Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice cast might be all smiles, but the Season 18 format gives fans no reason to smile, or care. (NBC Photo)

Ridiculous.

Outrageous.

A total sham.

Those were among the first words that crossed my mind thanks to the latest tidbit of news courtesy of the good folks with The Voice.

So, were you pissed off when you learned that The Voice had reduced the number of voting shows in Season 18 to just three?

Well, here’s the latest from the show that clearly — very loudly — quite emphatically — is screaming from the rooftops that it DOESN’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ITS FANS.

After the first voting show of the season Monday night, the coaches, who have made every single decision on who advances to this point, will still hand pick nearly half of the singers who advance.

In fact, overnight voting after Monday’s show will only determine four members of the Top 9.

A fifth will be determined by an instant save Tuesday night.

Yep, that would be the same instant save that’s been proven unfair to West Coast contestants time after time after time after time because it’s conducted on East Coast time.

But Voice producers continue to use it, because they don’t give a damn about that either.

Specifically, here’s how it will work.

Seventeen singers — four per team plus the winner of the four-way knockout — will perform Monday night.

They will be competing for nine spots in the following week’s show.

The top vote-getter from each team will automatically advance. Those results will be announced Tuesday.

Then each coach will select another singer from his or her team to advance, leaving us with eight members of the Top 9.

Then one artist per team will compete for the instant save. Those will be the artists who got the most votes on their team but haven’t yet advanced.

Now, look, I know Monday’s show is technically the live playoffs and that coaches have always picked one artist per team to advance into the finals.

But if The Voice still wanted to do that, then the live playoffs should have been this week, when producers wasted everyone’s time with a pointless clip show.

Because I also know fans have always selected all of each season’s semifinalists. And thanks to the foolishly short Season 18 schedule, the show after next week’s — believe it or not — will be the semifinals.

Those selections have been in fans’ hands until now, that is.

Reducing the season to just three voting shows — and remember, this was the plan all along, not a panicky pandemic reaction — stringing viewers along since late February, getting them invested in talented artists, then letting them pick just four members of the semifinals via normal voting …

Well, why should fans bother? Why should they care? Why should they watch? It just seems so pointless.

Which, come to think of it, is what The Voice spring seasons have become: Pointless.

Disclaimer:
Producers, coaches, judges and hosts on American Idol and The Voice will pretend they are hosting a legitimate singing competition over the next few weeks. Having blogged about singing shows for more than a decade, I can assure you they are not.

You cannot go from a Top 20 to a winner in four weeks (American Idol) or a Top 17 to a winner in three weeks (The Voice) and call it a fair and legitimate singing competition.

So have fun watching. Vote if you want. Put very little stock in the results because they will mean virtually nothing.

Most of all, support the singers when their time on the show ends. They deserved a better showcase for their talent.