Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice coaches in a virtual connection with host Carson Daly. (NBC Photo)

It’s time for The Voice semifinals, nine singers strong, and nothing screams THIS IS THE VOICE more than plans for tonight’s show.

The press release about it is dominated by news about tonight’s guest stars — Kane Brown, Doja Cat and James Taylor — not info about the nine singers who have earned a spot in the semifinals.

And, yep, this comes at a time when Voice alumni could desperately use some marketing help from the show they helped make successful.

News flash! Kane Brown, Doja Cat and James Taylor are not Voice alumni.

But according to my Spotify Release Radar, 20 former Voice contestants have new songs out. If The Voice can’t support them with a guest appearance, how about at least a supportive tweet?

Nope, The Voice would rather tweet about Priyanka Chopra adorably crashing Nick Jonas’ virtual happy hour with The Voice coaches. Good grief.

And then there’s the way results will work this week. The top vote-getter from each team advances, a format that guarantees each coach is represented in next week’s finale.

Ah, but what if the top two vote-getters are from the same team?

Well, then, theoretically, the person who gets the second-most overall votes could miss the Season 18 finale.

Though that person will have a chance to participate in another of those unfair instant saves Tuesday night.

All five artists who aren’t the top vote-getter for their team will compete for that save Tuesday night. It’s a process that heavily favors artists from the East Coast and Central time zones where the instant save occurs while the show is actually airing.

Translation, if they find themselves in that situation: Huge disadvantage for Zan Fiskum, who lives and performs from Seattle, Wash., where the instant save will be over by the time the show airs, and perhaps for Thunderstorm Artis, who’s from Hawaii, but now lives in Tennessee.

Oh, and I must point out that American Idol found time for each of its semifinalists to perform twice Sunday night.

No indication that we’ll get more than one performance from The Voice semifinalists, even though two apiece would still equal the same number of songs the show squeezed into last week’s two-hour show.

Hey, but the coaches will sing, opening tonight with a version of “Everyday People.”

Because THIS IS THE VOICE!

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.