S10.E16: Live Playoffs, Results

[pivot]

I'm disappointed Katie didn't go through. I think she had the most purely beautiful voice on the show, of the people who were left.

I am bummed as well. Her cover of Gypsy is the only song I've downloaded this season.

[SunnyBeBe]

I'm bummed that a vocalist like Katie goes so early.  I've seen the theories upthread of why Blake didn't save her.  But, now I don't think Blake has a good team at all.  Not to be mean, but I hope it comes back to bite him.  

[Jextella]

Mary Sarah reminds me of Diana Argon (I think that's her name) from Glee. It's actually really distracting.

Owen is my favorite, but I don't know why.

 

I like Owen a TON.  Kinda goes back to making people feel the emotion of a song ... he does that for me.  I also think that was why Nick and Daniel moved forward.  In contrast to past performances, they were able to emote - and make the audience emote along with them.

 

Reg. Own, his father's song Afternoon Delight is one of my favorite songs of all time.  I think there is a little throwback to the 70's for Owen.  That might be another reason I like him.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Jextella

[Noreaster]

I didn't see Adam as flummoxed. He wasn't estatic for sure (and quite frankly none of the coaches are supposed to look that way when their second public save is announced since it's "difficult decision" time). He was just chatting with Pharrell and while my guess is Laith was not his ideal public save, I wouldn't really read that much into it.

Anyway, the coaches all have access to the same iTunes data. Not many sales separated Laith and Owen. No way was Adam flummoxed. (Nor were any of the other coaches...iTunes was a good indicator this week).

Edited April 14, 2016 by Noreaster

[simplyme]

Re: the relative strength of Blake's team

Honestly, Blake has two singers who will probably be there for a long time if the usual voting patterns hold true. Adam is actually much better than the past several seasons' male country genre representative, and they've all made it pretty far. I think the one who went home earliest was Corey Kent White, and he made the top 8 despite being noted as a particularly weak singer. (Seemed like a genuinely nice guy, but even diehard country fans admitted he needed some work.)

Mary Sarah has the potential to be good (see her blinds) and Blake has been marketing her very consistently. He keeps talking about her being both "vintage" and yet "fresh." (I think those were the words. There are two or three words he keeps using for her, trying to drive a certain image of her.) If her song choice improves, she'll also be very difficult to dump.

Honestly, it's probably in the other contestants' best interests to hope both stay around for a while or both go home the same week so that the country music fan vote and the Blake fan vote continue to be split.

It will be interesting to see how things change once we start to get a bit more of a feel for people's personalities, too. One of the reasons the Swon Brothers made it to the finals was that a lot of people found them humorous and likeable. Same with Michelle Chamuel. So team strength isn't always just about voice...

Edited April 14, 2016 by simplyme

[Noreaster]

I don't think vote splitting is an issue early on since voters can vote for as many contestants as they like. It's more of an issue in the finals or as we get toward the later rounds when viewers have to think more about protecting their favorites. Blake has brought his entire army of country singers to the end (or close to the end) in the past. Adam also has kept his team intact pretty far into the competition a number of times.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Noreaster

[roamyn]

To me it seemed like Adam had a slight grin on his face, and he was nodding his APPROVAL wheb Laith was announced.

Also, he gave Laith a standing ovation on Tuesday night

So no way do I believe Adam was unhappy or pissed abt Laith getting America's vote. Shocked maybe. But not pissed.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Introducing The Voice's Top 12
Christina's team comes color-coordinated, but Carson comes half-asleep.

[ToxicUnicorn]

Team Pharrell: I'm happy Hannah, the surprisingly growly elementary school teacher, goes on.  I have no problem with Daniel being saved. I would have preferred listening to Moushumi or Caity more than Emily, but I am not at all surprised Pharell saved special unicorn Emily.  Even though I don't like listening to her, it's an ok decision because at least she is creative.  I think Pharrell is right if he is betting that Moushumi doesn't need his help or the exposure anymore to have a career.  I think she'll have plenty of success, and might even be better off without doing her (same) thing week after week.

