Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Proving the folly of the Season 26 format, Voice coach Gwen Stefani advanced the singers with the weakest performances Tuesday night. (NBC Photo)

Folks, it’s time for NBC to pull the plug on The Voice.

The once fine singing show is now a sad shadow of its former self.

And it’s time, perhaps past time, for the show to leave for good.

How far has the show fallen?

We’re about to find out over the next three weeks.

After a lackluster Season 25 this spring in which the average age of finalists was 35.6 years, The Voice rounded up a younger, very talented cast for Season 26.

Add two new coaches — an earnest Michael Buble and the entertaining Snoop Dogg — and there was reason for optimism about Season 26.

But old problems started to resurface.

Singers who made the show after weeks of preparation where montaged during the blind auditions while singers who failed to turn a chair received prime airtime.

The battles and knockouts featured head-scratching saves and steals. Especially considering some of the performances from singers who were eliminated.

That’s probably because the coaches always run out of saves and steals early in those rounds. That means how early a singer performs in those rounds is often as important as how well he or she performs.

The Voice disguises that by airing the battles and knockouts out of order. Producers have never figured out — or just plain ignore — the fact that it’d be fairer for coaches to see and hear all the performances before making save and steal decisions.

And, this fall, the show added a new gimmick to all the tired old ones — a replay button to give singers who failed to turn a chair a spot on the show. In spite of that fact that the new gimmick flies in the face of the show’s original gimmick, blind auditions.

None of that is as bad as what’s happening now.

The four esteemed coaches — with a grand total of two Voice trophies between them — will be hand-picking eight semifinalists for the fans.

And that means fans who have followed the show since late September will get just two chances to weigh in on who advances and who wins — the Dec. 2 semifinals, then the finals a week later.

Remember, those playoffs that we’re watching now used to include live performances. With fan voting.

As recently as Season 22, fans voted five times before a winner was named.

Heck, this spring, with a cast of just 40 singers, fans got to vote three times.

So this fall, with a cast of 56, semifinalists will be hand-picked? And fans will get just two chances to vote?

What the hell sense does that make?

It also means singers will make the semifinals based on a grand total of three solo songs and one duet.

I mean, why the hell even bother?

On American Idol last spring, singers performed 11 solos to get to the semifinals. Fans voted 10 times. And fan voting started at the Top 24.

Predictably, The Voice’s ratings have dropped. Last fall, the show’s rating among 18-49 year olds dipped as low as 0.4 just three times. Once was for a recap show. Once was for a results show.

This fall, The Voice has already dipped to a 0.4 rating or less seven times, including the last six shows in a row heading into this week.

Last week’s second knockout round episode drew less than 4 million fans. Last fall, The Voice’s smallest estimated audience was 5.5 million.

Given the way the rest of Season 26 will play out, those ratings deserve to dip lower. Much, much lower.

I mean, when you scream “we don’t need your input” to fans, fans can be expected to tune out.

The Voice will be back for Season 27 next spring. Blind auditions were already filmed. In mid-July. More than 6 months before they’ll air. And for some reason, Adam Levine will be back as coach, even though he left at the end of Season 16 as one of the least popular in the show’s history.

Barring major format changes to allow for more performances and more fan input, Season 27 deserves to be The Voice’s last.