Dots And Stripes

Can I ask why top 5? Doesn't top 10 get the bonus? I think Jacquie got a few top 10's Tessanne's season. I remember Michelle getting a few top 10's Danielle's season too.

I see Meghan has reached 10. IMO, the duet's won't be the deciding factor between Meghan and Joshua. There's also the season long totals and other forms of voting to take into account. I'm hopeful for Meghan although I can't underestimate Joshua. I don't get his appeal at all but quite a few people are raving about him.

Sawyer already has 2 songs in the top 10. He might even temporarily overtake Taylor only a day after her new video. Meghan is the closest non-Sawyer contestant at #13 for her original.

I still think Sawyer is going to win. I liked his interview session with Carson more than I liked any of his performances. I feel like I've seen all of these performances before, but I think Carson did a good job of showing a little more of Sawyer. He seems like a good kid and he does have talent, so I can't get too upset about a Sawyer win. That and Pharrell is so lovable. I don't like the sound of Koryn's voice. She sounded wobbly when she wasn't belting on her single. I'm sure Pharrell made the recording sound awesome. Boring Joshua does the most overused talent competition song ever. Yawn. I wish Meghan showed some more softness, but she's still my overall favorite. She's far more exciting than Sawyer.

Thanks. For some reason I had thought Matt wrote his. Not sure if I totally made that up on my own or if the show tried to give off that impression.

Did Blake say Lindsay was the first artist to perform an original song on the Voice? Didn't Matt do that last season? Does Blake watch the show anymore?

Part of me wonders if they even know who is behind those doors. I also think it's possibly someone we haven't met yet, so maybe we didn't see the new Captain because we wouldn't have recognized them anyway. I also agree about Andre Baugher. His goodbye was superb. I also loved Rosa. And Boyle. And Jake and Amy. Really kudos all around tonight. I'm just mad I have to wait until fall for more episodes!

No clever title yet, but I wanted to start a thread for NBC. In spite of NBC's spot as the punching bag of the major networks, it has a soft spot in my heart. Buzzfeed's report from Upfronts may explain a little of why I feel bad for NBC: Dire sounds a little harsh. If things are dire for NBC, how bad are the other networks doing? NBC obviously has problems, including the collapse of it's comedies. But how bad can a network that is putting Zack Morris (actually Mark Paul Gossler) back on air be? The other thing that stood out from Buzzfeed's article was how much more interesting NBC's midseason shows are. I'm particularly interested in You, Me, and the End of the World and Superstore.

Reilly speaking at Ms. Svorski's funeral was a big no from me. She didn't know Ms. Svorski well from her own admission. It was a smidge much for me. Also Ms. Svorski giving up the bakery and then going to die was heavy handed. Overall I did like the episode. I am bummed that they introduced us to 2 new teachers just to have them taken away. I would have been fine to have Cory teach history and have the girls also take a class with another teacher. While the constant guest stars are giving Cory more to do, it would be nice to this show find a more balanced dynamic in school. Turner and Mr. Feeny had their own dynamic and power struggles.

The lesson of the night is the Shark Tank bump does not make for a successful, long term business. I liked the Chord Buddy guy but it's obvious he needs a full time partner who can channel his creativity. The problem with Math Buddy is education is moving towards centralized standards. He needs proof that his method leads towards results in test scores. Also, it's expensive because in addition to the Math Buddy and Chord Buddy, kids would actually need guitars. Not cheap. If bikini guy were really serious about his bikini business he would have found a way to make it work outside of the Shark Tank bump. I know Barbara explained why the bump would not wait for the website to get fixed, however, I have it on good authority some businesses became successful before Shark Tank. Oh and Barbara saying she didn't realize until the next day that maybe her investment went towards the party is ridiculous. She should have realized that the second she was invited. How many times have we heard Sharks scold entrepreneurs for paying themselves a salary early on? A lavish party on the company dime before you really launch is beyond stupid. I don't understand why anyone would continue to invest in that guy, I whole heartedly agree with everyone who hated the Bagel Stuffins name. I also agree Bantam could have stayed the brand name while giving a product name to the bagels and sweet balls. Of course this segment was probably the best example of everything being staged for the night. The fretting over the change seemed like a reenactment of conversations that happened long ago.

