OK...one of the big reasons I'd been asked about getting online is that I wanted to go ahead and write about things I do get passionate about. One of the things I've gotten to yap about a little bit in the last few years is reality TV. I know, I know, sometimes there's a lot of it I don't care about, such as the Kardassians and screaming moms for whatever reason. But there have been a few things I admit to liking about reality TV, such as interesting locales (from here in the US, as done on MTV's "Road Rules," to far off places mentioned on CBS' "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor") and even being able to lend a hand when needed (such as on the now-expired ABC hit "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"). But talent contests never scored very high with me, even when the highly touted Fox hit "American Idol" was on. I admit to enjoying Season 2, with the likes of Kimberly Locke, Josh Gracin, Clay Aiken, and Ruben Stoddard. But I'll admit that the public may have gotten it wrong-or that something was going on behind the scenes-when North Carolina native (and my favorite Idol male performer) Chris Daughtry was voted out of the top four in Season 6. I never understood that, and I am glad he had the success otherwise (and I am a fan, he's a solid performer), but "Idol" lost my respect for the most part. And the fact they still insisted on being critical with the contestants, much less offering no-talent doofuses (as I call them) like Sanjaya and William Hueng the chance to audition, folks, give me a break, if you can't sing or perform well, DON'T audition. As much as I'D like to audition, my voice gave out a number of years ago, thanks to too many second and third shifts on my jobs, and even my current "lifestyle." <G>
But...speaking of "voice," NBC decided last April to take a chance on a new talent competition that was unlike "Idol" and the rapidly emerging "X Factor" (created by ex-"Idol" judge Simon Cowell), at least in concept. Jon DeMol (who helped create the American versions of "Big Brother" and "Fear Factor") took the idea from a talent show he'd seen in Denmark, and upped the concept. But the "alliance" really came together when reality mega-mind Mark Burnett-the man behind "The Apprentice" and "Survivor" (and I'm still a "Survivor" fan to this day, considering)-found out and joined forces with DeMol. They sought to go ahead and make this production big and bad, but there were a number of folks that were a bit skeptical, including me. Was ANYTHING gonna be a challenge to the very smug boys and girls of "Idol" as far as a real rival?
That's when "The Voice" debuted this past April, with former MTV VJ/NBC late night talk show host Carson Daly at the helm, along with four stars-known as the "coaches"- who started making a name for themselves, especially the last few years....
---Adam Levine, the Grammy winning leader of the alternative rock band Maroon 5
---Blake Shelton, award winning country star and one of country music's new "bad boys"
---Cee-Lo Green, member of the rap/hip-hop group Goodie Mob, and more recently both solo artist ("Forget You," or rather, "F-You") and part of the duo Gnarls Barkley ("Crazy")
---Christina Aguilera, former teen idol ("Genie In A Bottle"), now one of the baddest babes on the pop music scene
Mind you, I'd gone ahead and caught part of the first episode, briefly, but from what I saw, I thought "this isn't all bad." There were a couple artists that caught my eye, particularly when they caught the attention of all four coaches. BTW, the way it's done is during the "blind auditions," the singers perform for the audience and the coaches-but the coaches are in mechanical chairs, turned to face the audience and away from the performers. Thus the artists are judged by their "voices" alone, not the performances or how they look. IF the performer gets the coaches' attention enough they're interested in making them part of one of the coaches' teams, they push a button, activating a mechanism that turns the chair around with lights that flash "I WANT YOU" for their team. And if more than one chair turns, the artist has the power to decide which coach that they want. To say two chairs turn is good, but a lot of people wait to see three or even all four chairs (which I refer to as a "home run" or "grand slam"), and if that happens, you're damned good. And even more, you'll build up the support you need to go ahead and win the competition, much less get the coaches to really pull out the stops to get you to join their teams. Even if you DON'T get one of the coaches to turn around, unlike "X Factor" or "American Idol," what you won't get are the smarmy remarks that the X or Idol judges offer (some are well deserved, true, although it's now tiresome), but some wise words from the foursome, probably because all of them do know what it's like to be in the contestants' shoes, so to speak, and that advice is better than outright criticism.
