"Rock weak"

You couldn’t call it unexpected, but when “rock week” came to The X Factor for two nights, it turns out only one of them actually knew what to do with a rock song. Rock weak was more like it.

That's Tim Goodman's verdict on The X Factor's stunt theme.

Goodman was a music critic before he became a TV critic, so it's surprising to find him so annoyed by The X Factor's failure to live up to his expectations. He even admits, "any rock fan knows that most of these singing competition shows are as far away from the essence of actual rock and roll than [sic] any brain can imagine".

Or maybe it's touching that after years of reviewing TV, "taking bullets" for his readers, he still can hope that these shows will be better than they are.