I Loved The Voice

It's been awhile since I enjoyed a new show as much as I enjoyed The Voice. In fact, it's been awhile since I looked forward to ANY show as much as I looked forward to this one each week.

I've watched American Idol now for years and every year, I'm annoyed by the live auditions. Here's why: They're completely staged and they're often insulting. I have a younger brother who can really sing. He's amazingly talented. And he's cute--curly dark blond hair, blue eyes, good smile. He's also really likable. He auditioned for AI three times. He never made it past the screeners in the parking lots because he didn't "fit" what they were looking for. And yet every year we're subjected to weeks of embarrassing people with zero talent being let through so that the judge's have material for their snarky, trying-to-be-funny remarks. Sure, they let through a few that will move on to the end, but the auditions are all for America to laugh at someone's expense.

Then comes The Voice. From the first week, we only saw real talent. The people who were let go those first couple of weeks were as good as most of the Top 12 on AI. And the ones that moved through were excellent. The system rewarded talent, not attractiveness, marketability or sluttiness. Some of the people who made it through weren't pretty people. But they could sing. And no contestants were made fun of or used for cheap laughs. Everyone was treated respectfully.

And instead of giving us Simon, Randy, Paula, Ellen, Stephen, Jennifer, and Kara, sitting there commenting on their clothes or whether or not they like country music, or flirting with each other or Ryan, we had Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green and Adam Levine, coaching, mentoring, and caring about the contestants. And not just the ones on their own teams, but about all of the contestants.

I loved how fast-paced it was. AI starts in January and ends in May. The Voice was just ten weeks from start to finish. Maybe that was because it was its first season and they'll tweak it a little, but it was so nice to have it move along.

And speaking of moving along, give me Carson Daly's slightly awkward, crooked mouthed, but straight-to-the-point delivery and interaction with the contestants and coaches over Ryan Seacrest's slick, fake, banter-filled hosting any day. Ryan thinks the show is about him. Carson know's its not about him.

And the talent standing at the end pretty much sums it up. Dia Framption and Javier Colon were separated by only two percent of the vote. Dia was number 1 on I-tunes. Javier won the show. I didn't care which way it went. They were both fantastic. And their original songs were both better than any original song EVER on AI.

I'll be watching The Voice next season, for sure. You should join me and we can talk about it. Did you watch it? What did you think?

(Image from http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2011/06/the_voice_final_four_semi-fina.php)