I have to admit something kind of sad. I have been watching "The Voice" religiously for the last two seasons. I love the blind auditions where the judges have their backs turned as the singers perform. If the judges like what they hear (also impacted by audience enjoyment), they turn their chairs indicating that they'd like to have the performer on their team.
It's a cool concept: judging someone almost purely on their vocals rather than their looks or stage presence.
Once each judge has their team picked, they go into the "Battle Rounds". The goal of the game (show) is for the judge (now evolved into a coach) to coach one member of their team to become "The Voice" as voted on by the viewing public. So coaches pick their battles pitting two singers from their own team against each other to sing a duet. The coach then picks the singer he thinks did the best job.
Unfortunately, during the battle rounds, there is a little more appearance involved, but, ultimately, the coach is supposed to pick the person who performed better on stage with the cameras rolling. If they don't then why even televise it? Normally, they are awesome and you have a hard time figuring out which one is best. Sometimes the singer the coach names as the victor is a surprise, but the explanation makes sense. Other times it's obvious as one of the contestants was out of tune or just couldn't keep up. It's usually during the battle rounds that anyone over the age of 30 is unfortunately kicked out.
Once the battle rounds are over they go to the "Knockout Rounds". They are the same as the battle rounds except the singers sing solo, but still compete against another singer from their team. The coaches still setup the pairings. Once they are done singing their songs, the coach determines which one is knocked out based on their performance. Once again, if it's not based on their performance, then why televise it? It's a waste of time if the coach is just going to pick someone based on who the networks tell him to pick or if the coach was given a kickback leading up to the performance. A lot of times it's impossible to tell which one the coach is going to pick. There are some really good singers! Other times, it's obvious.
Last night may have been my last night of watching "The Voice". I don't know if James was giving Adam "reach-arounds" during rehearsal or what, but based on his performance last night he should have been knocked out no questions asked. He sang a difficult song and he strained and he missed notes. He was so out of pitch I couldn't listen to half of it because it made my ears hurt. He sang "More Than a Feeling" by Boston as if he were an out of tune whining Steve Perry. It sucked. It was in the top 5 of worst performances I've ever heard on The Voice.
For some reason, Adam picked him and knocked out the girl (Juhi). I was flabbergasted. Therefore, I've decided the whole program is rigged and it's lost all attraction to me as a viable show. It would be kind of like if you found out the Superbowl was rigged and the winner was actually picked by an NFL executive the week before. It would be no fun watching it.
I found a video. You may or may not agree. But, it doesn't matter because this is "Gar's World".
Reading this I had to Google "reach-around" to learn what that was, then finding myself wondering how you knew about such a thing and then realizing this is what is depicted in your blog logo with you doing a reach-around to Pakistan.
ReplyDeleteAs for The Voice. I tried to watch that last year and made it thru the blind part but got bored by the next part and never made it to the live part. Was surprised when it won this year's Emmy for Best Reality Show, beating better ones like Amazing Race and Top Chef. So, I started watching again, again liking the blind part, but this time getting thru the battle and knockout parts. Except for the reach-around part I get what you are saying about that guy Adam picked. Even tone deaf me could tell that guy was way off.
Now could you please fix your comment thing? It is even more annoying than The Voice and Adam Levine. I was reading Survivor Sucks today with a lot of people saying he wears on their last nerve. The only thing that bugs me about him is excessive tacky tattoos.
I don't generally like reality shows. This one was different.
ReplyDeleteI learned about reach-around's from "Full Metal Jacket" (an excellent movie). I believe the exact quote was, "I bet you're the kind of guy that would f*ck a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around."
I "fixed" the comments. I will see how long it lasts before I get inundated with spam.
I am glad to learn you did not learn this reach around thing from personal experience. By fix the comments I didn't mean lose the Captcha thing. I meant the size of the box you type the comment in is so little it make doing that deed difficult.
ReplyDeleteFor the Battle and Knockout round, the judges already has an idea who they want to go through for their team before the performance. In past seasons, Blake is especially guilty of this and since he's the most successful judge... On another note, I haven't been too impress with the singers these past 2 seasons. I know it's still early days for this season but there hasn't been any knockout performance like Amanda Brown's "Dream On" or Dia Frampton's "Heartless". Hopefully, it'll get better.
ReplyDeleteDurango, you know the box is adjustable? In the bottom right corner, there's an area where you can click and drag to size to your preference. I'm going to check to see if there's a default setting, but when I comment, it's nice and large.
ReplyDeleteGhost, I think it's wrong for the coaches to do that. It makes them the contestants. They should coach the one they think might give them a chance of winning up to a point where there is no doubt. Else they are just a sh*tty coach getting reach-arounds. Since I've started watching it, my favorite performance was Michelle Chamuel's "True Colors". In fact, she should have won last season. I didn't care for Daniel Bradbury at all. She was a good singer with no emotion. And Usher was a much better "coach" than Blake.
Well, I am not a very observant person. That and I am technically challenged. So, I did not see the resizing arrow. I now have a big comment box and commenting on your blog is no longer annoying. Well, not as annoying would be more accurate.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your opinion of Danielle Bradbury. Technically, she's quite good but I had a hard time connecting to her performances. However, I have no problem with the judges having favorites. You have to remember they are in competition with each other as well, so it's reasonable for them to keep the singers they think can win the whole thing on their team for as long as possible.
ReplyDelete