It would have been cool to see 1 finalist per coach. I don't think Christina is to blame for India or Kimberly. Maybe she could have talked Kimberly into better song choices the week she left. I think India's problems were bigger than one coach. She was the vocalist who didn't know her artistic identity. I think that issue takes more time to figure out. Every coach was required to have a finalist back in season 2. That's why Adam picked his bro over Katrina.

I have a love/hate relationship with this show's tendency to pimp the front runner. It can be incredibly frustrating when I don't like the artist, or like last year when it felt like they were pimping two of Adam's artists. On the plus side, it doesn't always work (again, last season). I also can almost respect how blatant it is. Like they don't even try to pretend it's not happening. If you're going to pimp an artist, just go for it. At least the game they're playing is clear.

The MVP of tonight was whoever oversees the staging. There were some really awesome staging. I really liked Meghan's Sam Smith number and the staging or Koryn's second song. I was so happy at the beginning of One. Koryn was softer and her voice sounded pretty. Then she went into her usual power mode and my ears were no longer happy. She has talent, but she needs to learn to use her voice in different ways. When she's in full power mode it isn't enjoyable for me to listen to, even if I can appreciate her talent. I loved India in Gravity and at the end of Earth Song. I do not understand Earth Song as a song choice though. Her hometown visit was New York. There are thousands of New York songs to pick from. I would have also preferred about any inspirational song to Earth Song. Josh is boring. I liked Sawyer in his first song. It sounded distinguishable from what he usually does. Meghan is probably my favorite left. She's the best singer for me in terms of controlling her voice and really impressing me with her vocal ability. I also feel like she's shown a good amount of range while still feeling like she's consistent artistically.

Oh she's a murderer. I'm worried for Teddy.

I think it's confirmed as of this weekend as part of NBC's pick ups for next season. Justin feels like a low rent version of the Ground Floor Guy. He's a competent actor, but I don't think he handles lead well. He's lacking in some sort of charisma, or likability. I can't quite put my finger on it. My complaint about Justin actually applies to pretty much all of them except Lesley. None of them have story lines. No career goals, no outside relationships, no families (aside from the Danny/Les in group connection). It's not so much that the characters are losers so much as we don't know anything about them besides from the fact that they sit around a bar. I know Cheers was filled with bar flies, but those characters did still have arcs. If this show really wants to be about guys sitting around the bar, it needs to make the dialogue so much snappier. We could also learn a lot more about the different dynamics in the group. I could see Candice liking Justin because of her young age. She seems much younger and he's at least successful enough to own a business. That could carry some allure. I actually like Chris as Danny. He's probably the highlight for me, and I went in expecting that to be Funches.

That was more than a hint. I enjoyed the live episode, but I still find the show frustrating overall. The characters feel underdeveloped and I think Justin and glasses guy are weak links in the cast. The live element let the cast have more fun and distracts from the fact that none of these characters are wondering aimlessly. I may not care for a Justin/Candace relationship, but at least it would give Justin something to do. Can someone please explain to me why the bar is still called Black Eyes? I could have sworn they changed the name in one episode to an homage to Justin. Did the show forget or did they explain that at some point?

I was disappointed by this season of BBT, the last half of the season especially. Of course Leonard and Penny were going to have a terrible wedding day. Maybe they'll just break-up again or back out of this disaster of a wedding. I've always liked Leonard so I hate seeing him get stomped on. He was foolish to bring up the cheating thing on the wedding day, but it feels like a slight towards the character. Sheldon and Amy are not a good couple. I hate that the show keeps trying to force them to be one. Amy started as Sheldon's female doppelganger. She evolved into a woman with physical and emotional needs. Amy wants a more traditional relationship complete with physicality. Sheldon wants companionship. They would both be better off as friends and finding other mates whose needs are more in line with their own. Sheldon changing to become what Amy wants or forcing Amy to give up what she wants are both unappealing solutions. The ring? Ugh. I hope the writers come up with a good explanation, but I won't hold my breath. The show has been in decline for a while, but this season bored me. It feels like they are out of ideas and they're poorly executing the ideas they do have. We need a major shake up, but I hope that shake up is not a Shamy love story.

