So last night I watched The Voice. This is NBC’s answer to American Idol.
Just when you thought America might come with an original concept for once, The Voice is actually based
on a Dutch show called The Voice of Holland.
NBC picked up the show, as did CTV ( oh, look out) where winners are awarded a recording contract and $100,000 ( kind of cheap, don’t you think?)
By the way, Belgium is also airing it’s on version of the show next year called “ The Voice of Flanders” (De Stern Van Vlaanderen- sexxxxy)
Producer extraordinaire Mark Burnett is at the helm so just when you want to change the dial because you feel guilty looking at another reality show, it’s reels you in with some slick production off the top.
My final consensus of The Voice-I would give it about 7 out of 10.
To Burnett’s credit, he tried to eliminate the crappy contestants and just go for the gold.
The performing contestants had to be invited to be on the show. How this happened, I’m not sure because I didn’t see my invite in the mail. Haha.
I also like the fact that there isn’t an age limit. This is especially, at a time when American Idol contestants seem to be getting younger and younger.
I will say that initially, I did not want to like The Voice. I thought the ads over the past couple of weeks were stupid. The judges have their backs to the singing contestants and then the judges can choose whether to they want to have that singer on their team or not. It looked like a crazy concept. What’s the next American Idol spin-off going to be like? The Smell? The Sound? The Aura?
And shockingly none of the contestants were grotesque to look at. Seriously, you hear about a show where judges can’t see who they are picking and you assume, with America’s lust for shock value that someone would look like a cast member of the Hills Have Eyes but then sound like Luther Vandross.
One girl actually had the nerve to complain that she was too beautiful to be judged on her singing alone. Thank goodness Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston and Britney Spears are so hideous.
So, in case you haven’t seen The Voice ads that have been running a thousand times a day, the premise is this .The judges have their backs to someone who is belting it out. Each judge gets the opportunity pick 8 singers to be on their ‘ team’. The team of 8 get’s whittled down to four eventually and then horror of all horrors…oh god, why does the public have to get involved…the public will get to vote. Have we not learned anything from American Idol? Anyway, will I watch this show every week? I’m not sure. But my curiosity is piqued. I’ve seen a number of singers so far that I actually like and I’m interested enough to see what other talent is waiting in the wings.
By the way, if two judges choose the same performer then the performer gets to pick who they would like to work with. Adam Levine looked a little like yesterday’s leftovers when contestants, on a number of occasions picked CeeLo Green over him. Ouch.
Three things that I like about The Voice
– No more bad or mentally unstable singers dressed up as tubes of toothpaste or superheroes.
– Back to back amazing singers
– Four as opposed to three judges ( who the heck is Blake Shelton but I like him!)
Three things I don’t like about The Voice
– The symbol of a big hand holding a mic is rather silly. It looks like a giant statue that might have been toppled during the riot on Saddam Hussein’s compound.
– Carson Daly has the Ben Molroney ability of taking an awkward situation and making it MORE awkward. Say what you will about Ryan Seacrest, that guy is never lost for words and he always comes across as sincere- even if he isn’t.
– Lots of awkward moments when someone doesn’t get picked by ANY of the judges. The judges then sheepishly have to justify themselves. It might be better if the ground just opened up and swallowed the poor, unsuspecting contestant.
By the way, as for the judges (Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine), I think they do an okay job. Someone should tell Adam Levine, though to stop sitting on the fence. He doesn’t really have to represent these people.
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