Yeah it was alright.
I watched the first ep on catchup this evening, I didn’t come into it with many preconceptions – I’m well aware of the Dutch original, and I’m well aware of the success the US version has had and I know how they work but I haven’t watched them – reality singing contests are a gameshow subgenre (sod off elsewhere if you want to argue that point) that doesn’t interest me all that greatly despite their prevelance on the schedules and the masses of viewers they can bring in. So with this in mind because it’s late, some bulletpoints:
- I really like Holly Willoughby, she’s bubbly and fun and can think on her feet, and I have no issue with Reggie Yates who, you know, was good in Trinity, but they were a bit anonymous here. Presumably they will have more of a presence after the blind auditions.
- I like the set. It is also very red.
- The coaches. Here’s the thing, basically everyone loves Jessie J and Tom Jones, Will.I.Am comes across as a little bit of a twat bless him whilst the surprise is Danny O’ Donoghue, despite being probably the least well known of the four, seems to have landed himself in some sort of Len Goodman judge’s spokesperson role. As a group they do have a certain chemistry.
- The way the show is structured as effectively four different competitions building up to a sort of champion of champions finale is great, and makes much more natural sense as a coaches contest then the rather more mish-mash way The X Factor does it.
- If more than one judge turns round then the act gets to choose the coach. This is an ingenious power shift. Unfortunately there seems to be a natural inclination to choose Jessie and Tom over Will and Danny who currently feel very much like consolation prizes.
- Because of the way the show works, with the coaches building up teams of ten people but no more, my gut is suggesting that the later blind auditions are going to be much less fun because with fewer slots remaining there’s going to be less coach appealing to the artist and more of either Will or Danny turning round for anything they can get. This isn’t much fun. Would it be better to allow a looser upper limit and have a cutting down stage? Perhaps the contenders could be aware of how many people are on each team currently and make a strategic choice in the knowledge that going for the more popular coaches means a lower chance of making it through to the next round? Something like that.
- Yes, the singing quality was very good, but I found it didn’t hold my attention for the full 80 minutes. And let’s not forget that 50 of those 80 minutes were shots of Jessie J hovering her hand over her button and then sighing, and then hovering some more. And then sighing again. And then hovering.
- As a production I think it does manage to blow fresh air into a stale genre. I question whether it felt exciting, and I don’t think I’ll be going out of my way to watch it, probably until the next round. However I was chatting to my mum earlier and she liked it, so there we are.
The question is should The X Factor be running scared? TXF now has a few major problems, exacerbated by the fact that The Voice has hit the ground running. It’s been a largely successful formula for ten years and if it changes things now it looks like they’re only doing it because they’re scared of The Voice. People have been saying for years they should switch things up a bit, that it would be a good idea if the mentors could perhaps take an act from each section to represent them. If they had thought about it they could and should have bought this in last year with the new judges. Similarly they could have wholesale nicked the idea of the artists choosing which judge to work with, it could have been brilliant (and, as a added bonus, it would give more of a “it’s all about the talent” vibe even if it isn’t) and it would have had a massive headstart on The Voice as a UK concept but unfortunately that window has closed – it would look like a rip-off. It now sounds like this year is going to be full of tediously worthy “REAL music, yeah?” types and I’m not entirely convinced that’s what I want to watch, I think there are ways to balance a more credible direction and keep the elements of panto. Unfortunately the time for the best ones has gone.
I probably won’t watch it, but I’m a little curious about one thing. Are all the contestants extremely attractive anyway, despite the whole point of it not being about looks? That was one thing that bugged me about the US version.
That was one concern I had before it started on Saturday. However, from what I’ve read not all of singers are attractive.
not so much unnattractive as fat. i think three contestants on the first show alluded to bein turned away/not going for stuff because they were big/not actually that big.
One contestant was a woman with alopecia.
There was almost a danger that it could have gone too far the other way, but actually I thought there was a good variance of physical attractiveness.
