No "Voice" or "X Factor" has yet to take off yet on the charts, although there have been several alums of the UK version of "X Factor" that have done very well here and in the UK, with the boy band One Direction the biggest example (although Leona Lewis and Cher Lloyd have also scored).. But I also find it interesting that almost every live show week Carson the Tool has been rattling off all of those iTunes chart positions for the singers in a way that I never heard from Seacrest during "Idol"'s relationship with iTunes. However, it's obvious that Cassadee, Terry and Nicholas are going to have to strike while the iron's hot--and even though CHR radio has not been so dance/hip-hop centric lately, I don't see Nicholas being played on those stations any time soon.
The difference between ABC then and NBC now is that NBC has learned from ABC's mistakes and has used "The Voice" as a way to expose the scripted programming, all the way to Monday's night preview of "1600 Penn" (which I think has more promise than Marousek thought, although I understand his problems with Josh Gad's character--but he's the co-creator) coming out of the show, while ABC never used "Millionaire"'s potential for a halo effect. However, I'm still puzzled why NBC is giving "Smash" a six-week head start on "The Voice"--that show needs protection and "The Biggest Loser," even with Jillian Michaels back, isn't it. Mark Jeffries Saints Spotlight Editor [email protected] On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 1:16 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > I am not proud of it, but my current dirtiest TV secret is that I have > been watching all three of the major singing completion shows for the last > three years or so. I don’t want to try to justify this viewing choice (I > have a few lame rationalizations); but I am interested in learning if there > is any perceived difference among these programs, either in terms of which > is more entertaining to watch, or which produces the best singers. > > I think I might actually enjoy watching The Voice the most – and God help > me, it is probably because two of the judges have just won me over with > their likability. I had never head of Blake Shelton before the show began, > and figured he was just the resident country singer (a style of music I do > not enjoy and am not familiar with). He has turned out to be (or at least > seem to be) genuinely genuine (not the kind of fake genuine that a lot of > people go for on TV), and aside from his genre, he just has a really nice > voice. I was familiar with Maroon 5 but not a huge fan of their music, but > it turns out I kind of like Adam Levine. Cee Low is about as obnoxious as I > would have imagined, but he has a better voice than I thought he did. The > other one is even more obnoxious than I thought she would be, has a good > voice, but uses it in about as obnoxious a way as I thought she would. > > I go into some detail, because even though I like watching that show the > best, I am not sure that it produces the best singers. I certainly did not > like the woman who won last night (I did like the guy who came in 2nd), but > then I did not like Carrie Underwood the year she won Idol, and she has > done okay. But just based on later success it seems like I have seen > American Idol winners and even losers appear in other high profile venues > after doing AI, and several appear to have sold lots of “records” and > concert tickets, while I don’t think I have seen anyone who appeared on > X-Factor last year, or the two previous editions of The Voice, anywhere. > Could it be that the appeal of The Voice (and X-Factor, which clearly seems > to be the least entertaining of the three to watch) is more in the > personalities of the celebrities who do the judging/coaching, overshadowing > the singers a bit, while Idol for all its flaws still puts the spotlight on > the singers? While I don’t remember any of the contestants on Idol from > last season right this minute, I think while I was watching the program I > did know their names, while with the other two shows I tend to not even > really learn the singer’s names that much, and think of them in terms of > their relationship to their coach. Of course it may just be that The Voice > and X Factor alums are very successful, just in places that I am too old to > register. > > A quick glimpse at the ratings suggests a more obvious reason why the AI > singers seem (at least from my limited glimpse at the pop music world) to > be doing better; for all the gnashing of teeth over Idol, it still gets > much higher ratings than the other two – its Finale attracted about 50% > more viewers as the most recent finales of the other two combined, and did > as well in the demo as the other two combined (we will see how X-Factor > does tomorrow): > > 18-49 rating Total Viewers (million) > AI Spring 2012 Finale: 6.1 20.71 > The Voice Fall 2012 Finale 2.4 8.07 > X-Factor Fall 2011 Finale 3.8 4.89 > > *I had to get these numbers from two different sources, but I think they > are comparable. To be fair, I probably should go back and find The Voice > numbers from last spring, when it was competing head to head with AI as > opposed to the weaker X Factor. > > Add: The Voice. I know it is fashionable to criticize NBC for > over-exposing The Voice, invoking ABC’s problems with WWTBAM, but I have > always disagreed. NBC was just dead, almost ceasing to exist as a real > national television network, at least during primetime. The Voice, along > with Sunday Night Football, has enabled them to get off the mat. Even if it > were true that The Voice could have a 10 year+ career if it were kept to > once a year, I think it would be more than worth it to NBC to ride that > horse for only 4 years twice a year if it allows them to come back from the > dead. The difference is that back in the day ABC seemed to almost go to > sleep at the switch, thinking it might never have to develop another > scripted program again, and had nothing to fall back on when the crash > came. NBC, I assume is working hard to develop scripted and other programs > to take advantage of this reprieve – they may fail of course, but if they > do it will be because they were not able to develop popular programing, not > because they over-exposed The Voice. > > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