That was part of it, but he also said the Red Dress people making frequent changes to the old site made it less stable. On a shallow note, Mark has never looked worse. Is the Shark Tank lighting magic or what? The difference was startling. This show feels like the Hills meets Shark Tank. Every conversation feels like it's been had before but is being recreated for the cameras. I loved Barbara for telling Ryan to leave the room before her staged heart to heart. Good for her for realizing it wasn't appropriate to bring Ryan in on that conversation and for giving the mom a pep talk. I hated the Plate guys, esp the one with longer hair. The whole thing with them and Cuban sounded weird too. I just don't trust those guys.

Winning a minute of the twitter vote is not enough. Plus, India is a long shot to win herself. If Kim can't beat a long shot head to head, she wasn't going to beat 2-3 other artists in the finale.

Christina has pretty much no chance of winning now. I have no idea why America didn't save Kim. I guess if Kim couldn't muster the votes now it didn't bode well for her chances overall. Still, I don't get it, America! I wanted to see Kim in the finale. I feel like she had more up her sleeve.

I have to cut Blake slack on the Amazing Grace choice. Blake hasn't been using religious songs this season and this one really made sense with the theme. I'm not sure Free Fallin' or Dream On were on point as songs for mom. I believe Meghan had a genuine connection to Amazing Grace and I think it worked as a gift to her mom. Brilliant! I think you're on to something. That would probably be my prediction or right now, although I'm holding out hope that one of the powerhouses (preferably Kimberly or Meghan) could so thoroughly out-sing Sawyer in the finale that they win over enough votes. I know that's not how this show operates, but I do think with the right song either woman could have a strong moment and pose a real threat.

Very much disliked Joshua tonight. Desire was all over the place and In My Life stayed in one place too long. I felt like I had heard enough of his arrangement in the rehearsal clip. I don't know how you butcher such a beautiful song, but Joshua managed it. I'm over Koryn. She has talent, but I find her voice to be way too harsh. In my dream scenario, she and Josh would leave tomorrow. Not the strongest night for Kym, but I'm rooting for her. I want to like India a lot more, but she always just misses. I'm bored with Sawyer. I think Meghan had a strong night. I love when Blake goes after the audience for clapping off time.

He was a lawyer. He could be a lawyer with design talent, but I would want something more than talent to base a multi-million dollar business on. I got the sense both guys were really more idea guys than artists themselves. I did assume at least one of the women was a designer. I think part of the problem with the format is we weren't with any of the businesses long enough to get to know the support team at all.

I agree with Tandy that Carol was making a mistake. She was right on that he wants what he can't have and his break-up speech was way too blunt. Dropping off rations was nice, but I think she should be cautious. Neither of the Phils look like prizes at this point. It wasn't until I saw the title of the episode that I made the connection to Phil's song and his brother. His brother would be dead by now, right? Maybe they'll be some explanation of a 20 year mission or something. Still looking very weird. I'm happy to see Todd and Melissa reconciling. They're sweet together.

I think the show tried to give us a variety of outcomes. Tipsy Elves was the successful deal, Define Bottle was the success without a deal, and Bubba was the deal still struggling to figure it out. I actually think this show might be more entertaining if they picked a theme for the week. It felt disjointed this week very shallow. I think Mark once alluded to the toy renting business going under quickly. I guess they could do a follow-up like that on one of these shows, but I could see why no one would be thrilled to participate in a follow up like that. I was also surprised to here Tipsy Elves was Robert's most successful Shark Tank investment, but then again, Robert tends to get passed over a lot. He's not often singled out by entrepreneurs as the shark they really want. Also, maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but did they say if either Tipsy Elf guy is a designer? It seems strange to me to focus on this as a design company while the brains behind it don't seem to be designers. I agree with everyone who thinks this is a trend, but maybe these guys will be able to transition to something more sustainable.