That last paragraph is EXACTLY why ITV got in a bidding war for this format despite still having the Cowell shows. They knew this show had the potential to effectively kill off what is still their #1 cash cow.
The Voice has just pulled off (albeit possibly imperfectly) every possible change that XF could have done to look more serious.
A possible way (albeit removing the potentially enjoyable battle rounds) of making this work: give each of the panel* fifteen slots, of which they only actually have to fill, say, ten. Then have four weeks of live shows with each group, with the top five in the public vote going through.
* Wording deliberate as I don’t see them just as judges, but I’m not sure “coaches” is the right word; yes the acts will be working with them, but I presume that there’ll be one or more professional vocal coaches tied to the show to work with the singers, as both Cowell shows do. Actually there’d be some properly interesting strategy if each of the panel organised their own “team” with a vocal coach, a choreographer, etc. instead of Endemol picking them. (We threatened a bit of that in last year’s X-Factor when Kelly had her acts work with her own vocal coach, whose teaching was completely incompatible with that of the show’s in-house staff, but I don’t think anyone really noticed that.)
I don’t know how the US version works in this respect.
I think the only other real issue I have with the structure comes the week before the finals where, if I understand correctly, the coach’s final two acts will sing each, there will be a phone vote and the percentages added to a judges score (which is done as an effective percentage that adds up to 100).
Now I remember reading on the always worthwhile Reality Blurred that most of the judges wimped out at this stage giving scores like 51-49 rather than properly judging. And yet given the final is a straight phone vote and popularity contest, isn’t this in fact basically the correct strategy? I’m not overly convinced that makes for exciting television.
They need to throw in a few hideously ugly contestants for the gimmick to really work.
As for The X Factor needing/wanting to make itself more serious, I hope it doesn’t go down that route. The current series of American Idol, where all the finalists are great singers, young and physically attractive is boring as hell. We need our Wagners, our Tesco Marys and our Kitty Waissels to keep things interesting. If these shows were more musically diverse and had contestants who actually had some creative ideas over and above standing on stage singing other people’s songs, then yes they should be focused on talent over entertainment value (the entertainment value would be part and parcel of the talent). But as long as they *are* just about people standing on stage singing other people’s songs, we need entertainment added in on top.
Sky One’s Must Be the Music attempted to be more musically diverse and admit proper musicians and bands rather than just karaoke singers, but for some reason (*cough*fearnecotton) no one liked it.
Actually Tesco Mary was precisely the sort of contestant The Voice needs a few of. A thoroughly capable singer (at least in her own niche) a zillion miles away from the conventional pop star look.
Although I agree that AI is pretty boring this season on the whole, it does have Heejun.
Heejun is awesome.
“And let’s not forget that 50 of those 80 minutes were shots of Jessie J hovering her hand over her button and then sighing, and then hovering some more. And then sighing again. And then hovering.”
I wouldn’t quite say it was 50 minutes because at one stage she hovered her foot over her button rather than her hand. 😉 😉
…Can I say I love her to bits? 😳 😳 😉 😉
Who doesn’t, eh?
Your suggestion for fairing up the teams is a good one. I would suggest that this format will work just as well in its present form, though? The artists are different enough that each of them gets some preference. Certainly some people favoured Danny – and Will.i.am is surely the best producer of the lot of them.
I suggest there is already a strategic element of choice – if all the best people choose Tom Jones/Jessie J, as you suggest, then do you want to be in the mix with those people, or the stand out person in Will’s/Danny’s group? (and, we can believe that Danny nets you a strong Irish vote)
The danger you suggest is also offset by judge’s own strategy – if Will and Danny are in danger of not getting enough contestants, they should realise to lower their standards long before the end of auditions. If Jessie J fills her team way too early, she won’t get her pick of the last contestants (if the producers save good contestants for the final round of auditions, she’s in trouble)
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Second point:
The major advantage that The Voice has over the X Factor is that bad contestants are not there to have the piss taken out of them.
