Idol Chatter & Voice Views

So, before the Season 6 finals, I posted a blog called “5 things The Voice did wrong in Season 6.”

Then producers botched the last two weeks of the season so badly, I just had to expand the list to 10 as a tribute to their ineptitude.

Ddendyl and Lindsay Pagano during a mentoring session with Shakira. (NBC Photo)

I still think The Voice is the most entertaining singing show on television. I’m hoping the gang that won an Emmy in September gets its act together before Season 7.

Because Season 6 was not an Emmy-award deserving performance. And it had nothing to do with a lack of singing talent.

The 10 ways Season 6 got screwed up …

1. The missing singers: Remember Cali Tucker? How about Lindsay Pagano? Perhaps Joshua Howard? They all successfully auditioned for Season 6, but you might have missed them if you blinked. All three were part of montage packages during the blind auditions. Then most of their first-round battle matches wound up on the cutting-room floor as well. My opinion: If you make The Voice, if you help promote the show by plastering an “I auditioned” banner on your Facebook page, if you’re counting on the show to boost your fan base, you deserve more airtime than that. Follow those links and you’ll learn more about each of the three singers.

2. A second battle round: Now I know collaborations are all the rage in music right now. But the show is called The Voice. Not “The Voices” or “So You Think You Can Duet.” And we’re eventually voting for individual singers. Not on how well these contestants can harmonize. So one battle round is quite sufficient, thank you. I much preferred the old knockout round, where two singers squared off, but each sang separately. Besides, battle rounds are really difficult for contestants who enter the show as a duet, like Dawn and Hawkes. Now they each get one-fourth of an already shortened song on which to shine. And they’re likely harmonizing with a third singer. It just doesn’t work.

Adam Levine went blond during Season 6, prompting an endless string of jokes from Blake Shelton. (NBC Photo)

3. Judge’s antics: Hey, I love watching Blake Shelton and Adam Levine joke around as much as anyone. But this season, the antics seemed a little too over the top, a little too distracting. Blake gives out Adam’s cell phone number, causing an uproar. Then Adam has two earth movers dump manure on Blake’s truck. Really? Does anyone out there think that segment was good TV? I do not tune in to The Voice to watch the coaches pull juvenile pranks on one another.

4. Shortening the finals: The Voice cut a week out of its finals this season, robbing us of at least two more chances to see each of the final three perform. With the help of my blogs, I looked back at the individual performances of Josh Kaufman, Jake Worthington and Christina Grimmie. Because she needed a save last week, Christina performed solo eight times; Jake and Josh just seven times apiece. Wonder why American Idol contestants become household names? The show’s two finalists — Caleb Johnson and Jena Irene — have each performed solo 19 times, and that doesn’t even count their auditions.

5. The save: I was disappointed to find out it was returning for Season 6. From East Coast to West Coast, fans spend hours voting and downloading music after every episode. That should count for something. That should determine who stays and who goes home instead of a social media gimmick used at the last five minutes of each results show on eastern standard time, when hundreds of thousands of viewers aren’t even watching yet.

6. The save extended: Oh, and then there’s the fact that the save was extended for an extra week. According to the show’s official rules, the save should have ended with the May 6 episode. But for some reason, it was extended to the May 13 episode, the one that determined who made the finals. And it very well could have made a difference in the final 3 because the singers vying for the save that night were Kat Perkins, Kristen Merlin and Christina Grimmie, possessor of more than 10 times the number of Twitter followers the other two had. Guess who advanced? The whole thing smacked of results manipulation.

The Voice official rules, indicating the instant save should have ended with the May 6 episode.

7. Mimicking Idol? So, nine songs were performed in The Voice finale. Three were repeats from earlier in the season, chosen by fans. Of the other six, two were songs that had been featured prominently in recent episodes of American Idol. Christina Grimmie chose to do “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” For their duet, Usher and Josh Kaufman sang “Every Breath You Take.” In both cases, the Idol versions came off as more imaginative. For a show that has tried so hard and done so well at getting out from under Idol’s shadow, why not have contestants sing something new and fresh on the biggest night of Season 6?

8. Stars, but why? The Voice’s two-hour season finale was a star-studded affair. We were treated to performances by Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Tim McGraw and One Republic. Why? Well, a couple of them served as mentors on The Voice at one point. Not sure about the others. I’m sure of this: their performances had nothing to do with celebrating Season 6 and the artists who made it special. Which is what the season finale should be all about. And …

Jake Worthington and Josh Kaufman await the outcome on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

9. Josh wins, then disappears: There were so many guest performances, there wasn’t time for a victory song from Josh Kaufman. This isn’t new for The Voice. This is the way the show has ended each season for at least the last two years. The winner is announced, some confetti falls, The Voice ends. Say what you will about Idol, but the show at least gives fans of the winner a couple of minutes to savor their favorite’s victory. And they don’t have to tune into talk shows over the next couple of days to see him or her sing again.

10. iTunes mishap: This was without doubt, the crowning achievement of Season 6 ineptitude. I mean, the concept is brilliant. Count iTunes downloads as votes. Then thousands of fans will spend thousands of dollars downloading songs at $1.29 each to support their favorite artist. And in addition to making lots of money, the show gains prestige as the Top 3’s songs soar up the iTunes singles chart. Only something went wrong in Season 6. One of Josh Kaufman’s songs wasn’t displayed properly on the site. So all those iTunes votes were thrown out. Carson Daly told us that didn’t affect the outcome. Guess we have to take his word on that. Even though Jake Worthington was kicking Josh Kaufman’s butt all over iTunes after Monday’s show, even on songs that were displaying properly. Here’s the bottom line: NBC is a fairly large enterprise. So is iTunes. If your voting hinges partly on iTunes, shouldn’t The Voice have someone checking the site after the show to make sure the songs are displaying properly? And if they aren’t, shouldn’t they get in touch with iTunes and fix the problem? Promptly? So thousands of thousands of votes don’t have to be thrown out? Seems pretty simple to me. This seems simple, too. Since all those download votes were tossed, fans who bought those downloads should be getting a refund from The Voice and itunes.

See also:
Ranking the Top 3 on The Voice
How the final three compare on iTunes
Looking back at Josh Kaufman’s Voice performances
Looking back at Christina Grimmie’s Voice performances
Looking back at Jake Worthington’s Voice performances