 

Team Blake:  Adam (who is appealing personally in a Cole Vosbury kind of way) and Mary Sarah were no surprise.  Justin and Joe are fair eliminations.  I'm quite disappointed that Katie Basden (who sang Georgia Rain) was not chosen instead of Paxton.  Paxton hasn't registered on me.  Then again, I suppose I'm glad Blake's team is not all country.

 

I think Katie was partly a victim of being on a season that also had a Caity and a Kata.  Hard to keep track of them all.  It's only now that I realize that she is the one I liked best of the three.

 

Team Christina:  Alisan - of course.  Falsetto Nick with his adorable walking toddler?  Gosh, that toddler is cute.  I don't vote, so don't hate me, my ovaries make me think that way.  Saving Brian Bautista is fine, although I wish Tamar hadn't messed up so much this week.  She was capable of so much more.  I am not as excited about Christina's team now, though, than I was before the knock outs.

 

Team Adam:  I'll confess, one of the attractions of competitive reality for me is seeing people have a happy moment.  Laith had that kind of happy moment and I enjoyed it.  I'll bet all of Ann Arbor is voting for him furiously.  Shalyah is a fine audience choice.  And then ... Adam chose Owen over chirpy earnest New Hampshire Caroline?  I was shocked.  In any typical year, Caroline makes the cut.  However, I can imagine what she will sound like, so I'm very pleased to be able to watch Owen instead (although he needs a makeover so his look becomes more memorable).

 

Group Sings:  For me, Hey Brother is one of the most tonally unpleasant songs to emerge over the past thirty years.  I'll show myself out now.

[Sentient Meat]

Live shows always kill ratings a bit. Having more live shows makes no sense. 

Summer already has America's Got Talent, which is still a hit and has a large number of singers.

 

They didn't care about hit artists when Idol was on. If Idol comes back, how would that make Voice producers care about hit artists any more than before? The last Idol contestant to either have 3 hit songs or 2 half-mil-selling albums in the US is Jordin 9 years ago...X Factor contestants Fifth Harmony just got a third hit, but I doubt NBC execs are jealous of X Factor's success.

Why would they feel the need to compete in terms of a far, far more difficult moneymaking scheme than advertising money for the show? I don't understand the logic of your arguments, only that it's something you personally want.

 

Or maybe the live shows create a decline in ratings by halving the cast after one show... thus halving the fans? 

 

Chicken or egg... imo.

 

Even Idol's historically low ratings consistently score higher than most new shows.  The entertainment attrition from internet and cable competitions have made even a sub 1 rating show viable under certain conditions.  I get what you are saying that it might dull the appetite having too many shows but it's an empirical fact that most singing shows will perform better and be more cost effective than most scripted shows.  I accept your point that they probably don't lose much sleep over whether an artist succeeds but I don't see how a couple extra episodes will do anything other than make the network more money.  The Voice defeated Idol because it rebooted a similar show with a novel gimmick (the blind audition) as well as choosing more likeable judges/mentors.  Had Idol not arrogantly stuck to its stale boring judges and repulsive Scott Borchetta, I think it ultimately would have regained its supremacy over The Voice and part of its cachet would be the fact that they can point to Clarkson, Hudson, Lambert, Underwood, McPhee, Daughty... etc.  Do I want to see more shows?  Yes, I'll admit that... but I think my answer has some logic behind it as well.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Sentient Meat

[InfiniteMystery]

Sometimes I tweet while watching The Voice, and on looking at my timeline today, just realized Joe Maye and Mary Sarah each liked a tweet of mine. The Joe one was "After reflection/watching a few performances, I now see it's Christina who dropped @joemaye_ #mistake #thevoice #notblakesfault', and the Mary one was '@MarySarahMusic you are good! Please pick a better song next time #thevoice #teamblake'. Now I feel kind of bad for writing that about Mary even though I believe it to be true. On the other hand, I wonder if that means they agree.

