COMM 1301
Professor Houk
November 20, 12
NBC’s The Voice Steering away from the belief that you have to look good in order to be noticed in today’s music industry is NBC’s Reality Talent Show, The Voice. The primetime series has proven to be a hit for the NBC network. Its current third season has expanded to two-hour live shows, 7 pm – 9 pm central time, airing three times a week. According to Nielson Media Research, The Voice has continued to sweep on average, 12 million viewers, allowing NBC to win Monday night ratings since its premiere. By analyzing three episodes of The Voice, I get further insight on the show’s success at targeting mass audiences beyond its intended purpose to offer entertainment.
The three episodes I watched all came from the first stage of the competition the “blind auditions”. During the blind auditions, the contestants perform their auditions, blindly. Furthermore, they sing behind a row of four red leather chairs that seat what seems like four judges in other talent reality shows are termed coaches on the Voice. The coaches consist of these musicians: Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Cee Lo Green, all catering to different music genres. The purpose of having the coaches initially facing away the contestant and towards the live audience is for the contestants to be judged solely on their voices undermining any possible stereotypes or judgments to be made. Continuing on, when the coaches hear an ear worthy voice, they will slam their red button, which triggers the chairs to swivel around for the coach to face the beholder of the voice. Besides the audition process, the show shot and filmed a backstory to each contestant, which is played on TV prior to him or her hitting the stage. In these clips, the contestants briefly introduce themselves, talk about their life, and the struggles they had to overcome that reflected their decision to audition for the show.
During the first episode of the blind
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