S07.E13: The Knockouts, Part 3

[poppy-]

Either she was very bad, or she did something very stupid.  Either way, I think the blown opportunity is on her end, not the show's problem.

[DownTheShore]

I was thinking that Rebekkah must have done something in violation of whatever contract she signed with the show for her performances to be axed that way.  Otherwise, it doesn't make any sense.  She couldn't have been so bad to begin with, otherwise she wouldn't have been chosen.

 

Did anyone who was at the shows report that she actually did any singing after the blinds?

[treebyleaf]

Honestly I doubt that it's anything on Rebekah's part specifically.

The producers and editors of the show want an entertaining, lively show with a big mix of artists. In listening to her tracks on YouTube, she has a gorgeous voice but her somewhat folk/softspoken/melodic style was already represented on the show by Taylor Breshears/Jessie Pitts/Clara Hong/others. (Not saying she's not an excellent singer or that she's just like the singers I mentioned -- just that she is a specific "type" of artist.)

If the show's producers knew that she wasn't going to make the Lives, and she didn't offer something off the beaten path as a "character" on the show (unique genre, personal sob story, signature look) they probably decided to use those extra minutes on the show to develop other characters and storylines.

Anyway, I think coming off of the show with some professionally mixed recordings and introductions to a bunch of talented artists and a few superstars is pretty cool -- something that the thousands of people who audition and don't get picked would kill for.

[BogoGog24]

If it was because she didn't provide enough interesting storyline, look, or performance, how did people like Grant, Tanner, etc. get on? As others have pointed out, there were worse people that were shown at least once. I don't think genre necessarily has anything to do with it either. I mean there are tons of country singers that were shown, Ricky and Ryan are the two pretty boy singers, there are plenty of alternative/indie guys this season, two reggae singers, a few teen divas, etc. Rebekah was the ONLY contestant to make the knockouts that never had any of her performances shown. This theory would make more sense if this had happened to a few other contestants besides her, but she is the only one who blatantly was shut out from having any screen time. The only ethical reason to do that to someone is if they violated their contract. Whether she did this or not, we don't know. She seems to know nothing about why she was montaged.

 

And no, I don't think a few professional recordings + meeting a few famous celebs is really worth all the time and effort spent to audition. I didn't make it past the initial round and I would never "kill" to get the shitty experience Rebekah got. I'd rather get eliminated off the bat than waste my time and energy to go through all the auditions, travel, leave work/school, etc. for a grand total of 5 seconds of screen time. You can find a decent music producer almost anywhere and have them mix you a few decent recordings. Hell, they will do it at Guitar Center for $50 per session. The most valuable thing she probably got out of it ironically was that people know who she is, despite never being shown, and have checked out her music in spite of that. She also seems to be using the attention to promote her new company. She still managed to get attention, despite never getting airtime, so good for her.

[Noreaster]

If it was because she didn't provide enough interesting storyline, look, or performance, how did people like Grant, Tanner, etc. get on? As others have pointed out, there were worse people that were shown at least once. 

Rebekah could have been worse than everyone else. No one knows. That's the beauty of a montage.

 

I agree with treebyleaf that it's likely not personal. The producers are probably not wasting time thinking about how to screw over contestants. They just want to put on an entertaining show. 

 

The Matt/Rebekah montage stands out because there was only one of them in the knockout round. I think it's more a scheduling thing than anything else.  Last year, the second battle round also had one montage when they had to fit in 16 pairings into 5 hours.  I don't think a knockout montage is really any different from a battle montage or a blind montage.  For whatever reason, the producers thought the montaged performances were less entertaining than what they ended up showing. 

 

And no, I don't think a few professional recordings + meeting a few famous celebs is really worth all the time and effort spent to audition. I didn't make it past the initial round and I would never "kill" to get the shitty experience Rebekah got. I'd rather get eliminated off the bat than waste my time and energy to go through all the auditions, travel, leave work/school, etc. for a grand total of 5 seconds of screen time. 

