Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Voice fans, it’s time to rejoice.

The cross battles are dead. The knockout round is back.

At least for now.

For those who hadn’t heard, the blind auditions for The Voice Season 17 were filmed in June.

Now the website that doles out tickets for Voice tapings has listed Aug. 2 and Aug. 3 as the dates for filming of the battle rounds and Aug. 14 and Aug. 15 as dates for filming the knockout round.

Folks on The Voice spoiler sites note that the knockouts were scheduled for Season 16 too, then canceled at the last minute and replaced with the new cross battles.

Could that happen again? Of course.

But the fact that a knockout round is scheduled at all means producers weren’t happy with the way the cross battles worked out and aren’t intending to repeat that folly.

And be assured, Season 16 was pure folly. Predictable folly at that, which means the fact that the season ended with a deserving champ made it no less inexcusable.

Fans who stuck with the show as it recorded its lowest ratings ever seemed most turned off by the aforementioned cross battles, which decimated Team Adam Levine and were dominated by Team Blake Shelton.

Personally, I was just as turned off by extended early rounds that had talented singers disappearing for a month at a time. And most of all by a live finals that was shortened to just three weeks.

So turned off by the travesty that was Season 16 that I’m having trouble getting excited — or rejoicing — about any aspect of Season 17.

The Voice is in dire need of a comeback season. A season with phenomenal talent. A season with suspense. A season in which the show doesn’t try to force an outcome. A season where the singers are truly the focus.

A season in which any changes are more than gimmicks. In other words, changes that add, rather than sap, drama from the show.

To that end, I’d suggest a very simple change to the battle and knockout rounds. Something that could be accomplished quite easily.

Hold all the saves and all the steals until the end of each round. Then bring all the contestants on the verge of elimination back on stage at once and let the coaches decide which contestants to save and which contestants to steal.

It’d be fairer than the current approach where we hear coaches lament about singers they would have saved or stolen, if they only had a save or steal left.

And it’d lend an air of unpredictability to two Voice rounds that have become all too predictable, where you just know every single episode is going to end with a steal.

Meanwhile, the cross battles are gone. Hopefully for good.

And that’s a smart first step to ensuring that Season 17 of The Voice is better than the best forgotten Season 16.