Our long national suffering is over. Fox has cancelled “The  X Factor.” Simon Cowell is going back to England to host the show there. With Cowell long off “American Idol,” that leaves Cowell with no on-air work in the United States. For the first time in recent memory, America will be without the caustic observations of the British opinion maker. What shall we do?

At the same time, “American Idol” is quote– “winding down.” Those were the words of Chase Carey, head of Fox TV on conference call with Wall Street analysts Thursday. Carey conceded the show is coming to an end, although he didn’t say this would be the last season.

“It’s not a show that drives the whole network as it did in years passed. The show is 13 years old. We hope to have years 14, 15, 16, 17. But it won’t be like seasons 5, 6, and 7. We know it’s coming to an end. It’s a great show. The ratings fell faster for American Idol and X Factor than we hoped. It’s winding down to where it’s just a great, successful show.”

That was yesterday. Today, Fox cancelled “X Factor.”

This week “Idol” took a pounding on Thursday night from the Olympics. But the show has seen some uptick from new judge Harry Connick, Jr, the return of Jennifer Lopez, and the ever popular Keith Urban. Can they save it? From what Carey indicated, it’s not likely.

But the cancellation of “X Factor” indicates that Fox is ready to call it a day for their competition shows. The genre is pretty much saturated. Plus NBC’s “The Voice” continues to squash Fox’s shows. For Cowell, there’s still “America’s Got Talent.” Some think he may turn up there, with Howard Stern and friends.

It’s all about money, in the end. Profits for 21st Century Fox, the new company separated from News Corp, fell 49% this quarter. Carey pointed out that TV advertising revenues have dropped because of low ratings for “American Idol” and “X Factor.”

UPDATE: The funeral guests included Meryl Streep and most of those mentioned below. The tragedy of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death cannot be overstated.  If you ranked every actor working now, he’d come up in the top 5. He might have been number 1. That loss is secondary to what his family is experiencing. He will never be forgotten.

Earlier: The wake for Philip Seymour Hoffman was star studded. But of course it resembled a Hollywood event in many ways. A source tells me certain guests were assigned the wake Thursday night and the funeral Friday morning. Some people didn’t make the cut. They’ve been assigned to a memorial service sometime in March.

Only when Hollywood publicists come to town, kids, does a funeral turn into an event you can be blocked from. All they were missing at Frank E. Campbell was a velvet rope. It was quite different from, say, Marvin Hamlisch’s open viewing  there in 2012.

Among the familiar faces were the most grieving, I think: Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton. They brought Hoffman to Australia a couple of years ago to direct a production of “True West.” Hoffman stayed with them and their families were close. Also Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed Hoffman in “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia,” “Punch Drunk Love,” and “The Master.” For a while, Hoffman used to boast, you couldn’t watch a PTA movie without him it.

Hoffman’s co-stars from “The Master,” Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams also attended, as well as Ben Stiller, Josh Hamilton, and Phil’s “Almost Famous” co-star Billy Crudup. A devastated Mike Nichols — who directed Hoffman in “A Death of a Salesman” on Broadway– came with wife Diane Sawyer. Nichols looks like he’s aged from the news of Hoffman’s death.

I guess there will be stake outs in the morning at St. Ignatius of Loyola for more sightings. And maybe a Hollywood publicist with a head set. I always say, I wish Robert Altman could come back and film all of this.