Whether or not this experience is worthwhile will depend on the individual. I think it would be pretty cool to work with a lot of talented people (and not just the celebrity coaches/advisors) and see the behind-the-scenes workings of a reality TV show. But there is a time commitment and probably some sacrifices to be made. Hopefully all contestants are going in with their eyes wide open. Rebekah was the one who made it furthest into the competition without airtime, but there are a lot of other contestants who also put in time and effort and got no airtime.    

 

I completely understand the gripe behind montages. As a viewer, however, I care more about being entertained. The #1 priority for the producers is maximizing ratings.  

[Cramps]

The fact that they didn't even show Rebekah or even mention her by name in the knockout, after mint aging her in the two previous rounds makes me wonder if there was some issue other than talent. Like contractual.

[Noreaster]

They did mention Rebekah's name in the knockout. There were also a couple of other battle montages besides Rebekah's with no singing. 

[rollerblade]

I think it's more a scheduling thing than anything else.  Last year, the second battle round also had one montage when they had to fit in 16 pairings into 5 hours.  I don't think a knockout montage is really any different from a battle montage or a blind montage. 

 

5 hours should be enough to show 16 pairings!

 

Given that an hour of broadcast contains 20 minutes of commercials, they had 200 minutes of airtime total.

Divide that by 16, then we get an average allotment of 12.5 minutes per person.

Each song only last 2 minutes (rounding up), so 10.5 minutes of "other stuff" per person.

 

On average, that's basically 4 minutes of actual singing and 21 minutes of fluff airtime PER PAIRING that goes toward rehearsal footage + judges talking + whatever else. They could have shave the whole "how they got here" blinds/battles footage (why do we need to see those again?), and fit everyone in the knockouts.

 

Or use the pointless recap episode for actual knockout performances instead. There's no excuse for montage in the Knockouts.

[BogoGog24]

Yes, I hate the pointless recap episode. Nobody effing watches those, the ratings are always pretty low. They could get more viewers if they used that episode as more of a "what you didn't see" thing, with performances that were montaged, fun BTS stuff, etc. A recap episode is only useful for those that didn't keep up with the season.

[hincandenza]

5 hours should be enough to show 16 pairings!

 

Given that an hour of broadcast contains 20 minutes of commercials, they had 200 minutes of airtime total.

Divide that by 16, then we get an average allotment of 12.5 minutes per person.

Each song only last 2 minutes (rounding up), so 10.5 minutes of "other stuff" per person.

 

On average, that's basically 4 minutes of actual singing and 21 minutes of fluff airtime PER PAIRING that goes toward rehearsal footage + judges talking + whatever else. They could have shave the whole "how they got here" blinds/battles footage (why do we need to see those again?), and fit everyone in the knockouts.

 

Or use the pointless recap episode for actual knockout performances instead. There's no excuse for montage in the Knockouts.

 

LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE LIKE goddammit, it's only letting me click to Like this the one time!  Stoopid forum rules. :)

 

Yeah, i don't think it's remotely fair to claim Rebekah "did something" to earn a snubbing.  I don't think the producers had it out for her, but it's still unprofessional to have someone make it that far and not get any kind of acknowledgement or exposure.  As rollerblade notes above, it's not like they didn't have PLENTY of time, you could have easily squeezed in the extra singing and judging for one more knockout round just by trimming these pointless exchanges, which take like 2 extra minutes of screen time to be "suspenseful":

 

Carson: "Coach ____, it's time to pick who do you select?"

Coach ____: "Er, ah, um, tough choice, so torn, much deliberation"

(Music rises, audience murmurs)

Carson, voice over: "When we come back, WHO will Coach ____ choose?"

(Commercials)

(More commercials)

(Yet more commercials)

Carson, voice over: "When we left, Coach ____ was trying to decide between ____ and ___"

Coach ____: "Er, ah, um, tough choice, let me repeat the things I said two minutes ago"

(Coach pretending this is a touch choice)

Coach ____: "My choice, for nebulous reasons that make no sense if I actually listened to myself speak, is.... "

(Music rises, audience murmurs)

Coach ____: "My choice is.... I have to pick *****"

(commence crying, cheering, applause)

 

I mean, could Rebekah have possibly been more self-promoting than anyone else on this show?  They are trying to be professional musicians after all.  I get that time constraints mean some montaging, but could they at least be fair about it?  Would it actually kill that sexist pig Mark Burnett to do something right for a change?

