The Grassy Knoll: The Voice Conspiracy Thread

[Lily Adler]

When it's not the coaches throwing people under the bus, it's the producers' shady practices. From mic malfunctions to horrible placements, what have you noticed that goes on that seems rather peculiar?

Edited May 7, 2014 by Lily Adler

[nbsmom]

Other than the pretty blatant pimping they've done with the Grimmie and the outright sabotage of Kristen, you mean? One thing I can't help but notice is by this point during S4, I had heard so much more from contestants (like Holly!) by now. With Kristen, they can't even give her a whole song without futzing with something.  And it doesn't help that they added the sing for your life thing on the results show, because West Coast again is left out and we're stuck with Twitter voting based on a Monday live performance. Something else: noting the commercials as I was flipping through the show, it did occur to me that one of the underwriters of the Voice Tour—Clear shampoo—has a vested interest in making sure that at least one of the finalists from this season also has long shiny hair...not good news for Jake or Josh or Kristen...

[Lily Adler]

Sponsor sabotage? Interesting. I remember the rumors when Jermaine Paul won Season 2, the producers and execs over at NBC were unhappy with the results and wanted Juliet or Tony to win that season.

[Lily Adler]

The reintroduction of the Twitter Save for the SEMI-FINALS is an obvious ploy to insure Grimmie gets a spot on the top 3 regardless she deserves it or not. If Kristen is robbed of her spot-according to iTunes she's most likely in the top 3-count me out of the finale.

[kj4ever]

The reintroduction of the Twitter Save for the SEMI-FINALS is an obvious ploy to insure Grimmie gets a spot on the top 3 regardless she deserves it or not. If Kristen is robbed of her spot-according to iTunes she's most likely in the top 3-count me out of the finale.

ITA, this is just ridiculous.  Blossom had a horrible night last night and it totally shows in the iTunes.  For them to have the Twitter save this year when they didn't last year is SO blatantly obvious.  That girl has had sketchy performances all season and was saved time and time again.

[MissScarlett]

ITA, this is just ridiculous.  Blossom had a horrible night last night and it totally shows in the iTunes.  For them to have the Twitter save this year when they didn't last year is SO blatantly obvious.  That girl has had sketchy performances all season and was saved time and time again.

 

That is what I don't understand.  Why the constant changing of rules every season?  It becomes exhausting to follow after awhile.  I also hate that we have to get through 2 battle rounds and then another "battle" type of round before the live rounds.  One of my Idol peeves was that the audition process was too long.

 

I read somewhere that the NBC execs were not happy with the Jermaine Paul season 2 win and wanted either Tony or Juliet to win.  I wonder if the constant rule change is so that they can make sure the person they want to win will win?

[Lily Adler]

So I didn't hallucinate that article. =)

 

I think a permanent format needs to be in place, it's apparent that the Blinds, BRs, Playoffs, and Live Shows will remain mainstays for the show's format. In my personal opinion, we should bring back the Knockout Rounds and re-label them as the Battle Rounds, have the Playoffs consist of 16 contestants where the coaches eliminate 1 person from their teams and then the Live Shows keep it a 2 person elimination, NOT THREE, and I know Twitter now counts as ratings, so I guess keep the Twitter Save, but only until the Semi-Finals which is a FINAL FOUR, and then the Finals which is the last TWO standing.

[kj4ever]

So now people couldn't find Josh's song, then it went up after half the voting was done with no preview.  They really are taking this Amy Farrah Fowler's kid sister must win stuff to far.

 

I tried to vote by phone for Josh for an hour and it was busy.  I could see them jacking up the phone lines too since Blossom would get most of her votes through the Internet.  Hopefully just a ton of people were voting for Josh.

 

If they don't throw the iTunes votes out it is some serious BS.

Edited May 20, 2014 by kj4ever

[leighdear]

At least Kristin is going on the live tour next month.  

