Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Carson Daly will apparently be all alone on The Voice set when the show resumes Monday night. (NBC Photo)

The Voice has announced its own set of at-home performance shows as Season 18 winds to a close.

But if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you already know I think producers have ruined Season 18 beyond repair with decisions that had nothing to do with quarantines or pandemics.

Please, continue to support and cheer on these singers. It’s a very talented group. I’m already looking forward to post-show music from many of them.

It’s precisely because it’s such a talented group that it’s an absolute crime to see the show go from a Top 17 to a winner in three weeks — a schedule, folks, that was set pre-coronavirus.

To date, we’ve seen these singers perform three times, with those performances spaced weeks apart, dulling the impact of some truly standout performances.

And now we’ll get to see them perform just three times on a week-to-week basis, the shortest voting round in the show’s 18 seasons.

Not enough time for them to adjust to the new at-home performance routine. Not enough time for us to determine who truly deserves to be The Voice Season 18 champion.

And you thought The Voice couldn’t do worse than the Season 16 cross-battle fiasco?

Think again. Never underestimate the ability of Voice producers to exceed expectations when it comes to screwing up what was once a perfectly fine singing show.

Oh, and let’s not forget that The Voice coaches will still hand pick four of the nine singers who advance from Monday’s show.

So, to repeat, fans only get to vote for three weeks. And the first week, the coaches still will pick half the winners.

Audrey Morrissey, executive producer and ‘showrunner’ of The Voice, according to the show’s Thursday press release (NBC Photo)

Anyway, here’s how this week will work.

* Carson Daly will host from in front of the big red chairs, all alone apparently. The four coaches will link in remotely from their homes.

* Monday’s show will start with a performance by James Taylor. Then we’ll learn the winner for that four-way knockout from two weeks ago. (Note: It aired two weeks ago, the performances were filmed months ago.)

* Then the show will air pre-taped performances from that winner and the 16 singers who already advanced. The performances were recorded in each singer’s home.

* Voting will run from the time the show starts until 7 a.m. eastern time (adjust for your time zone) the next morning via The Voice app and The Voice website.

* BUT that voting will only be used to advance one artist per team. Each coach will then pick one artist to advance from his or her team.

* Then, on Tuesday, there will be an instant save opportunity for the remaining artist from each team who got the most votes overnight after Monday’s show. There will be one instant save winner to create a Top 9 for the following week.

* Does that mean everyone recorded a save song just in case it’s needed Tuesday night? The Voice press release doesn’t say, but I can’t imagine they’d try to pull off remote performances live.

* Oh, the press release also promises “an authentic peek into the coaches’ home lives as they prepare to shoot from home and coach their artists remotely” Who cares? The show should be about the singers!

* “Reinventing the live shows has allowed us to create innovative ways to bring ‘The Voice’ to life in a fresh and intimate way. It has been an incredible team effort with the coaches, artists and their loved ones being involved in the process. With Carson at the helm from the stage, we are excited to share a unique ‘Voice’ experience that will feel both new and familiar,” said Morrissey.

* Here’s an idea. For future seasons, let’s reinvent The Voice as a fair and legitimate singing show with live playoffs, followed by a live finals that lasts at least five weeks and minus the unfair instant save.

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.