If the preview of The Voice last night had been a first date, there’d probably be a second. As a loyal American Idol viewer, I hadn’t anticipated enjoying the sneak peek as much as I did, given the comparatively complex structure of the show. (Unlike Idol, The Voice pits the “coaches” against each other, in addition to the competition between contestants.) First, contestants perform for the four coaches (Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton) as they sit with their backs to the performers — very Dr. Claw. If a contestant gets picked, he or she gets placed on that coach’s team. If two or more coaches want one person, they battle for the contestant. After picked, these teams of eight then get mentored, and cut down to four. The 16 finalists then compete. Anyone else having Bamboozle flashbacks?
I was sure it would all be very distracting. But, as it turns out, the “audition round” on The Voice, which was teased in a sneak peek last night, was actually more enjoyable for me to watch than the auditions on Idol (mostly because I’ve never been a fan of Idol‘s pre-Hollywood Week buffoonery). I love how Aguilera didn’t mind hitting on the male contestants. (She jokingly tells a contestant in the teaser to take off his pants.) Also fun: The chemistry between the three male stars on the panel. Am I the only one who would love to see what they talk about when cameras aren’t around?
Next week, the first 30 minutes of the premiere conflict with the last 30 minutes of Glee‘s supersized episode, which is going to leave what would have been The Voice’s core audience conflicted. (Thank goodness for multi-tuner DVRs.) In its second week, however, Voice airs after Glee — smartest move ever.
Last night NBC aired an 11-minute preview of its upcoming series The Voice, which premieres next week (April 26). And if we walked away from this glimpse at the reality singing competition with one thing now made perfectly clear, it’s that Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine are not judges in the American Idol sense, but rather coaches who will guide auditioning artists through the competition. Head below to watch Blake, Adam and Cee Lo duke it out over who gets to mentor budding country singer Patrick Thomas.
After the four stars of the program belt out Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” host Carson Daly explains the show’s concept: the competing coaches are to choose a team of eight singers from a batch of singers invited by producers to audition on camera. The coaches, as we’ve previously seen, have their backs to the singers because “on this show only the voice matters.”
The artist earns a spot on one of the teams if the coach hits their buzzer and swivels their throne-like red chair around. The real fun for the viewer comes into play when more than one coach turns around, because then we get to watch, say, Xtina and Cee Lo plead their cases for why the artist should choose one of them over the other.
There’s more jibber-jabber about battle rounds, where the coaches cut their teams from eight to four, and then American votes each week during the final live performance round. (The ultimate winner scores a record deal with Universal Republic.) But let’s get to the classiest part of the preview, which is Christina’s request to country crooner Patrick Thomas: “You’re a cutie pie, Patrick! Can you take your hat off? Can you take your pants off?”
Overall, The Voice doesn’t look like the tired Idol retread many were likely expecting it to be—and it’s a good thing, too, because with the four main personalities involved, we were hoping for watchable show. (Don’t think we didn’t notice that bro bonding that must have happened between Levine and Shelton in the lead-up now, or the amazing on-stage chemistry between Cee Lo and Xtina while they performed “Crazy.”)
Consider our DVRs set to record, NBC. Especially if there’s more naughty vamping from Xtina in store!
No, because there already was a full audition (without the judges) where they weeded out all the bad/funny auditions. Now everyone with vocal talent as marked by the producers are going on the show, which is already a select group, and the four judges narrow it down further.
No, because there already was a full audition (without the judges) where they weeded out all the bad/funny auditions. Now everyone with vocal talent as marked by the producers are going on the show, which is already a select group, and the four judges narrow it down further.
That's kind of dissapointing, i love laughing at the talentless idiots who think theyre gonna be the next big thing (especially the cocky ones with cocky parents) and they go out and make a fool of themselves. I'll still watch it, but those funny auditions are part of what makes american idol/x factor so good.