5 Ways To Tune Up The Voice
The Voice Season 16 Live Cross Battles Julian King Kalvin Jarvis
2. Reinstate the Knockouts.
Here's the thing about experiments: Sometimes they fail. It's not the end of the world. You live, you learn, you move on. Right? So, since viewers disliked Season 16's new Live Cross Battles round as much as Adam Levine is said to have, the show should just cut its losses in Season 17 and bring back the Knockouts that sent each coach to the Playoffs with a team of the same size.
The Voice John Legend Kelly Clarkson Season 16
3. Unmuzzle the coaches.
We like that The Voice maintains a positive tone. And we aren't advocating for the kind of nastiness that characterized Simon Cowell's American Idol run. However, it does a disservice to The Voice's contestants when the coaches refuse to offer constructive criticism, even after a dodgy performance. During Season 16, they came as close to candor as we'd ever seen; in Season 17, we'd like them to go all in.
The Voice Carter Lloyd Horne Season 16
4. Stop shortchanging contestants.
Granted, there have been times when we've wanted performances to be edited down. Even Carter Lloyd Horne probably wished the show hadn't aired his disastrous swan song in its entirety. But in general, we'd prefer to see/hear performances in full, even if that means abbreviating the contestants' personal stories. (Besides, it isn't like we won't be hearing those same stories every week until the singer's eliminated.)
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5. Lose The Comeback Stage.
The Voice improved its digital companion series in Season 16 by populating it with not only singers who failed to get a chair turn during the Blind Auditions but singers who made it onto the show, only to be eliminated in the Battles or Cross Battles. But the thing is, we still didn't much care. In Season 15, Lynnea Moorer lasted only two weeks in competition, and in Season 16, LB Crew lasted just one.
the-voice-block
1. Dump the Block.
Since that damn button was installed in Season 14, we've been saying it, and we'll keep right on saying it until it's removed: The Block has got to go. Sure, it's fun to watch it dawn on a coach that they've been prevented from recruiting a Blind Auditioner that impressed them. But it's significantly less fun to watch a singer realize that, because of this boneheaded feature, they might not be able to work with the coach they'd otherwise choose.