[jjjmoss]

Or maybe the live shows create a decline in ratings by halving the cast after one show... thus halving the fans?

 

Except this happens with all the other notable singing shows. So no.

 

For example, last year's season of Idol from the first Wednesday episode to the last besides the finale went down 56%.

 

No "chicken" there.

Edited April 15, 2016 by jjjmoss

[Sentient Meat]

Except this happens with all the other notable singing shows. So no.

 

For example, last year's season of Idol from the first Wednesday episode to the last besides the finale went down 56%.

 

No "chicken" there.

 

I don't think it's a crazy theory that although certain fans watch the show no matter what, some only watch for specific artists.  Same with sports... they will watch the NBA until the Lakers are eliminated and then ignore the season until maybe a Game 7 final.  If you boot one person every week... you lose maybe 1 or 2% of that audience in addition to the normal attrition... maybe by the fifth week you lose 5% as the contestants are more popular the deeper you get into the show.  I get that there is decline when they go into the lives... but I also don't think it's a stretch that cutting half the artists would cause a significantly larger percentage to lose interest in the show.  Especially because they are paying these singers a minimal stipend... I can't see how it's not worth it to keep it going a few weeks longer from a business standpoint.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Sentient Meat

[roamyn]

I stopped watching after the Lives because I really had no one I particularly liked, after Keith was out.

[Noreaster]

I don't think it's a crazy theory that although certain fans watch the show no matter what, some only watch for specific artists.  Same with sports... they will watch the NBA until the Lakers are eliminated and then ignore the season until maybe a Game 7 final.  If you boot one person every week... you lose maybe 1 or 2% of that audience in addition to the normal attrition... maybe by the fifth week you lose 5% as the contestants are more popular the deeper you get into the show.  I get that there is decline when they go into the lives... but I also don't think it's a stretch that cutting half the artists would cause a significantly larger percentage to lose interest in the show.  Especially because they are paying these singers a minimal stipend... I can't see how it's not worth it to keep it going a few weeks longer from a business standpoint.

 

Actually, I can think of plenty of possible reasons why it wouldn't be worth it to keep the show going for more weeks.

 

-weak ratings outlook. Ratings always decline over the course of every season. 

-availability of coaches, the band, the crew, etc

-concerns that contestants won't be able to maintain performance quality.  Especially since the talent pools are now mainly comprised of amateurs instead of professionals.

-the network wants to air other shows

-the network no longer needs The Voice as a lead-in

-concerns that The Voice brand would be hurt by running it even longer.  They're already milking it pretty hard by running it twice a year (or 20-something weeks a year).  

 

Personally, for the seasons when I was really invested in the show (seasons 3-5), I started getting bored at the end.  Performance quality was still high, but I was getting tired of the repetitive coach commentary and I felt like I had seen enough of most of the contestants and had a good idea of what they were about.  

[Sentient Meat]

Actually, I can think of plenty of possible reasons why it wouldn't be worth it to keep the show going for more weeks.

 

-weak ratings outlook. Ratings always decline over the course of every season. 

-availability of coaches, the band, the crew, etc

-concerns that contestants won't be able to maintain performance quality.  Especially since the talent pools are now mainly comprised of amateurs instead of professionals.

-the network wants to air other shows

-the network no longer needs The Voice as a lead-in

-concerns that The Voice brand would be hurt by running it even longer.  They're already milking it pretty hard by running it twice a year (or 20-something weeks a year).  

 

Personally, for the seasons when I was really invested in the show (seasons 3-5), I started getting bored at the end.  Performance quality was still high, but I was getting tired of the repetitive coach commentary and I felt like I had seen enough of most of the contestants and had a good idea of what they were about.  

