The Voice (Tuesdays, NBC, 9:00 CST)
I never thought I would watch, let alone adore, a reality show. But The Voice has won me over!
If you’ve not heard anything about it (which must mean you don’t watch anything on NBC because they have really been advertising the HELL out of this show), here’s how it works: There are blind auditions, in which the four celebrity judges (Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine [from Maroon 5], and Blake Something [he's a country singer and apparently engaged to Miranda Lambert, another country singer]) have their backs turned to the singers (and these are the finalists – no embarrassing, cringeworthy performances here). Each judge will create a team of 8 singers and if they want someone for their team, they hit their button and their chair turns around. If one judge turns around, the singer is automatically on their team. If more than one judge turns around, the singer gets to choose whose team they want to join.
We’re through the blind auditions and everyone has their team of 8.
Now we start the battle rounds in which each judge/mentor will work with their teams and then whittle them down to four singers per team.
Then WE get to vote!
And, oh, yes, I will be voting.
I love it (so far) because it’s so positive – like I said, everyone here has made it through previous rounds of auditions. They’re not making us sit through all the sad, embarrassing singers who think they’re awesome but are not – these people are all very talented, but for whatever reason, just haven’t “made” it in the business yet. And I think the level of talent they’ve gotten is in a different league than American Idol. Adam put it best when he said, “The people we’re turning away could win American Idol easily.”
So the competitors are super-talented; Xtina, Adam, Blake, and Cee Lo all seem really intelligent and kind and supportive (especially Blake) and are adorable and have fabulous chemistry with each other; and the approach to the competition seems really positive which I like – I don’t want to see someone’s hopes and dreams crushed, I want to see constructive criticism that will push them to be better even if they’re not winning the game this time.
Heather and I are hooked and, barring a complete change in direction, will be seeing this through to the very end.
