The Voice Top 9 in a virtual performance with the coaches that aired Monday night. (NBC Photo)
My suggestion for Voice fans watching tonight’s results show: Don’t take anything that happens very seriously.
I mean, these results are based on a grand total of five performances, aired over the span of three months, some taped months apart.
In contrast, when Cassadee Pope won The Voice Season 3, once the live shows began she had to perform six times in five weeks just to make the semifinals.
In other words, that’s not counting her blind audition, battle round or knockout performances.
Last night, when the Top 9 performed, Thunderstorm Artis, Todd Tilghman and CammWess excelled. The week before, when the Top 17 performed, I thought Megan Danielle, Allegra Miles and Zan Fiskum stole the show.
Which means what we’ve seen in the voting shows is what I suspected all along. Three voting shows with mass eliminations each week is no way to run a legitimate singing show.
The contestants have had time to tantalize us with their talent.
They haven’t had time to display consistency, their versatility or to string superior performances together in the way that has propelled early dark horses into the Voice finals in seasons past.
This format isn’t fair to the singers either. I mean, they’ll all tell you that The Voice experience is a wonderful one. But they’re also on the show to gain exposure, to widen their fan base.
Five performances spaced over three months isn’t a whole lot of exposure.
Not compared, for instance, with the exposure Cassadee got, performing on the show 15 times, including 12 times over the course of seven weekly voting shows.
So if your favorite advances tonight, hooray.
If they don’t, don’t be too disheartened. And, please, continue to support them after the show. It’s a very talented Top 9.
Allegra Miles Cammwess Joanna Serenko Megan Danielle Micah Iverson The Voice The Voice Season 18 Thunderstorm Artis Todd Tilghman Toneisha Harris Zan Fiskum
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11 Comments
The show was shortened even before the season started. Due to the pre Olympics coverage. Now cancelled. Perhaps before you write an article you should check sources. These are unprecedented times. Every reality show has to adjust. Idol slashed 20 to 11. Then slashed again as well. Their finale is Sunday. I didn’t get a sense of anyone on that show. I did the Voice. Until you are actually handling the he situation you don’t have a clue.
I’ve been blogging about these shows for more than a decade. I know what I’m talking about. The Voice is a shell of what it used to be. The fact that this short season was pre-planned makes it worse. I didn’t think they could do worse than Season 16. They proved me wrong. If this is the format they’re going to use, they should cancel the show. Where did the Tuesday’s shows go? Why have a clip show in the middle of a shortened season? Why not have singers perform twice Monday night? Anyone surprised Zan Fiskum didn’t get the instant save? I sure wasn’t. West Coast contestants are something like 1 for 15 in those situations. Yet The Voice continues to use the instant save. I’ve been critical of Idol’s shortened season too. Read the disclaimer at the bottom of every show blog. But at least they PLANNED a real season. The Voice planned to shortchange fans from the very start.
“Idol” didn’t need to waste two weeks this season for the “This Is Me” clip shows.
Their format is awful, too.
Considering that “Idol” hasn’t had a success since Phillip Phillips and that it’s become “The Katy Perry Show” with Disney synergy, do you think “Idol” should be cancelled, as well?
Seacrest is terribly overexposed, too.
Meanwhile, viewers who haven’t looked at the spoilers this week are concerned about an all male Top 5.
Time to end “Idol” and move on?
Having the Idol contestants cover Disney songs is painful to watch. And this season of Idol, to me, has been a major disappointment. How many full performances did we see from its singers early in the process? I had been encouraged by Season 17, with performances nearly every week from the notables, more original songs, etc. This season feels like a major step back. The ‘This is Me’ shows were a total waste of time. The judges are a total waste in terms of meaningful feedback, so I just tune them out. Guess Katy doesn’t bother me for that reason. Of the 2, Idol seems to have more potential to right the ship than The Voice, which seems to have completely lost its way. I don’t even trust its results.
My guess is that the “This is Me” shows were put together in order to give producers the time they needed to plan the remote “live” shows, ship the gear to all the contestants and work out all the kinks of recording “live” songs from contestants’ homes. It was not done to “waste time.”
I haven’t trusted the “Idol” results in a long, long time.
Remember how the producers treated Vanessa Olivarez, Lisa Leuchner, Suzy Vulaca, Ayla Brown, and Gedeon McKinney?
