The premiere for the second season of the US version of The Voice was met with a lot of anticipation, especially since it was given the highly coveted spot after this year's coverage of the NFL Superbowl.
The Voice still maintained the structure they employed in the first season, which is composed of the blind auditions, battle rounds and live performance rounds. The show also retained its panel of coaches, composed of Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera. The hosting job was still performed by Carson Daly. Unfortunately, they replaced Alison Haislip with Christina Milian as the show's social media correspondent.
Competing against the long established and still ongoing singing competition juggernaut American Idol, and the 2011 fall introduction of the US version of The X Factor, The Voice aimed to solidify its mark as a reality program to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately, I didn't quite enjoy The Voice's sophomore run, unlike its highly addictive first season (which would have been a definite part of my must-watch list, except that I still wasn't in the habit of writing season wrap-up posts then).
While it's true that the reality TV series maintained the structure that has worked well for it before, they did change a couple of things. First, they decided to increase the number of team members under each coach from the first season's eight to twelve. This means that there were more episodes dedicated to the audition and battle rounds. For some reason, it made watching the audition and battle round episodes tedious. By the time the show got to the live performance component of The Voice, I had forgotten which contestants made me excited in the beginning and then they proceeded to eliminate people at breakneck speed that I had no time to get reacquainted with possible favorites.
And then, there were the live performance episodes. Aside from the contestants singing to secure their spot in the next round, the episodes featured guest acts. I felt that this distracted from the competition itself, and I found it weird that they would include the contestants in the number, relegating them to back-up vocals instead of actually interacting with the guest performer. While doing so was unavoidable when the series was only shown once a week, they could have made sure to schedule the guest performances on results nights, when the show finally shifted to twice a week airings.
I had previously written about my thoughts on the different reality singing competition hosts, and my sentiments on the hosting of Carson Daly was apparently shared by others. I do have to admit that he has improved on his hosting skills by making his voice a bit more lively, as well as finally interacting and exchanging banter with the judges. I have learned, though, not to look at him directly when he's speaking, because his face still looks unexcited, thus making me unexcited. Although, he did move his eyebrows more often. I have to wonder, also, if he ever offended anyone with his way of shooing them off the stage, especially when pressed for air time.
Speaking of hosts, I have to say that Christina Milian was a poor replacement for Alison Haislip, who was at least able to do a decent job of balancing out the blandness of Carson Daly last season, was a better back stage interviewer and way more believable as a social media correspondent.
The biggest draw of The Voice was still its four coaches and their chemistry. Banters and inside jokes abound, although there were moments of awkwardness, especially during the times times when a coach becomes rude as a result of the banter (hello, Christina Aguilera).
After watching three major singing competitions in the course of several months, I realized that the biggest factor that would make me want to watch is the talent featured on a show. In this regard, I felt that The Voice failed to make me excited about anyone. Last season, I rooted for Dia Frampton, even if I knew she wouldn't win (The Voice wasn't shown until months later in Asia). While the second season yielded standout performances from Jamar Rogers and Juliet Simms, I wasn't as invested in their journey. I'm not sure if it's because of the rather disjointed pacing of the show or if NBC just didn't know how to package the contestants right.
One of the bigger concerns regarding the second season was that it finally showcased a huge weakness in the format of the show. Cee Lo Green ended up with the strongest team, with Jamar and Juliet both vying for the honor of representing Team Cee Lo in the finals. Both were easily stronger than any of their counterparts in the other three coaches' teams. But the way the program was structured meant that only one of them can have the chance at the finals. With Juliet advancing and with The Voice's voters more inclined towards male contestants, the win went to Team Blake's Jermaine Paul.
The producers claim that they will find a way to balance out the talent in all of the teams next season to avoid the tragedy experienced by Team Cee Lo. I wonder how they would do that without actually affecting the supposedly organic selection process that they employ in finding talent for the coaches to foster towards stardom.
With the third season of The Voice slated for a 2012 fall premiere instead of next spring, the show will be pitted against FOX's The X Factor, as well as the ultra competitive and sometimes unforgiving fall TV programming schedule.
And with the challenge of finding a way to balance out the good acts among the teams, as well as a better way to connect with the audience, I'd say NBC and the production team of Mark Burnett have their work cut out for them.
Whatever happens next season, I want them to bring back the best prop The Voice has ever produced... Purrfect the cat.
... moderately happy viewing, I guess.Labels: NBC, Reality, Singing Competition, The Voice, TV, TV Series
