination decision and left it for the audience vote to decide; that seemed fairly straightforward. Nor was it unexpected that One Direction, the startlingly successful "X Factor U.K"-created boy band, would perform not one but two of their songs; that had been announced days before.

In a twist Wednesday night that would have seemed far more shocking if the show hadn't pulled a similar stunt with Melanie Amaro last season, "The X Factor" brought back contestant Diamond White, who had been eliminated from Britney Spears' Teens team last week. "We watched the show back and the final 12 we are very happy with," Simon Cowell announced at the top of the show, "but we believe we made a mistake with one act," adding that White had been asked to rejoin the show and become lucky No. 13. Welcome back, Diamond.

And so, as the final 16 shrank to the top 12, we said goodbye to four talented acts on "The X Factor" on Thursday night: Demi Lovato cut Willie Jones from her Young Adults team. Reluctant Over 25s coach L.A. Reid sent David Correy packing. Britney Spears bid adieu to Diamond White. And Simon Cowell told Sister C they'd reached the end of their harmonic "X Factor" journey. The audience had no say in the matter, of course. The eliminations were made by the judges, who each sent their two favorite team members straight to the top 12 and then listened to the other two sing for the remaining team slot.

"The X Factor" kicked off its Season 2 live shows Wednesday, a Halloween night in the middle of what was for many an incredibly scary week. The show made brief mention of both the spooky holiday and the tragic losses brought by super storm Sandy but mostly went about its business of manufacturing stars, which the producers no doubt hope to do more successfully this season than last, when there was nary a One Direction-esque breakthrough in the bunch....

After a baseball rain delay wreaked havoc on "The X Factor's" big who-made-the-live-shows reveal last week, Fox finally managed to deliver the rest of the results in an hourlong show Tuesday night. Heading into the episode, we already knew which singers in the Teens category Britney Spears had ushered through (Diamond White, Carly Rose Sonenclar, Arin Ray and Beatrice Miller) and which Over 25s L.A. Reid had finally resigned himself to embracing (David Correy, Jason Brock, Tate Stevens and Vino Alan)

Fox announced Monday that it will be bringing back "The X Factor" for a third season. The current season kicked off with new additions Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. Despite the hype of its new faces, the Season 2 premiere averaged 8.5 million viewers, down more than 3 million from last year's premiere. Settling in, the Fox series is averaging a 3.9 rating with adults age 18-49 and bringing in 10.6 million total viewers. "I couldn't be happier about THE X FACTOR already being renewed for another season," the ever-confident Simon Cowell said in a lengthy statement.

It wasn't easy to tune in to "The X Factor" on the East Coast on Wednesday night, thanks to the scheduling chaos caused by the National League Championship Series rain delay, but those who managed to do so learned the names of at least a few of the singers who made the cut for the live shows (which, yes, will be hosted by Khloe Kardashian and Mario Lopez). We also saw four singers (so far) sent home -- before FOX abruptly cut out again for other programming. West Coasters were shown only a rerun of last Wednesday's show.

Thieves broke into a Rotterdam museum on Tuesday and walked off with works from the likes of Picasso, Monet, Gauguin and Matisse potentially worth hundreds of millions. The heist at the Kunsthal museum is one of the largest in years in the Netherlands, and is a stunning blow for the private Triton Foundation collection, which was being exhibited publicly as a group for the first time. "It's every museum director's worst nightmare," said Kunsthal director Emily Ansenk, who had been in Istanbul on business but returned immediately.

Khloe Kardashian has confirmed it: She'll be co-hosting the live shows of "The X Factor" with Mario Lopez this season. "I'm a huge fan of the show so I literally fell over in my chair when I heard that I was being considered for the role," the reality-TV star wrote on her blog Tuesday, the same day the show announced the news. "The show already has such an incredible panel of judges and it is truly an honor to have been given this opportunity to work with them. I'm thrilled, overjoyed and of course a little nervous about this new step in my career, and I can't wait to get started.

Score another X for the Kardashian sisters! Kim Kardashian's fame was launched by an X-rated sex tape. Now sister Khloe Kardashian can add an X to her resume: She's just been named as a co-host of Fox's "The X-Factor. " Khloe Kardashian and former "Saved by the Bell" star Mario Lopez will join forces as the hosts of the Fox singing competition when live shows start airing in November. "The worst-kept secret in Hollywood is out," said "X Factor" creator Simon Cowell. "Mario and Khloe are our hosts ... and I couldn't be happier.