The Voice Premier: NBC Has a Hit on Their Hands

There are a lot of singing competitions on TV right now, so it would take something near genius to get attention for a new one. NBC may have come up with just the right recipe. Blind auditions, preselected by producers to weed out the crap, and a panel of well liked judges that are fun to watch. This may finally put an end to the American Idol machine, or at least force a serious change.

The competition aspect of The Voice seems a little confusing right now. The auditions are blind, so if the coach wants to mentor a singer they hit a button to turn around. The four coaches (Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee-Lo Green and Blake Shelton) each choose eight singers they would like to have on their team. If more than one coach is interested the singer has their choice. Eventually America will choose a winner.



I can deal with a silly competition part if the talent stays this good. It reminds me of The Sing-Off or So You Think You Can Dance in the talent area. In other words, it blows American Idol away. It’s not that the Idol kids aren’t talented, they are just far less professional than these singers, or so it seems.

The coaches are no disappointment either. Instead they are really fun to watch and had some great lines tonight. I had no idea how much I would like Adam Levine (though I do love Maroon 5), or Blake Shelton (though I’ve seen him in concert). The two throwing slams at each other is priceless.

Some of the best lines of the night include:
Adam Levine to Blake Shelton: “If you weren’t 6’5 I’d kick your ass right now!”

Adam Levine to a gorgeous Kelsey Rey: “Stand back for this… you’re really unattractive.”

Blake Shelton about Cee-Lo coaching 16 year old Xenia: “You’re so young and have so much change in your life right now… Cee-Lo’s gonna come dressed as Batman one day on ya. You don’t want that much change!”

Blake Shelton to Javier Colon: “Christina Aguilera already wants to feel you!”

Christina Aguilera to Beverly McClellan about Adam Levine: “He’d sell a Chevy with no tires to your grandma!”

Christina Aguilera to a blushing Patrick Thomas: “Can you take your [cowboy] hat off?” he did, “now can you take your pants off? Just kidding, just kidding!”

Each judge ended up with three singers on their team tonight. Only two singers did not get chosen by any of them, and they weren’t terrible. A few showed their nerves, but all were better than the Idol talent has ever been. I’m even an Idol fan, believe it or not. The Voice is on another level.

The teams so far are:

Team Adam Levine: Jeff Jenkins, Rebecca Loebe, Javier Colon

Team Cee-Lo Green: Vicci Martinez, Kelsey Rey, Tje Austin

Team Christina Aguilera: Tarralyn Ramsey, Frenchie Davis (yep, from American Idol), Beverly McClellan

Team Blake Shelton: Patrick Thomas, Elenowen (duet), Xenia

The standouts on The Voice tonight were:
Rebecca Loebe - “Come As You Are” by Nirvana
One of the coolest covers of this song. She not only sang it with feeling, she completely changed it. One of those rare times that it works.

Xenia - Pronounce sen-ya, this 16 year old shy girl has one of the coolest voice tones I’ve ever heard. She started nervous, but she appears to be the only newbie to the industry. She said no one in her school even knows she can sing. Xenia is a diamond in the rough.

Javier Colon - “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper
NBC has used Javier as their anthem for the promos of The Voice so it was great to finally hear the full audition. It was no surprise all four judges pushed their buzzers to see him and offer their coaching. He’s also the father of two adorable little girls. This was the best cover of “Time After Time” I’ve ever heard, even though he milked the riffs a little. He had to show everything he could do and it worked great.

I didn't even mention the fact that they kicked off the show with all four judges performing, and sounding amazing, in a band together. If only every music competition required this.


What did you think of The Voice this week? Are you going to make it part of your weekly network TV line up? If you miss an episode you can always catch the recap here! The final round of auditions starts on next Tuesday night on NBC after Biggest Loser: Couples.


Copyright @ 2008 TV Review

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