The Voice stinks up NBC

     NBC launched its answer to FOX's American Idol last night The Voice. The Voice is a singing competition where four "coaches" listen to singers with their backs turned, then chose who they would like on their team. If more than one coach chooses the singer, then the performer gets to pick which coach they would like to work with. The Voice's coaches are all professional musicians, and the freshman run's lineup consists of "F*** You"'s Cee Lo Green, pop princess Christina Aguilera, country crooner Blake Shelton, and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine. The show is hosted by late night talker Carson Daly.  Like Idol and many American competition shows, this series is adapted from a foreign television program.

     The Voice's format for this first round is to introduce a singer, giving viewers a back story, and then let them perform. This is a direct knockoff of American Idol, who does roughly the same thing. As such, the back story segment is stale and unoriginal, bogging down the pacing of the singing competition. While audiences do like to know a bit about the people they watch, showing these stories in the early episodes, before fans have chosen who to support, is unnecessary. The bits shown now will be forgotten as the season goes on. It would be smarter to save the looks at the singers' lives for later rounds. This is something Idol does not do, so it would further distinguish the two programs.

     Another element similar to Idol is how nice the coaches are to the contestants that they do not like. Simon Cowell alone is truthful and blunt, while other Idol judges are not. This is a serious weakness for Idol. Even though it has maintained ratings this year, that will not last. It is dreadfully boring to only hear sweet comments. If a coach does not like a singer, they should just say so. Further mistakes were made by showing coaches' tweets during last night's televised airing, certain ones of which gave encouragement for ousted singers. If not one of the four coaches chose the singer because of their voice. it is not likely the public will hear from them again, so don't lie and say so.

     The coaches themselves can see each other, both when backs are turned, and when some have spun around. As such, it is not really a blind judging, as it claims to be. All four coaches show that they are taking each others' opinions into account by pushing or not pushing their button while glancing at their peers. For this show to truly work, it would be better if the coaches were in isolation. Simple dividers between the chairs could easily be put up and lowered at will. It would not impede the show, but actually bolster its conceit.

     Finally, the home audience is cheated by seeing the singers as they perform. The entire point of The Voice is that the competitors are judged on singing ability alone. Yet, while the coaches cannot see what the contestants look like, the viewers can. To truly experience that voice-only aspect, cameras should stay on the coaches, at least until one coach turns around and sees the singer. Little effort would be needed for this small and very beneficial change.

     Without some tweaks, The Voice is as not worth watching as this season of American Idol. Should you decide to watch, tune in to NBC Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET.

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Leno Loses in Primetime

    For months now, the chronically unfunny (in my opinion) Jay Leno has hosted The Jay Leno Show five nights a week on NBC.  What is unusual about this late night talk show is that it airs in primetime.  NBC decided this year to give up ten o'clock five nights a week as a 'bold experiment', and it has failed big time.  Not for NBC, the network insists, as Leno is performing as expected.  Plus it costs them very little to make his show, versus five other, bigger budget programs.  The problem is the affiliates.

     NBC doesn't own most of the local NBC stations.  Affiliates began complaining that Leno was losing them viewers for their eleven o'clock newscasts.  This is very bad because advertisers pay top dollar to run spots during the news, and lower ratings mean less money.  The local affiliates count on that money to stay afloat.  Some threatened to pull Leno off the air, even before the show premiered, and in return NBC threatened to stop allowing them to air any NBC shows.  Things seemed to have settled once Leno began airing in the fall, but when November sweeps came back, the unrest returned.  NBC has backed down and agreed that on February 12th Leno will be leaving ten o'clock.

     The problem posed is that Leno still works for NBC and they have no desire to get rid of him.  However, Conan O'Brien is under contract to host The Tonight Show, and Leno cannot take it back.  Currently, NBC would like to air a shortened Leno from 11:35-12:05, bump The Tonight Show back to 12:05-1:05, and by extension, move Late Night With Jimmy Fallon back to begin at 2:05.  This would leave Last Call With Carson Daly out, as two a.m. belongs to the affiliates, though NBC has pledged to keep him at the network.  Currently, none of this moving around is finalized, other than Leno leaving primetime, but all involved parties are in talks to make it happen.

     So what would air at ten p.m.?  Suddenly NBC has five more hours to fill.  Top on the list are new episodes of Friday Night Lights, which has aired on satellite already, but NBC is allowed to begin airing as of March 1st, and had planned on bringing back soon anyway.  Also likely is the USA-aired Law & Order: Criminal Intent, an expanded Dateline, and another reality show or two.  Nothing is set in stone, and NBC could end up airing other shows from it's networks, including Bravo, USA, or even SyFy.

     What exactly will happen remains to be seen, but NBC is hoping it will all be worked out by February 12th.  This could shape up to be one heck of a battle, or a huge disappointment.