After the Cheryl fiasco, is the game up for Cowell?

The headline-grabbing misadventures of Cheryl Cole in America mayhave the showbiz conspiracy theorists accusing Simon Cowell of, onceagain, manipulating the media to his nefarious ends.

It is true that no promotional budget could come close to buyingthe kind of publicity that Cole's departure from the US X Factor hasgenerated.

But the very messy, in-again-out-again, story of the Geordie lassand the evil network bosses may be exactly what it looks like; avery public farce, an illustration of what happens when you goswimming in shark-infested waters.

And for Cowell it could be the clearest confirmation yet that hisreign as the trans-Atlantic overlord of prime-time, talent-show TVcould be coming to an end.

Cut through the blizzard of spin that invariably swirls aroundanything to do with the 51-year-old TV titan and we may be lookingat a circus ringmaster who is beginning to lose control of thelions.

The signs have been there in recent months, with his othermarquee show, Britain's Got Talent, hitting a serious ratings wobbleshortly after its launch in April.

The opening night of this year's BGT drew an audience of 11.6million viewers for ITV. But the following week saw ratings drop to8.99 million viewers, the lowest numbers for the audition stage ofthe programme since it launched in 2007.

However, there were more serious concerns for Cowell in the run-up to last weekend's Britain's Got Talent final when he had topublicly and personally deny allegations that he had 'fixed' theoutcome in favour of 12-year-old Ronan Parke (who in the end lostout to Jai McDowell).

Responding to widely-reported allegations made by an anonymousinternet blogger who claimed to be a former Sony BMG executive,Cowell had to take a moment on the show to refute what he called "adeliberate smear campaign".

Cowell then went on to tell the millions of BGT fans that he hadnot, as was alleged, met Ronan Parke two years ago and signed himto a record deal with his label Sony BMG.

"This is a deliberate smear campaign and it is my job as someonewho works on this show to make sure that whoever the liar is, isexposed," he said, sounding more like crisis-hit Fifa boss SeppBlatter than a judge on a talent contest.

Cowell looked rattled, as you would expect from somebody whoseempire is built on ensuring that the greater public buy into theidea that they make or break the stars and there is no wizard behindthe curtains involved.

His shows have always won massive newspaper and magazine coveragethrough the leaking of real or imagined spats, break-ups andbackstage bitching involving the judges and contestants.

But when Cowell is publicly forced to dump Cheryl Cole (as themost plausible explanation has it) or has to take time out from thefinal of BGT to publicly deny allegations of a fix, it's clear wehave gone beyond spin and the cracks are showing.

The Cheryl Cole firing may be the clearest example yet of howSimon Cowell has spread himself too thin and found himself at themercy of notoriously hard-nosed American network TV executives.

The word from the US is that Cheryl Cole performed very poorly onthe initial filming of the Fox version of the hit UK show.

Cowell, who had staked a lot on making Cole a success in the US,was understood to have argued that she would improve dramaticallyand even made a last-ditch effort last weekend to persuade her tocome back and give it another go.

However, Fox executives are said to have made up their minds andNicole Scherzinger, the Pussycat Dolls singer who had been a gueston the UK X Factor and was judged to be a much better fit for USaudiences, was confirmed as her replacement.

Cowell is widely judged to have been weakened by the fiasco andeven worse for him are the reports this week that the BBC and ITVare locked in a bidding war for a new Saturday-night talent showwhich is being sold as a "kinder, less gimmicky and image-obsessed"version of X Factor.

Billed as the "world's hottest new TV music property", The Voicewas devised by Dutch TV tycoon John De Mol (of Big Brother fame) andoffers a new twist on a well-worn concept.

The new format has 'blind' auditions in which contestants arerated on their singing alone.

Also, the judges are encouraged to hand out more 'constructive'criticism rather than the one-line put-downs that made Cowell astar. And there is even speculation that both the BBC and ITV wantCheryl Cole to be the chief judge on their version of The Voice.

ITV director of television Peter Fincham -- who is also biddingfor The Voice -- is said to see the new format as a replacement forthe next series of X Factor, which could perform badly withoutCowell as a judge.

Whichever network lands the new show, it's telling that it isbeing sold as the 'antidote' to Cowell's patented brand ofmanipulative talent-show TV.

When high-powered TV executives are pitching shows on the basisthey are the complete opposite to those made by you, Simon Cowell,the game may be up.

CAPTION: Zilch factor: Cole and Cowell have both been damaged bythe US farce