[Noreaster]

I don't think spreading out 16 pairings over 6 hours is a good solution.  That would mean even more fluff.  

 

I agree that there were a lot of stuff in the knockout episodes that were unnecessary and in theory, it should be easy to fit in all 16 pairings into 5 hours. Practically speaking, however, there are likely good reasons why things are done a certain way. I don't know the show's production process or editing timeline, but I'm going to speculate just for the hell of it. Here is one scenario that comes to mind:  

 

1) The knockouts have to fill up 6 hours based on coach availability and NBC's needs.  Producers would have preferred to fit all the knockouts in one week in 4 hours (like they did in seasons 3-5) and do the live playoffs this week, but Blake is unavailable for lives due to the CMA awards. NBC might want more Taylor Swift airtime anyway because they think it will help ratings.  

 

2) To fill up the 6 hours, the producers decide that 5 hours + a 1-hr recap is the best way to go.

 

3) From a production/editing standpoint, it might be easier to edit the knockout segments first and then decide how to arrange them later. Sixteen is not easily divisible by 5, so they decide that they will show 15 pairings and montage 1. The editing team goes ahead and puts together X-minute segments (that will fill in 20 min total airtime including commercials and fluff).  

 

4) The producers go through all the segments.  The 4 with steals are obviously kept.  They then go through the remaining 12, weighing factors like quality of performances, quality of rehearsals, effectiveness of Taylor Swift's and the coaches' advice, and coach banter. They also shuffle the segments around and work through different schedule iterations. Each episode needs to be somewhat balanced in terms of coaches, genres, etc.  

 

5) The producers decide the Matt/Rebekah segment will be montaged.  Possible reasons: Matt and/or Rebekah were lackluster; producers prefer to montage Blake/Adam over Gwen/Pharrell; viewers probably care the least about double-montaged Grant and Rebekah (and between Reagan and Matt, the producers prefer Reagan).  

 

Now, I'm probably wrong about some or all of the above, but I think my scenario is a reasonable one. My broader point is there are a lot of factors that viewers are not privy to and that influence editing decisions. It's not that easy.  

Edited November 7, 2014 by Noreaster

[hincandenza]

Very well said, your verbosity and depth of analysis reminds me of my own posting habits. :)

I agree that there are things we're not aware of, and reasons that montage-ing some performances is necessary. But I would have hoped they would at least have some small eye towards fairness, of at least giving the also-rans some amount of exposure. The gripe isn't montage-ing Rebekah in the Knockouts, it's the fact that even with the foresight of all these rounds having been taped months ago they still didn't have anyone do a quick once-over of the planned episode and segment order to make sure no one got completely snubbed. Let's say 10% of performances per round are montagued, that would make it a 1/1000 chance (of the final 32 before lives) that someone who got into all the rounds would end up sidelined throughout. I'm not saying it's a conspiracy or punishment, but that it would take one person maybe an hour to quickly double check for any accidental snubbing. It seems such a trifle effort to expend to give some people a little boost in their lives.

[Noreaster]

I agree that there are things we're not aware of, and reasons that montage-ing some performances is necessary. But I would have hoped they would at least have some small eye towards fairness, of at least giving the also-rans some amount of exposure. The gripe isn't montage-ing Rebekah in the Knockouts, it's the fact that even with the foresight of all these rounds having been taped months ago they still didn't have anyone do a quick once-over of the planned episode and segment order to make sure no one got completely snubbed. Let's say 10% of performances per round are montagued, that would make it a 1/1000 chance (of the final 32 before lives) that someone who got into all the rounds would end up sidelined throughout. I'm not saying it's a conspiracy or punishment, but that it would take one person maybe an hour to quickly double check for any accidental snubbing. It seems such a trifle effort to expend to give some people a little boost in their lives.

