Cee-Lo

Ya gotta hand it to The Voice - the show has found a way to constantly keep evolving. Whereas most competition-based reality shows feature the same type of contest week after week, with hopefuls being sent home in the same way on each episode, The Voice totally flips the script every few weeks. The "battle rounds" continued tonight, and wrap up in two weeks. Then it's the start of the live shows, where singers will presumably be sent home based on viewers' votes. But for now, it's still head-to-head competition decided by the judges. Basically, the show has taken the formula for the early rounds of American Idol, and made it ten times more nerve-racking for the contestants, which of course makes it 1000 times more entertaining for us. 

Cee-Lo's team was up first on last night's show pitting my favorite contestant, big gay bearded Nakia, against some dude with an afro named Ty who I have no memory of from previous episodes. Like last week, Cee-Lo trotted out celebrity assistant coach Monica (Yep, she's still alive) to help with the rehearsals. Following the usual advice that doesn't actually mean anything ("make it about you") the two Texans took the stage to sing a Ne-Yo song that that didn't really suit either of them. Predictably, gentle giant Nakia crushed the competition like he was rolling over in bed and forgot his skinny, unmemorable one-night stand was still laying next to him. Not my best metaphor, but you get the point. Gay Beard moves on, Forgettable Fro goes home. 

Next, Blake Shelton set up the night's most interesting competition pitting ex-druggie Jared Blake against hipster folk duo Elenowen. Despite the obvious two-on-one advantage, Elenowen were the obvious favorites, having actually made it into the competition legitimately, not on a second chance pity vote, like Jared. After some tough-love coaching from Blake, everyone stepped in front of the judges. I haven't seen this many people on stage since my last Wu-Tang concert so it was difficult to tell who deserved to move on. It was obvious, however, that Elenowen had been falling back on the cute harmonizing couple gimmick for some time, so it was nice to see judges refuse to fall for it and unanimously declare Jared Blake the superior singer. 

OK, this is what we've been waiting for. Before tonight, aside from the (kinda dumb) gimmick of having the judges face away from the stage so that they can't see the singers, The Voice was basically a slightly hipper version of American Idol. Now that the best contestants have been chosen, it's time for the battle rounds, in which the singers go head-to-head, and the coaches make their final cuts, chopping their teams in half. This should be far more interesting than watching Paula Abdul Christina Aguilera attempt to hit on the male contestants while at the same time struggling valiantly to keep from falling out of her spinning chair. 

The first battle for Christina's team was between Tarralynn Ramsey and Frenchie Davis, a match-up that Tarralynn says she saw coming because she and Frenchie are both "great singers," by which I'm sure she meant, "We're the only two black chicks on the team." Before the face-off, however, the contestants met with the celebrity coaches and the celebrity coaches' celebrity friends, because no one has ever become a great singer without talking to 500 famous people first. Christina and Aussie singer Sia coached Frenchie and Tarralynn through their rehearsals of "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" (a song that I'm sure was chosen because Beyonce is also a "great singer") and following a Don King-esque intro from Carson Daly, it was finally on. After a battle worthy of Rockys I-IV (this show really invites the boxing metaphors) Frenchie emerged victorious, shooting Tarralynn an awesome, final "Go home b!tch" look.

Next up was the battle Patrick Thomas (boring cowboy) and Tyler Robinson (gay Mormon). Coached by Blake Shelton and Reba McIntyre (this show kinda overdoes it with the star power) the mis-matched duo were asked to sing "Burning Love" by Elvis. Elvis is kinda country (he died on a gas station toilet) and kinda gay (dude wore a sequined cape) so the song selection made for an interesting battle. Alas, the gay Mormon brought about as much soul to his performance as you'd expect from a dude in a bow tie, and the cowboy rode to an easy victory. Cowboys 1, Gays 0. It was like the Bush/Kerry election all over again. 

Next, Adam Levine chose Casey Weston and Tim Mahoney for a battle of young versus old, attractive versus vaguely potato-shaped. They sang "Leather and Lace" which, thanks to Google, I now know is a song by Don Henley and Stevie Nicks. Forget that thing I said earlier about The Voice being hipper than Idol. Obviously, this is a song for old haggard people, so 18 year-old Casey seemed to be at a disadvantage, but apparently, she exchanged throats with a 70 year-old chain smoker before the show. Casey triumphed over washed-up perennial loser Tim who was sent back to the midwest, presumably to wrap his lips around the tail pipe of a running car. 

