Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Kendra Checketts wound up getting the last steal of the cross battles on The Voice Tuesday night. (NBC Photo)

If The Voice ever tries cross battles again, changes are needed.

On Tuesday’s show, the two singers who were most impressive Monday — L.B. Crew and Beth Griffith-Manley — were eliminated.

Adam Levine couldn’t do anything to stop L.B.’s elimination because he’d already used his only Cross Battle save.

John Legend couldn’t do anything to stop the elimination of Beth because he saved Jacob Maxwell earlier in the show.

Jacob’s a fine singer, but through three rounds Beth was one of the show’s most impressive.

Flash forward to the end of the show and the first trio in Voice history was ousted.

Again, Kelly Clarkson couldn’t save The Bundys because, minutes earlier, she saved Abby Kasch, wanting to make sure her save didn’t go to waste, which is what would have happened if The Bundys had prevailed in their cross battle.

So, basically, the Bundys were penalized because the show held the results of their cross battle with Andrew Sevener until the end of the show.

And why did that even happened? Andrew and the Bundys performed fourth Monday; Abby and Gyth Rigdon performed last.

If results were presented in the same order as the cross battles occurred, would the Bundys have been saved by Kelly and Abby have been heading home?

Yep, most likely.

And why aren’t the results being presented in the same order the battles are held? Can someone explain? Is there any rationale to what the show is doing?

So goes The Voice Season 16, where logic and common sense have given way to gimmicks and nonsense.

Wanna know what makes sense?

Holding all the saves and steals until after all the results are in, then bringing all the cross battle losers back to the stage so the coaches could decide who’s most deserving of a save of steal.

If you decided to just skip Tuesday’s hour of recaps and coach talk, here’s what you missed.

Cross Battle #1: L.B. Crew (Team Adam) vs. Jej Vinson (Team Kelly)
The Result: Jej was declared something of a surprise winner. He didn’t have the strongest performance last night.
Save / Steal: L.B. is not stolen and becomes the first four-chair turn recipient eliminated in Season 16.

L.B. Crew and Jej Vinson after their cross battle on The Voice Monday night. (NBC Photo)

Cross Battle #6: Kendra Checketts (Team Adam) vs. Jimmy Mowery (Team Legend)
The Result; Jimmy Mowery wins. Again, I thought Kendra had the strongest performance Monday night.
Save / Steal: Blake, Kendra’s initial coach, steals her back. That’s the last steal we’ll see in the Cross Battles, folks.

Kendra Checketts and Jimmy Mowery after their cross battle Monday night. (NBC Photo)

Cross Battle #5: Shawn Sounds (Team Legend) vs. Karly Moreno (Team Kelly)
The Result; Shawn is declared the winner. That’s the first result I think voters have gotten right all night.
Save / Steal: Blake has used his save and all the steals are gone, so Karly becomes the first Team Blake singer not to make the live playoffs. She’s got such a distinct sound, I’ll be eager to hear her original music.

Shawn Sounds and Karly Moreno after their cross battle on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Cross Battle #3: Carter Lloyd Horne (Team Blake) vs. Jacob Maxwell (team Legend)
The Result: Carter Lloyd Horne wins the cross battle. That was well-deserved. He turned in a very solid performance last night.
Save / Steal: John Legend pushes his save button for Jacob. A bit surprised. He has two other artists who could be in danger later in the show.

Carter Lloyd Horne and Jacob Maxwell after their cross battle Monday night. (NBC Photo)

Cross Battle #2: Kalvin Jarvis (Team Adam) vs. Julian King (Team Legend)
The Result: Kalvin Jarvis is declared the winner. He becomes just the second Team Adam singer to win a cross battle.
Save / Steal: Kalvin’s win means the automatic elimination of Julian because John used his save earlier in the show.

Kalvin Jarvis and Julian King afterr their cross battle on The Voice Monday night. (NBC Photo)

Cross Battle #7: Rebecca Howell (Team Kelly) vs. Beth Griffith Manley (Team Legend)
The Result; In a major surprise, Rebecca Howell is declared the winner. Well, Voice fans have always favored country artists.
Save / Steal: Again, Beth Griffith-Manley can’t be saved because John already used his save tonight. Wonder if he’s regretting that now.

Rebecca Howell and Beth Griffith Manley after their cross battle on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Cross Battle #8: Abby Kasch (Team Kelly) vs. Gyth Rigdon (Team Blake)
The Result; Gyth gets the win, which was deserved. Could he challenge Dexter for the Season 16 title.
Save / Steal: Kelly saves Abby, saying she doesn’t know how the last result is going to fall and didn’t want it to go unused. Plus she’s really excited about the song Abby plans to do next.

Gyth Rigdon and Abby Kasch at the end of their cross battle Monday night. (NBC Photo)

Cross Battle #4: The Bundys (Team Kelly) vs. Andrew Sevener (Team Blake)
The Result; Andrew Sevener’s spirited performance pays off. He’s declared the winner.
Save / Steal: And because Kelly used her save on Abby, she can’t save the first trio in The Voice history from elimination.

The Bundys and Andrew Sevener after their cross battle on The Voice. (NBC Photo)