Anyway...the first show on NBC turned out to be pretty decent, from what I'd seen of the competition, and I know I didn't stick around for the full show. I'd missed the second episode because of my work schedule, and fortunately, for me, E! (Entertainment Television, which I call the "Ryan Seacrest Entertainment Network," actually) chose to rebroadcast the shows (and still does this season, too). I'd had the inclination to catch the show, just to catch one artist in particular which I'd seen in the preview, and tuned in just as this artist took the stage. The gentleman, a big, burly Texan, belted out his rendition of Cee-Lo Green's own hit "Forget You" (the "clean" version of his R&B/pop hit "F--You," and no, I don't need to translate here on a PG-rated blog <G>), and won the heart of Cee-Lo himself, as well as fellow judge Blake Shelton (and from what I've heard, even though they didn't choose him, Adam and Christina as well). I will say this, they weren't the only ones intrigued with this gent that day, thanks to a great performance, showing off not only his powerful voice, but his stage presence and definite likability, all of which I respected the hell out of him for, even to this day. But seeing him was like him and the show saying "Matt, I know you think I'm good, but you gotta see some of my pals perform here and find out what this show is about, this is a good bunch." I AM a fan of his, but thanks to him, I also got to see what I found to be a show with heart, passion, talent, and power, and a number of people to really root for, as I would later revisit the show via "on demand" and check out for myself. For that decision to check out the show, much less you, Nakia, I can't thank you enough, good sir, I owe you more than you will ever know.
Well, turns out I was right in re-visiting the show, thru "on demand," and even on NBC.com. I then trained my ear to kick in this time, as well as my eyes-an ear that learned to love just about any kind of music, thanks in part to a little training from one of my longtime "heroes," a disc jockey known to many by the name of Casey Kasem. (And truth be told, I had studied broadcasting very briefly so I could one day be the one who carried on Casey's legacy-if you hear me talk, you'll understand why people say that I should have followed that path, sadly.) And what I heard AND saw blew me away, and the stories behind a number of these folk were enough to make me want to follow them further. Seeing folks like Jeff Jenkins following a music career to honor his recently deceased mother (and getting a "home run" from all four coaches), to folks like the duo ElenOwen and rocker Rebecca Leoebe trying to better their lives, to "comeback kids" like Jared Blake and former "Idol" contestant Frenchie Davis getting their second chance at music stardom, is heartwarming, indeed. If you watch this show and can't find a reason for at least one contestant to push your own "button" and cheer them on, I'm sorry to hear that. This does offer the heart that, sadly, shows like "American Idol" and "X Factor" lack severely, much less the performance skills that can make or break any artist trying to break out into the music world. One recent contestant said that the show offers integrity to its contestants, the people behind the show, and to its audience, and I damned well believe that.
The performers can bring some of the biggest surprises, at least they did during Season One. Pop/R&B crooner Javier Colon proved he has vocal skills (I call it "pipes," Christina recently called it "chops") that are so much in control, it's scary, so much so it all but guaranteed he'd win the original season, to a lot of people, even by me checking it at my early glance. But it also proved that sometimes rockers can even match or beat the original artists by a mile-the case of Vicci Martinez being a good example, where her version of Adele's "Rolling In The Deep," in my mind, killed Adele's, considering she's the "it" artist on the planet at the moment. And the more artists that took the stage, the more you couldn't help but think "damn, there's so many good people to listen to, and to cheer on." And it took about four go-arounds in about a several hour period, honestly, before I finally gave in, and made myself a fan of the show in general.