That’s just for example.
The idiotic themed semifinals of Season 7?
Remember that infuriating, manipulative Season 8 Top 32 twist that robbed great performers in favor of mediocre personalities?
Remember the robberies of Katelyn Epperly, Lilly Scott, and Alex Lambert in Season 9?
How about Lauren Turner and Kendra Chantelle of Season 10? The producers (especially Lithgoe) were too busy overpimping the “country sweethearts” of Scotty and Lauren A. to care.
Not to mention the robbed semifinalist Creighton Fraser of Season 11 for joke contestant Heejun Han.
Does anyone remember Season 12 beyond the Mariah-Nicki diva catfights?
Or the incompetent, embarrassing Per Blankens Seasons 13 and 14?
Except for the Trent-LaPorsha Top 2 in Season 15, Trish Kinane showed (as she continues), she doesn’t know/care how to cast or stage the show
The Disney seasons of “Idol” are exactly that. Plus, Katy Perry’s narcissism, Seacrest’s rampant egotism, and (again) a WGWG (or male singer-songwriter) winner.
By the way, have you noticed when a finalist on any incarnation of “Idol” begins to gain enough momentum and attention to pose a threat to the TCO, he/she is voted (thrown?) out?
You have made valid points about “The Voice.”
Both “The Voice” and “Idol” are too coaches/judges focused.
The contestants are mere ornamentation on both shows.
I say cancel them both.
The ratings are at an all-time low for “Idol,” beating last season’s lows.
“The Voice” will get some press again in the Fall with the news of whomever the new coach is. Or the return of Blake Shelton’s Betty Boop girlfriend.
Then, the novelty will wear off. Again.
I understand their need to buy time. They didn’t have as many pre-recorded episodes as The Voice. But, come on … They re-aired goofy auditions of contestants who didn’t even get golden tickets. They re-aired the same voiced-over, cut-up performances we’d already seen of those that did. What they should have done is give us 2 episodes focused solely on the Top 20 and aired complete, uncut, uninterrupted performances from — let’s say the first performance in Hollywood, the last performance in Hollywood and the Hawaii showcase performance. That would have made those episodes worthwhile.
Mark, you say you’ve been covering this for a decade (never heard of you). Then you would have seen Audrey’s interviews before the season started (there’s one in Parade) regarding why this season was short. You would also know that there was the same amount of time between blinds and knockout. If you don’t like the format that they have reverted to (and it’s only in the Spring) I would suggest you stop watching. Or come up with a better plan and sent to to NBC. Times have changed since Cassadee was on. Television is an aging format and costs regarding production reflect that. My issue with this is the complaining, but no solution. And no real understanding of why the Spring season has been shorter. If you have been covering theirs for a decade then you should have contacts.
In the last reasonable spring season (Season 14), the battles lasted 2 weeks, not 3 like they did this season. And I have written about how this show should work countless times. Things have changed since Cassadee? Okay, fine. Six voting shows would be acceptable. Not three, for crying out loud. This season, the battle round shows and the knockouts could easily have been condensed. It should not take 15 minutes to air one battle or one knockout. Give us a brief intro, air the battle, then move on. Productions cost rising? Find yourself a less expensive panel of judges. One of The Voices’ biggest problem is that it’s too coach-focused rather than contestant-focused. I find the coach banter mildly entertaining in the blinds; I mute the coaches after that or just tune them out. Additionally: Overnight voting should stand. Top vote-getters advance regardless of teams. No instant save do-overs. Apple Music versions of every performance (except in a pandemic, of course). No montages. All guest spots go to past artists from the shows. Coaches can find somewhere else to plug their latest projects. Don’t give us some lame explanation for a shortened season (it always ends before Memorial Day, so at most that’s a one-week change), then plug a clip show into the schedule. I could go on and on and on.
The Blinds (especially), the Battles and the Knockouts are by far the best part of the show. I much prefer them over the too-heavily produced live shows. And the public voting is nothing more than a high-school popularity contest.
Actually Gabby Barrett had a #1 country song recently, something a TV winner hasn’t had in many a year. Having only 5 performances doesn’t allow a performer to really connect with the audience and I have already seen voting blocks purely for the judges in the finale. I think it was nice to have the teams compete against only each other, so that one coaches fan base doesn’t dominate. It adds more gameplay for when contestants get stolen.