Availability of the coaches and previous network commitments are the main reasons that would make sense to me.

 

Personally I view competitive reality shows like I do sports...  some people get bored after sixteen football games per year... some people don't get bored after 162 baseball games.  I notice from watching reality shows like Survivor that there is a period where you initially have a level of strong pop culture phenomena interest that declines into a smaller but loyal hardcore fan base.  What is interesting about Survivor is that it seems to have gone through this cycle and yet settled in a place where they have a large enough regular viewing base that now behaves in a way more analogous to sports than scripted TV, so I'm not sure if burnout works as it would with other shows.  (Most people don't question if they should have another NFL, NBA or MLB season)  I do agree however with your comment about the repetitive judges remarks... even though I like the Voice judges in general... I fast forward through their predictably upbeat comments that sound like a self improvement seminar.  The key to the long term success of these shows is if they can maintain and even grow the hardcore fan base like Survivor rather than worry about the fickle flavor of the month viewers looking for something new and exciting every season.

[jjjmoss]

Survivor doesn't grow. S8 is the last one that wasn't down from the year-ago season.

[Noreaster]

Availability of the coaches and previous network commitments are the main reasons that would make sense to me.

 

Personally I view competitive reality shows like I do sports...  some people get bored after sixteen football games per year... some people don't get bored after 162 baseball games.  I notice from watching reality shows like Survivor that there is a period where you initially have a level of strong pop culture phenomena interest that declines into a smaller but loyal hardcore fan base.  What is interesting about Survivor is that it seems to have gone through this cycle and yet settled in a place where they have a large enough regular viewing base that now behaves in a way more analogous to sports than scripted TV, so I'm not sure if burnout works as it would with other shows.  (Most people don't question if they should have another NFL, NBA or MLB season)  I do agree however with your comment about the repetitive judges remarks... even though I like the Voice judges in general... I fast forward through their predictably upbeat comments that sound like a self improvement seminar.  The key to the long term success of these shows is if they can maintain and even grow the hardcore fan base like Survivor rather than worry about the fickle flavor of the month viewers looking for something new and exciting every season.

I don't think the show can really grow the hardcore fan base.  The outlook for reality singing shows is just not good.  Other shows like American Idol and The X Factor have been cancelled.  Ratings for The Voice continue to fall each season.  Not to mention, network TV is facing challenges from competing platforms like cable TV and streaming services.  

 

My guess is the show is focused on holding on to that "fickle" casual viewer base.  To its credit, we see the show implement format changes and twists each season that are probably intended to do just that.  And to your earlier point about keeping contestants around longer so that viewers can get more invested, maybe that is the reason why the show switched to single eliminations last season instead of doing double eliminations like before. (Do we know what they're doing this season by the way?)  

 

The analogy to sports is interesting but I'm not sure it works.  Reality shows are not really true competitions.  There's a lot that is scripted. More so in the taped rounds but also in these live rounds.  Each contestant has a narrative that is drilled into viewers' heads each week through the pretaped packaged bits, Carson's introductions (the youngest contestant, the mailman, the single dad, etc), and the coach commentary. Also, unlike in sports, there's a great deal more subjectivity in judging. Judging that was first in the coaches' hands and is now completely in the public's hands.  Both of which have become kind of predictable and one reason why I've become less excited about the show (the other big reason is the declining talent level).  I'm actually looking forward to the coaching changes next season and what the two new coaches might bring to the table.  

[Duke Silver]

[snip]

Nice to see Javier Colon is alive and kicking. I would've liked to have heard him sing over St. Jordan Smith.

 

So much this...

 

Mary Sarah has been very disappointing; I was really interested in her after BA, but I'm not so invested that I can't she that she has failed to deliver the goods since then.

[Mreid]

Are they doing that stupid voice instant Twitter save this season?

[DarkRaichu]

Are they doing that stupid voice instant Twitter save this season?

They proudly highlight that fact on the promo for this week's shows