Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Swarmed by fellow Season 17 contestants, Laine Hardy singers his winner’s single. (ABC Photo)

Another season of American Idol and The Voice are in the books.

So it’s time to grade the season finales, held Sunday night and Tuesday night, respectively.

Here goes:

American Idol: B+

Pros:
* In spite of combining its performance finale and grand finale into one three-hour show, Idol found time for its Top 2 to each take the stage for four performances.
* The show also included footage of the triumphant trips home by the Top 3. That’s always heart-warming and was again.
* Lots of stars performed during the Idol finale, but nearly every performance included a member of the Season 17 cast.
* As a result, every member of the Top 10 also took the stage multiple times.
* The show also took the opportunity to promote new singles by two of its best known alumni, Carrie Underwood and Adam Lambert
* The show has mastered the end-of-season celebration, with winner Laine Hardy swarmed by his Season 17 friends while performing his new single.

Cons:
* The show couldn’t find time for a performance by Season 16 champ Maddie Poppe, who’s debut album dropped two days before the finale, on purpose I’m sure.
* Having Katy Perry pimp her new single instead, then take the stage for a duet with Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon, seemed … well, selfish for someone making as much to judge Idol as she reportedly is.
* For a show that seemed to push its country singers away from performing country songs during the competition, the guest lineup was awfully country heavy with Jon Pardi, Dan * Shay and Kane Brown all on hand.

Maelyn Jarmon, with runner-up Gyth Rigdon by her side, reacts to winning The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Pros
* Each member of the Top 4 got to take the stage with a star guest for a duet.
* The Voice brought back 11 non-finalists to perform in three group numbers during the show. That’s more, I believe, than in the past two seasons.
* Host Carson Daly allowed time for Maelyn Jarmon to say a few words about her victory before the credits rolled. That’s an improvement on a show where he typically hands over the trophy and the show immediately ends.
* The Top 4 got new vehicles. On a show where the coaches make millions per season, it struck me as incredibly cheap of The Voice not to spring for vehicles for its Top 4 in Season 15.
* John Legend’s debut of a new song called “Blocked” was genuinely funny.

Cons
* Despite having the luxury of a two-hour, stand-alone finale, The Voice managed just one performance per finalist. Isn’t the show supposed to be about them?
* The selection of non-finalists who performed again seemed haphazard. Rod Stokes and Carter Lloyd Horne made the Top 8 and never took the stage.
* Half of the show’s 14 musical performances didn’t include members of the cast and most had no relation to the show whatsoever. Sorry, Carson, you don’t get bonus points for featuring Taylor Swift, The Jonas Brothers and BTS if their only mission is to pimp their own music.
* Not a single Voice alumni was featured in the finale.
* Most of the comedy bits seemed forced. Blake Shelton marketing a new scent called “manure” (place an accent over the e) was just stupid.
* Devoting so much time to special segments featuring each of the coaches also does nothing to dismiss the notion that they’re the stars of this singing show, not the contestants.

Sixteen seasons in, The Voice still hasn’t mastered the tone of a finale.

In fact, changes over the years — like eliminating a number where finalists brought back their best friends for a group number and reducing the number of contestants involved — have hurt, not helped

The American Idol finale felt like a grand celebration of a journey for everyone involved.

The Voice grand finale felt more like just another awards show with a prize presented at the end.

But judge for yourself. Here are the closing clips.