 

Maybe she & Josh can arrange for Blossom to have an...er....uh....accident.  Because it's just like Miss America, right?  If the winner can't fulfil her obligations, the runner-up wins.  So hopefully Josh will eventually be Miss America!   *LOL*

[Lily Adler]

Well I didn't watch because of the Grimmie's presence but it sounds like another "technical glitch". I just learned in the final performances thread that an ex-Idol producer is running the show along since last season. I wonder if he has influenced the show for the worse?

[photo fox]

Slightly OT, but why do y'all call her "Blossom"?  Admittedly I've watched almost no episodes this season, but I'm not getting it.  :)

[Lily Adler]

Is it the nose?

 

Edited May 21, 2014 by Lily Adler

[kj4ever]

Nose and the smile.  They had a pic of her in some article I saw from when she was a little younger and she looked just like that Blossom pic you posted!

[viajero]

While I don't dispute that Josh deserved to win this season, I suspect that the producers got exactly what they wanted.  A victory for Team Usher to break the Adam-Blake monopoly.  I began to wonder going all the way back to the Delvin-Josh battle.  It just didn't make sense that Adam would match those two together, let along pick Delvin.   I've always suspected that Adam purposefully gifted Sasha to either Shakira or Usher and couldn't help but wonder if this was more of the same. 

 

But the clincher for me is that Josh got to close the show in more than half the episodes in which he performed (5 out of 9).  This is more than twice as often as the next best (Sisaundra and Christina with two each).

 

Of course it helped that Adam once again managed to sabotage pretty much his entire team (whether purposefully or not).  This led of course to the twitter save fiasco, which pretty much guaranteed that Christina could not win even if she was the best performer in the final (which I thought she was, though only marginally).  I'm still not convinced she would not have made it through anyway just on the votes.  If her two worst performances of the season summed together could outsell Kristen's two better performances (which they did), then there is a more than decent chance that she could have pulled it off in the voting, 5x bonuses or not.  It was pretty much the exact same scenario as in the Season 4 semifinals when Michelle went though instead of Amber.

 

It's a pity because Josh probably could have won anyway, despite having his worse night in the final.  But it certainly helps when the deck was stacked in his favor.

Edited May 23, 2014 by viajero

[kj4ever]

I don't think going last helped Josh all that much. Most of his lasts were before lives. Christina' s lasts were during lives and had as many as Josh and Jake put together.

[viajero]

Josh had two last performances during the lives (Top 12 & Final), compared to one each for Christina (Top 8) and Jake (Top 5). Sisaundra sang last at Top 10.

[kj4ever]

Josh had two last performances during the lives (Top 12 & Final), compared to one each for Christina (Top 8) and Jake (Top 5). Sisaundra sang last at Top 10.

Christina was last performance for 2 out of the last five shows.  Weeks 3 & 4.  I was mistaken with Josh though, he had the last performance with his Adele song.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voice_(U.S._season_6)

[Noreaster]

No, Jake was last in Week 4 of the lives.  Not Christina.  

[aradia22]

I'm still catching up on the battle rounds and I swear, the guys are tricking Shakira. I think they did it a little in the audition rounds but there was less room for it as they were mainly concentrating on getting their acts. But I definitely feel like they're steering her wrong when it comes to which of the acts to pick (when it isn't obvious). Of course, Shakira is screwing up on her own with her steadfast commitment to Dani. Why, Shakira? Why?

[viajero]

Dani did have a great performance at Top 20, but I still think Clarissa might have lasted longer.

[mercfan3]

Yea, and I also don't buy Adam gifting contestants to other coaches. He's far too competitive for that. The problem with Adam is that he gets a lot of talent..meaning he's got to put two really talented people together. At that point in time, I believe all the coaches thought Delvin was the better pick in the lives..(If you watch Usher during that performance, you could tell he actually really wanted Delvin.) 

 

And Josh's pimp spots didn't help him at all. They don't matter unless it's a live round. He got one pimp spot performance before the lives, and actually competed in the first hour of the show at least twice (I would say three times)..and still dominated itunes. 

 

He's not one of my favorites, but like Tessanne..he was simply the best contestant there..and it showed during The Lives.

 

I do think the show was going for an Usher win. But they weren't going for Josh, they were going for Bria. And then she just choked in the live rounds. 