However, there was one other factor, the music, and the fact that the four coaches, themselves some of the hottest stars on the charts at the moment, also had their shining moments as well, singing with their teams, or even as a foursome themselves (even Adam Levine had penned a tune with his band Maroon 5 called "Moves Like Jagger," which featured his biggest rival on the show, Christina, and became a massive hit). But one moment I will NEVER forget was the first musical number of the series-Adam, Blake, Cee-Lo, and Christina singing the song "Crazy," which Cee-Lo performed as one half of the duo Gnarls Barkley and took to the top in 2005. Cee-Lo has done at least a few different performances of the song in various fashions, but something about the four of them singing together (even with only limited vocals from Adam and Blake), there's no other way to say it, I hit the damn roof. <G> "Crazy" is one of my favorite all-time tracks, but that version with all four coaches is one I could listen to and jam with, time and time infinitum. (And to say I'm more than a little miffed it was never released on iTunes, like many of the show's performances were given the green light to do, but I THINK I can forgive them a little. <G>) If seeing Nakia was the "bait" to get me to watch "The Voice," the foursome doing "Crazy" was the show's way of saying "GOTCHA," lock, stock, and barrel-and I will never, ever regret that decision. (I'll have to say it also allowed me to resurrect a near-dying Twitter account and take it from life support to Warp 5, in a matter of hours, as well. <G>)
Well, the show has now gone into a second season, stronger than before, and thanks to a well-placed berth after the Super Bowl (which Mark Burnett planned, after doing the same thing over 10 years ago on CBS when his other show called "Survivor" did the same thing for its second season), the ratings are now hotter than ever, with "The Voice" and "American Idol" in a dead heat for the number one show of the year, and the "X Factor" fading fast in its debut season after people thought IT would be the next big thing this past fall. But the numbers have now shown-and the public and critical support (including a number of award nominations, save for the Emmy, which also may not be far off) has as well-that this show is the hottest show of the year, and NBC, Mark Burnett, and John DeMol and company have a right to be proud. This show has proven you don't need the stupidity and guile of the Fox shows just to get someone to try and make someone else a new star. All you need to do is give it a stage where the performances are good, and the contestants are for real. Mind you, as has been noted by some, some of the contestants have been offered "second chances," after maybe having had some measure of success before applying to "The Voice," and that they compete alongside the fresh new faces looking to be discovered. But then again, as has been seen with the likes of Frenchie Davis and Jared Blake, everyone deserves a second chance, if needed. If you have talent, passion, and heart, and want it bad enough, you GO for it. The coaches certainly get it, and maybe that IS the reason why the people have fallen for "The Voice," yours truly among them.
All I can say is, if you're looking for a talent show with heart, passion, and performance, you just may need to give "The Voice" at least a couple minutes of your time. What you'll find is that, plus the fact that the show and its coaches are a lot better folks than people realize. There may be criticisms thrown about them, but let's be fair....
----Blake Shelton IS a smartass, but a smartass with a good sense of humor and the judgement to learn WHEN not to get too comical or too serious. And his down to earth nature is good for this show. (And NO, I don't consider him homophobic, and I don't think he does, either, maybe just a little cautious.)
----Adam Levine may be a calm guy one minute and a schmoozer the next, but you can see his sincerity for the show and his own team, and even a considerate nature towards his fellow stars.
----Cee-Lo Green may be eccentric and eclectic, but he's one of the most creative forces on the planet, and just good natured all around. Even Randy Jackson could learn some cool lessons from this "big poppa."
----Christina Aguliera-YES, she ticks off half the planet and half the pop world. But she's a diva who's earned her stripes the hard way, and is a fighter. When I call her larger than life, I refer to her voice, not her figure (and those doing so right now need to back OFF and cool down).
----and the man who can keep it so under control, as he did at MTV's "Total Request Live," and as I tweeted him recently, Carson Daly is one tough, but fair dude. Trust me when I say I would kill right now to become something of his "sidekick," or heir to the throne. :)
And to those who seem to think that this sort of talent competition can't be the real deal unless you have all the crap that goes on at "Idol" and "Factor," you'll sooner or later have to know that I'm going to wind up staring at you in the face, and looking at you with two fingers near my eyes in a V shape (think the British version of the "bird," as much as I hate to say it), and with a smarmy grin, just saying...."Factor THIS!"
Thanks for the time, folks. I will be back soon to blog again, hope you didn't get too winded...and take my advice, catch "The Voice," I can promise you that you might just get a nice surprise, and a song in your heart. And maybe even someone to cheer for, much less a new favorite show.
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