Hopefully, The Voice won't devote its first five minutes to explaining its premise every week, as it did on last night's episode. I couldn't tell if the show is really that complicated or if Boredom Personified (aka, Carson Daly) just makes everything feel like advanced calculus. Either way, once the competition got going, it promised to be just as lively and talent-filled as last week's premiere. The first contestant, Cherie Oakley is already an old pro in the music biz. She's an accomplished back-up singer who's written hit songs for artists such as Reba McIntyre. Depending on your perspective, this highlights one of the things that makes The Voice either cooler or lamer than American Idol. These ain't hopeful up-and-comers; many of these contestants are established artists who just haven't hit it big yet.

Naturally, Cherie had talent, but she was almost as bland as Carson's intro. Despite the fact that she chose a song by Blake Shelton's fiancee, Miranda Lambert, only Christina Aguilera turned her chair around for Cherie, thus adding a fourth member to her team. Looks like Christina's about as selective with her singers as she is with her men. Next came some breathy med school nerd who the judges took pity on. He ended up getting hit on by Christina (a requirement for all male contestants) and teaming up with Adam Levine. He was followed by a dude who was seriously named Josh Hand and who talked in a lot of funny voices, mistakenly believing that this made him funny. Thankfully, he won't be returning in future weeks, otherwise that may have been it for me and The Voice. Dude was annoying even by reality show standards. 

Christina picked a 16 year-old girl who was obviously there just for her, but after that, because this was another two-hour episode, I watched the Heat/Celtics game for a while there was a lot of filler material, with far fewer stand-out contestants than in week one. They did that thing where we "play along with the coaches" by not seeing the contestant until one of the judges picked her. Holy sh!t snacks, she has tattoos! Hopefully, this show will lean heavier on dramatic competition and less on gimmicky BS in the coming weeks. 

NBC's new reality TV show has given NBC a huge ratings spike! According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC's ratings were up by 89 percent from its season average. And with a 5.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, The Voice is the top-rated series premiere on a major network since CBS launched "Undercover Boss" following the 2010 Super Bowl.

We are thrilled because we are loving the show. NBC will be replaying last night's premiere tonight at 9pm. Check it out if you haven't already. Thus far it looks like Adam Levine's team is the strongest. Adam, Christina Aguilera, Cee-Lo and Blake Shelton are all battling it out, as well as the contestants, on the show this season. It really is two competitions in one. Genius!

We've posted some videos from last night's premiere after the jump.

American Idol is one of the most successful television series in history. So naturally, every other major network has, at some point in the past decade, tried to duplicate the success of the Fox juggernaut, with limited success. With The Voice, however, NBC may have hit on the right combination of karaoke contest and reality show that's made Idol such an addictive and enduring hit.  In its two-hour premiere last night, The Voice combined the high drama of Idol with a few new tricks designed to make the show more than just a Seacrest-less knock-off. The Voice boasts a couple unique twists that help set it apart from the rest of the talent competition/reality show pack:

First, there's the judges: Cee-Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, and Adam Levine are all established music industry heavy-hitters, who were selected for more than their marquee names; they all seem to know talent when they see it.  Second, there's the unique gimmick that sets The Voice apart from any other talent-based reality shows: the judges can't see the contestants until they decide they like their singing. So Cee-Lo and company are forced to make their decisions based solely on the competitors' talent, rather than their appearance or stage presence.  Third, the judges aren't really judges at all they're "coaches" who are competing amongst themselves to assemble the best team of vocal talent.

Last night's debut started with the judges performing a fairly awesome rendition of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," and then the competition was underway. Well, first, host Carson Daly explained the show's ludicrously complex premise and kissed the judges' coaches' @sses for a bit, then the competition was underway. The first contestant, Florida native Tarralyn Ramsey killed it with a dramatic version of Faith Hill's "Breathe." Sadly, she said she felt the fact that the judges' can't see her was "an advantage." Given that she's an African-American woman singing a country song, she might be right. Cee-Lo and Christina took the bait and battled for Tarralyn, with Christina coming out on top. Great first song, great first contestant -  humble, funny, and talented as a mo fo.

Not all of the contestants shined like Taralynn (she was followed by some bland country dude with a sob story about getting bullied in elementary school), but The Voice knows how to heighten the drama by choosing contestants with hard luck backstories. There was a former drunk (who no one picked), a peppy lesbian fresh from the closet, a pair of broke-@ss newlyweds, and a hot Indian chick who definitely would've been picked by one of the dude judges if they could see her while she performed. But best of all - Frenchie Davis! The chick who got booted off Idol for taking topless photos. I feel like that was The Voice's way of establishing itself as the cool uncle to Idol's uptight dad. Topless photos? The Voice don't care! The Voice is cool like that, baby.

This is such a cute song and happy little video. It kinda reminds me of the game Candy Land for some reason.