2011 saw the launch of two new American singing reality series bidding to overthrow the current ratings juggernaut, American Idol. Neither have come close to achieving that ambitious goal, but both have had a fair amount of critical acclaim. The first was The Voice, which concluded in June of this year and the second is the currently running X Factor USA.
Whilst you might already be watching X Factor USA, few people seem to be aware that The Voice is also currently showing on South African television. In fact on the South African television: SABC3. And yes, if you have seen it, you may be forgiven for thinking the show is five years old, because the disturbingly grainy and visually dated version of the show on view certainly looks that way.
There are four judges, Adam Levine from Maroon 5, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green and the alleged country music star Blake Shelton. (Who is Cee Lo Green, you might ask? Those in the know would recognise him as the cat from the duo Gnarles Barkley. Shame on you if like me you actually though he WAS Gnarles Barkley...) Unlike X Factor, the judges are not just mentors, but also voice coaches. Which is maybe a stretch for the likes of Adam Levine, but hey, he is pretty and charming enough to make for good television. At the very least he could teach his charges how to pretend to be a singer as well. Which is certainly a talent on its own.
The premise of the show is annoyingly complex. There are three rounds: A blind round, where the judges choose their teams based purely on their voices; the battle phase, where the contestants sing duets against each other and beat each other senseless with microphones (slight dramatic licence there); and the final live performances, which is similar to what we see on all reality singing competitions, except that the weighting of the viewers votes has been reduced to only 50%.
Despite all the different rules and complexities, it’s pretty much the same old reality singing competition in a different package. So it is debatable whether two of these shows can really run concurrently on South African television without one suffering. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be giving The Voice a try. Cee Lo Green’s ridiculous Dalai Lama inspired outfits alone might be worth it.
The Voice airs on SABC3 on Wednesdays at 20h00
