The Elevator of Terror: Off-Topic Discussion Thread

[Rhondinella]

Shoot the breeze here.

[SnarkyTart]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to post general discussion about the show?   I'd hate to be off-topic in the off-topic discussion thread :)

I watched The Voice last night and saw 16 contestants battling to make it to the live voting rounds.  Of the 16 contestants,  including the ones who were eliminated last night, I seriously thought all but maybe 2 of them would have easily been contenders to win this season of American Idol. 

American Idol's declining ratings are largely a result of awful talent, in my opinion.  The show has done some things right as far as re-tooling and improving the viewing experience.  Mainly, revamping the judging panel.   It's a huge improvement over last season.  Getting rid of the joke auditions was another big improvement, as was shortening the results show to a half-hour.  The show also seems to have rid itself of most of the backstory sob fests about dead wives, single moms, etc. and that has made it more watchable.   If they'd finally get rid of Randy freaking Jackson, I'd have no arguments with the basic structure of the show.

But, bottom line, isn't this ultimately supposed to be a talent show?  How do you pull that off when the majority of your finalists are mediocre singers, including a few who can't even sing in tune, and the ones who can sing passably are mostly lacking in stage presence, personality or charisma?  This is the same thing that killed X-Factor.   

Adam Levine was snarking on American Idol last night, and not for the first time.  He said he felt sorry for the other singing shows because we (meaning The Voice) have the best singers.  He was right, and it's not even close. 

I'm a huge fan of talent competition shows because I enjoy watching *talented* people perform and compete.  American Idol, how is that you can fix so many of the issues that are hurting your show, and neglect the one that matters the most? 

 

[BogoGog24]

I don't know if we're supposed to do The Voice vs. Idol comparisons here but this is what bugs me about The Voice:

The Voice is definitely an enjoyable show, cool and current, better ratings, good talent, funny coaches, and an Emmy. But they lack the most important thing: a successful winner. I feel like these shows honestly cannot even really be compared because each has their own set of flaws. One thing you can say for Idol is that they have consistently produced successful talent, even outside of just winners. The only mildly successful winners The Voice has had are Cassadee Pope and Danielle Bradbery, whose success has mostly been limited to the country world. The Voice needs a real breakout pop star and they haven't had one yet. One of the winners did not even end up releasing an album. Tessanne Chin's single "Tumbling Down" did just that and totally failed on the charts. 

The Voice also has to be on twice a year so that they make sure people don't forget about it, but I feel like it could stand to be on once a year like Idol. They breeze through the competition so quickly by eliminating 2 people per week so that we don't even really get a chance to get to know any of these people before it's all over. And then they're expected to put out an album 6 months later? I feel like The Voice should be on in the fall/winter season and Idol in the spring/summer. It gets overbearing having too many of the same kind of show on all at once. People will most likely only tune in to one or the other and not both.

Good for The Voice that they have better talent than Idol this year but so what? What's the point if we never hear from most of them ever again? The Voice doesn't even have a Jordin Sparks yet, let alone a Kelly or a Carrie. There are many things that I like about The Voice, such as their voting system, more current catalog of song choices, the coaches, etc. but what good is any of it when they can't produce a star? As much as Idol's ratings, album sales, and tour sales have tanked in the last few years, they have still managed to make stars out of Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips, as 2 more recent examples. Idol will always have Kelly, Carrie, JHud, Daughtry, David Cook, and Adam Lambert. What will The Voice have? Idol will still always be the "original" singing show and honestly The Voice is just its cooler younger sibling. I'm sure The Voice can last for 13 seasons but only because it's on twice a year. If they don't produce a really successful winner in the next couple of seasons, I think it could be axed just as quickly as Idol.

[TheGreenKnight]

I will agree that The Voice has more talent this season, but I wouldn't have said that last year or the year before that, so... I blame this mostly on JLO and Harry Connick, Jr. having a preference for performers who can't sing very well (like them).

I'm guessing the reason The Voice hasn't had any success with its contestants (although I liked Javier Colon, Chris Mann, and Danielle Bradbery) is because the majority of them are rejects who already proved they can't be relevant or successful when given record deals before they even got on The Voice.

Edited April 3, 2014 by TheGreenKnight

[Lisin]

The Small Talk topic is for:

• Introductions
• Off-topic chatter
• Having virtual tea with forum buddies
  

This is NOT a topic for actual show discussion. When you want to talk about the show:

1. Figure out the nature of the topic you want to talk about
2. Look for an existing topic that matches or fits
3. If there is NOT an existing topic that fits, CREATE ONE!
   

Examples of topics that populate show forums include (but by no means are limited to):

• Character topics
• Episode topics
• Season topics
• Spoiler topics
• Speculation topics
• In the Media topics
• Favourite X topics
• ...you get the idea
  

Happy trails beyond Small Talk!