Yeah, I don't think the show cares about fairness to the contestants. Why should it?  There have always been unfair things like one-sided pairings and montages, but ratings still hold up relatively well. 

 

It's highly possible that the triple-montage was not an accidental snubbing. It makes a lot of sense to montage someone who's already been double-montaged. They offer the least amount of entertainment value since viewers don't really know them. It could have been a simple decision for the producers. Either Rebekah or Grant.  

[photo fox]

I went ahead and created a Predictions topic and moved a few posts over there to get it started.  :)

[Padma]

Whatever the reason for not showing all of someone's performances as s/he advances, the least they could do is put the whole thing up on Youtube for a week or two.

[BogoGog24]

Even if they decided not to broadcast certain performances during the shows, they could still use that extra recap episode to show stuff we didn't already see. They could even show some extra BTS footage with Taylor Swift or the coaches joking around, along with the montaged auditions, battles, and KOs. There's really no excuse for it.

[poppy-]

Yeah, I don't think the show cares about fairness to the contestants. Why should it?  There have always been unfair things like one-sided pairings and montages, but ratings still hold up relatively well.

 

It's highly possible that the triple-montage was not an accidental snubbing. It makes a lot of sense to montage someone who's already been double-montaged. They offer the least amount of entertainment value since viewers don't really know them. It could have been a simple decision for the producers. Either Rebekah or Grant.

 

Another theory: no one on earth wants to hear any more of Drops of Jupiter than is strictly necessary.

[hincandenza]

... "Drops of Jupiter" was the song Matt sang which was barely montaged because we heard more than half of that anyway.  We don't know what Rebekah sang, except someone apparently edited it on the Wiki.

 

And again, it's not the idea of snubbing someone once- that happens.  It's having exactly one of the 32 people who reached the Knockouts get literally zero screen/singing time over the three weeks of blinds, the two weeks of battles, and the two weeks of knockouts.  That's almost two months of twice-weekly airings, "road to the ______" recap shows, and well-documented editing wastefulness, and she couldn't even get a snippet of any of her three performances shown once, or even put something on youtube?  Heck, she was even montaged while winning her battle round against Clara Hong- and I think they only showed Clara singing in the few seconds of that montage!

 

It starts to look deliberate, but even if it isn't on purpose it's a dick move since it would take a trifle of effort to not do this to someone each season.  No, it's not a federal case, not a legally actionable malfeasance, but just a real dick move.

[Noreaster]

20-30 seconds for Matt is not half compared to the roughly 2 min that the other contestants got. Not to mention the lack of rehearsal airtime and most of the coach feedback. From a competition perspective with the public voting next round, Matt is at a disadvantage. Viewers who just started tuning in or didn't pay much attention to blinds or battles don't really know who he is.

Rebekah was shown singing a few seconds in her blind.

Neither Clara or Rebekah were shown singing in their battle. The contestants in the other 2 montaged battles in that episode also had zero singing.

[poppy-]

I think Matt's at a big disadvantage- no 'why did I choose that song', no cute-yet-savvy Taylor Swift interaction, no coach talking about his strengths, no compliments from all the judges.  I'd honestly like to hear what Adam says about that song, since Train and Maroon 5 are almost the same band, except Adam is a better lyricist (working in much dirtier topics) and the Train guy is a better singer (than almost every working vocalist alive today).

Edited November 9, 2014 by poppy-

[BogoGog24]

I disagree. I don't see how Matt is at a disadvantage. He has tons of fans. If you look over at idolforums.com, his thread is hot right now. He'll be fine. 

[Cramps]

Matt should be fine. He's gotten a lot of screen time already. It is a disadvantage, but not a game changer.

On the other hand, no contestant has ever made it three rounds before and been montaged every time and not even shown or mentioned in the third round. For whatever reason, Rebekah was purposefully cut out.

