NBC
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I am, and this should be known early, a staunch ‘American Idol’ supporter. While I do believe improvements can be made in any arena, I still have a soft spot for where this whole genre got started. ‘American Idol’ created the template and all the rest of these shows have followed suit. I will say, however, with the emergence of ‘The Voice,’ ‘Idol’ is starting to feel a bit stagnant at least in the audition rounds. This fact is certainly exacerbated by the fact that the shows are running at the same time, but ‘The Voice’ is absolutely nailing these early rounds making them must watch television, while ‘Idol’’s audition rounds, now more than ever, feel like highly skippable television. Once we get into the meat of these shows, I do expect ‘Idol’ to bounce back and reclaim it’s throne, but for right now, I’m enjoying ‘The Voice’ much, much more.

‘The Voice:’ There were some generally unpleasant ‘Voice’ auditions this week, most notably the guy who did a Bruno Mars-y version of “Free Fallin’” which is a sin I can never forgive. In fact a Bruno Mars-y version of anything should be put on the outlawed list. Likewise if it’s a Bruno Mars song, which we were also treated to forced to sit through tonight. I was also not a fan of Tony Vincent, the contestant who dropped so many names they were piling up to his knees, but he’s through and on Team Cee-Lo, so we haven’t seen the last of him.
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There were, however, some excellent performances as well and they included two early favorites in Charlotte Sometimes – who has a record out called ‘Waves and the Both of Us’ which was one of my favorite records released in 2008, so essentially she’s this year’s Dia Frampton – and a young girl named Mathia whose parents want her to be a doctor. Mathia was praised for sounding like no one else Blake or Adam had ever heard and my only problem with this sentiment is that not only does she sound like someone we’ve heard before, that person just won a boat load of Grammy’s and is the most popular singer in the world. Saying someone sings like Adele is certainly not a diss – especially when the contestant in question is actually singing Adele – but let’s not go acting like we haven’t heard this tone before either.

‘The Voice’ also treated us to their version of Josh Krajcik, only this time making sandwiches is the thankless job instead of burritos. So, watch out for that guy y’all. Carson Daly’s former guitar player made Team Cee-Lo, but he’s a bit milquetoast for me although his baby is super cute. All in all, ‘The Voice’ was a fun and entertaining way to spend a few hours.
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‘American Idol:’ ‘Idol’ promised a little bit of change to it’s Hollywood Week Month precedings that I was looking forward to. The contestants would sing one more time for the judges before they make their Top 24 decisions, only we didn’t get an opportunity to really see said performances in full, instead we got quick snippets. Now, seeing the whole song would have probably ballooned this into four episodes instead of two, but it would have been more singing, less backstory and I would have been ok with that.
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FOX
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BUT on the plus side, Idol has revealed it’s Top 24 and it’s pretty much who you figured it would be, so it was a touch anticlimactic, but let’s arbitrarily make some assumptions about some of those who I think will make the Top 12.
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Adam Brock: Early Favorite. Fans are gonna eat this guy’s schtick up, but he’ll have a Gokey-like fall from grace and be eliminated right before Top 4.
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Erika Van Pelt: America, meet this year’s Haley Reinhart. She will be J.Lo’s punching bag, but she’ll tough it out for a while, but ultimately miss the finale.
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HeeJun Han: America will love this guy, but he won’t be able to hack it for the long haul and will be a surprise early dismissal.
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Jessica Sanchez: She won’t win, but she WILL be one of the more talked about contestants on the show. She’ll be a success.
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Hollie Cavanaugh: High quirk factor never does well. She makes the Top 12 only to be the first person eliminated.
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Jen Hirsch: She’s got a shot. She’s a great singer and she’s got a good personality. She sings as well as Pia Toscano, but has the charisma to back it up. Final Two alongside…
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Phil Phillips: Who will win. For whatever reason, women don’t win ‘American Idol’ anymore, so enter Phil Phillips. Dreamy enough for the young ladies, talented enough for their moms!
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Everyone else, I’m still a bit foggy on, but I am looking forward to taking the ride once again and even though I always say I won’t fall for a contestant, I probably will, so Erika Van Pelt, get ready. We’re gonna take this ride together.