Contrast The Voice with BGT’s “Jonathan and Charlotte”. Jonathan is very nervous and very large – BGT makes a big play of this being one of their typical laugh contestants, and thus sets up for a knowingly dramatic and emotional scene (“omg he’s good even though he’s fat”) – as though being fat/Susan Boyle is a major disability that has to be overcome in this format.
In The Voice, there is still audience sympathy for contestants who don’t fit the desired perfect pop star model – but we start with the assumption that they’re going to be good enough to be there on the merit of their talent, rather than focussing on the negatives.
With a strong focus on talent rather than fitting the manufactured-pop mould correctly, it’s a more positive format – it’s much more comfortable to watch with no cringe factor.
That strategic element is probably going to be more obvious in the second run actually. (With ratings like these on opening night, I don’t see how there’s not a second run.) Do contestants in a position to choose presently realise that Jessie is filling her team quicker than Danny or will.i.am? Maybe not. But contestants next year will.
The Irish version, BTW, is also doing quite well – though unlike the US and UK versions, it’s not up against a Cowell show.
In case anyone doesn’t already know, the panel on this version consists of Sharon Corr, Brian Kennedy, Westlife’s Kian Egan and Niall “Bressie” Breslin, the lead singer with Westmeath-based rock band The Blizzards.
Obviously not the most exciting panel in British terms…
But, according to the Sun, the Beeb have actually been looking to this version for guidance on how to stage the UK one.
And Screentime ShinAwil boss Larry Bass reckons that now that the latter is up and running, more good things lie in store for the Voice of Ireland:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/irishsun/irishtv/4219601/Bass-Irish-versions-as-good-as-the-one-on-BBC.html
Strictly speaking The Voice USA isn’t up against American Idol – it airs on Monday nights with Tuesday night result shows coming up at the appropriate point, AI airs Wednesdays/Thursdays. However, The Voice is doing as well or slightly better on Mondays than the Wednesday AI, and significantly better than the Thursday results shows (which take a huge hit from being aired against The Big Bang Theory).
BTW, it’s Jessie’s 24th birthday today. 😉 😉 😉 😉 😉 😉
I simply can’t resist putting up the video for “Domino” to celebrate… 😳 😳 😉 😉
The elephant in the room for me is that after the blind auditions and the battles – it becomes just another ‘vote for the best singer’ competition.
That said, I watched it on Saturday evening and actually enjoyed it. At times I did get a bit irritated by the over-mugging expressions of the judges waiting for the moment to go swivel (as Simon Cowell wants the show to do) but the pace was quick, the backstory vt’s didn’t hang around as much would have been eleswhere, and I noticed the pre-performance ‘check in’ area was using the space in the Red Bee media centre where Watchdog used to come from..
The only thing wrong, is a missed opportunity by the BBC to choose next year’s Eurovision Song Contest entrant this year. Part of the prize, should be the fast track to the plane for whoever wins this year…
..and yes, I do know the EBU are forcing broadcasters to have a public vote again for the national heats from next year. The audience at home would be choosing the song to be perfomed.
The elephant in the room for me is that after the blind auditions and the battles – it becomes just another ‘vote for the best singer’ competition.
Yep, many people pointing that out, and also means the whole “voice” concept a bit more meaningless. Apparently the battle rounds tend to be a bit dull, we’ll see though.
Would it be more fun if the coaches *never* see their acts until the live shows start? I don’t know how you’d work it, but it would mean during the battle rounds they’d be less chance of them obviously doing over an ugly person as they’d still only have the voices to go on. They’d have to pair them off to duel sight unseen.
That won’t work, as the talent (Coaches) invite their team to their home and are the ones to make the parings for the Battle Rounds, as well as working with both of them to get the maximum results from both of them…
Wonder if the Voice UK is going to do duets as well (Voice USA does)
There’s actually an interesting layer of strategy in that a coach who does start favouring the conventionally attractive acts at the first opportunity might get a backlash in the public vote stage that affects all of his/her acts, if it’s seen to be Against The Spirit Of The Show.