Edited November 9, 2014 by Cramps

[poppy-]

Matt will probably fine, and it's nice for him that he has a good social media presence. But all things being equal, as a musician trying to make it, I'd rather be the one who made Taylor Swift's jaw drop, or get 'judges stare in adoration' stare of Taylor 3 Names, then get the "and this guy was there too" edit. It might not be crushing but it is a disadvantage.

[MelsW]

Matt should be fine. He's gotten a lot of screen time already. It is a disadvantage, but not a game changer.

 

I agree. Kristin Merlin was able to not only recover from multiple montages but from a massive audio failure when she finally made it to the Lives.

[dizzyizzy01]

Kristin Merlin was able to not only recover from multiple montages but from a massive audio failure when she finally made it to the Lives.

 

 

I actually think that audio failure is what helped her after multiple montages.  She didn't really stand out otherwise.  But I think Matt will be fine as long as he gives strong live performances.

[Oscirus]

Sorry for the lateness but I just got around to watching this.  I wish the coaches would stop speaking in hyperboles.

 

Taylor vs Allison- Admittedly I came into this battle  not caring who won. But while Taylor excelled at showing off a different side of herself , Allison felt fairly routine making Taylor the easy choice here.

 

Ryan vs Beth- LOL, remember that time when Pharrell went up to Beth and for no reason whatsoever promised to steal her if given the chance but failed to do so twice? LOL, good times. Ryan easily won this because Beth doesn't seem to know what she wants to be as a singer.

 

Menlick vs Jean-  Pairing up your two steals while forcing your six other singers to compete for  the other three spots. Dat loyalty. Menlick incorporated none of the advice he was given and made Pharrell's choice an easy one. That being said, Jean probably would have won even if he did. It felt a bit try hard in my opinion but her performance was one of the best of the night.

A team of  two castoffs from a coach who had  the second worst team going into the battle round, one singer who got destroyed in the knockout rounds but was picked anyway, his third best belter, and his only real contender in Luke. Good luck with that team.

 

Blessing vs Chris- Chris wasn't as good as he could've been and he left the door wide open for Blessing. Fortunately for him Blessing chose not to walk through that door. I think Chris could be a contender but he really needs to tweak some parts of his performance if he wants to win.

 

One montage is bad, two montages is terrible but at the third montage it really starts to feel aggressive.  You could have easily shaved off enough time from the so called playful banter to give us that knockout performance but instead you chose to give your audience and Ms. Sampson the middle finger, good job show.

 

Somebody who got montaged in the knockouts, a singer who tends to over do it with emotions in a song,  two singers who need tweaks to become contenders and  what was easily the best steal of the knockouts. If Adam doesn't place at least two people in the top five, I will start questioning his coaching ability, big time.

 

Regan vs Grant- Regan's song choice felt lazy.  It was an alright performance but she's really going to have to step it up next round. Grant bombed big time and the song choice did him no favors.

 

Anita vs  Craig- Two great performances, Anita really impressed me tonight but Craig was no slouch. The new look did nothing for me but Gwen did a good coaching in a genre that she's not familiar with. I can see why Gwen picked Anita and I can also see why Blake held onto his steal.

Blakes team is different genres of country surrounding his one r and b singer. It'll be interesting to see how far Regan goes. His fan base should easily carry one of his singers to the finals.

 Gwen's team is good. I wonder if a Reggae singer can actually win.  I think Taylor is Gwen's best chance at winning.  The rest of her team seems like battle round fodder/ mid round boots. She seems like she could easily be the first coach out of the competition if she's not careful.

 

 

 

 

[limecoke]

Maybe Rebekkah didn't have a good enough "story."  Sad that she drew the short straw on the show this season and I can't really blame her for being annoyed.

 

If the lyrics aren't important, why is someone singing in the first place?  Music and lyrics work together and if you can't understand the words, there's no point in singing them.  I instantly turn off anyone who is mushy mouthed.

 

Ryan Sill has a lot of potential but someone needs to help him get rid of the Beiber movements.  Now.

Edited November 11, 2014 by limecoke