[kj4ever]

So ok I've heard two conspiracies so far this season.

 

1.  Blake was doing the turning around at the last minute thing so that Her Highness didn't have a team full of one chair turns.

 

2. They are totally underplaying people so that Christina/Alisan win this year.

 

Thoughts?

[Keekski]

Yeah, it appears Alisan (dislike that spelling) is the anointed one this year. BORING. I mean, Adam even said it "She's this year's Jordan Smith." I usually bow out after  lives anyway.

[DarkRaichu]

So ok I've heard two conspiracies so far this season.

 

1.  Blake was doing the turning around at the last minute thing so that Her Highness didn't have a team full of one chair turns.

 

2. They are totally underplaying people so that Christina/Alisan win this year.

 

Thoughts?

1. Without going to conspiracy land, I think that was a smart move just because it changed the dynamic of the show and kept the focus away from Adam/Blake bromance.  This made Xtina turn on her "diva mode" which kept the show fresh and interesting. 

 

2. It was so obvious they wanted / setup for a female coach win since Shakira's season, could this be called a conspiracy anymore? :D

[Oscirus]

It does fill mighty convenient that Moushmi and Owen who should at least be darkhorses got montaged.

[viajero]

While Alison is certainly getting hyped and they do keep mentioning that a female coach has never won, I suspect that what they are mostly after is to create a lot of buzz about one of the contestants in an effort to increase ratings and iTunes downloads.  Among this season's contestants, Alison does seem to most likely choice for creating this kind of buzz because of her backstory and the fact that she is an accomplished vocalist.

 

I don't think montaging means much.  There are too many people from past seasons who were montaged in the battles who ended up getting all the way to the semifinals or finals.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Yes. Cassaddee (among other frontrunners) survived a montage. And I've been listening to Lyndsey Parker and Jeffrey Austin from last season on their Yahoo recap shows, and Jeffrey said getting montaged (on a battle performance that he admitted just didn't work between he and his opponent) might have been the best thing for him since he was coming off only getting Gwen to turn for him in the blinds.

 

Looking at each coach's team I felt like Xtina's team for the KOs almost broke into 4 natural pairings (Alisan/Kata, Bryan/Joe, Maya/Tamar, and Daniel/Trey)....so seeing Alisan paired up with Daniel in the previews was a little bit surprising. 

 

The Alisan hype train is frustrating. Sawyer was anointed from the very beginning as was Jordan the last two seasons. And they instantly turned into Itunes juggernauts making it really hard to see either of them losing at any point of their seasons. I guess we're going to be subjected to that for yet another go round...

[kj4ever]

Yes. Cassaddee (among other frontrunners) survived a montage. And I've been listening to Lyndsey Parker and Jeffrey Austin from last season on their Yahoo recap shows, and Jeffrey said getting montaged (on a battle performance that he admitted just didn't work between he and his opponent) might have been the best thing for him since he was coming off only getting Gwen to turn for him in the blinds.

 

Looking at each coach's team I felt like Xtina's team for the KOs almost broke into 4 natural pairings (Alisan/Kata, Bryan/Joe, Maya/Tamar, and Daniel/Trey)....so seeing Alisan paired up with Daniel in the previews was a little bit surprising. 

 

The Alisan hype train is frustrating. Sawyer was anointed from the very beginning as was Jordan the last two seasons. And they instantly turned into Itunes juggernauts making it really hard to see either of them losing at any point of their seasons. I guess we're going to be subjected to that for yet another go round...

 

Eh we will see.  'Merica doesn't like the people that already had a shot or were professionals.  That could come back to bite Alisan in the (_|_).  I know it's not Idol and The Voice happily takes people that have experience in the industry, but from a narrative point of view most people want to see someone that came from nowhere to win.

 

Sawyer and Jordan back to back were tedious.  I didn't even get through the whole season last year because I just got bored.  I hope that doesn't happen this year.

[Cramps]

Am I the only one who finds anointed Alisan super annoying? Like fingers on a blackboard?