Quick Take: The Voice, "The Blind Auditions, Part 1"
"Christina, everybody's the same color with the lights off." - Cee Lo
Review: The Voice, "The Blind Auditions, Part 1"
(S0201) Prior to last night, I'd seen five minutes of The Voice, maybe. It's conceivable that I had never seen a single second of the actual show, and I'd just seen the commercials so many times that I assumed I must have at least given it a shot. Either way, I thought I knew exactly what The Voice was -- a low-rent American Idol rip-off with spinning chairs.
Having spent the hour after the Super Bowl actually watching an episode of The Voice, I am now qualified to say that my previous assumption was only partially right. The Voice is an Idol rip-off in as much as every singing competition show is an Idol rip-off in some ways. And yes, The Voice has spinning chairs. But despite airing on NBC, the 'hood of network television, there is nothing low-rent about The Voice. It is impeccably produced and, unlike Idol, the judges are legitimate stars in their own right -- with the possible exception of Blake Shelton. I have no idea whether or not he's a star, as I avoid country music at all cost.
I like that The Voice breaks the contestants into teams lead by each judge. I think The X Factor proved that the mentorship stuff, combined with the competition between judges makes for good TV. I like that the judges get to essentially draft their own teams. As fantasy football has taught us, people love drafts -- they make everything more fun.
But I don't get the whole "the judges don't get to see the contestants before making their decision" bit. It strikes me as not-particularly-clever gimmick deployed as an excuse to trick the set out with spinning chairs. I know, I know, the whole show is about voices (thus the title of the show), and not looks, but half the fun of these shows is playing along at home. If the judges don't get to see the singers, neither should we. Here's what I propose: Instead of those preposterous spinning chairs, how about a dark room on stage? The singer starts off in the dark room, his or her image blocked from both the judges and the viewers at home. They sing in the dark until one judge hits their buzzer, and once the buzzer sounds the singer makes their grand entrance. This would introduce the element of surprise to the mix.
Another thing The Voice gets wrong is the audition screening process. All of the singers are prescreened by producers before stepping on stage. This eliminates all of the wackos that make the first week of Idol so much fun to watch.
One last piece of advice, this time for NBC, not specifically for The Voice: DO A BETTER JOB PROMOTING YOUR SHOWS AND MAYBE PEOPLE WILL START WATCHING THEM! There is no reason why the entire judges panel didn't join Madonna on-stage for halftime at the Super Bowl. Cee Lo was there, why not throw Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine and that Blake guy up there with him?
