The Voice (TV series)

The Voice is a U.S. Talent Show (based on The Voice of Holland, a Dutch talent show) with a twist. Four coaches -- Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, and Adam Levine (from Maroon 5) -- are each competing to pick out the best singers, whom they will then train to compete for the overall title ... but during the auditions, they are seated with their backs to the stage, forcing them to select solely based on ... well, the voice.

The full format of the show is as follows:


 * The Blind Auditions: Artists selected to compete in the Blind Auditions are sent on stage one-by-one to sing their chosen song, with the coaches seated backs to the stage. If, during the song, any of the coaches decides that they like what they're hearing, they can press their button, their chair will turn around, and the contestant will take a place on their team. However, if more than one coach turns around, the contestant will pick among thoses coaches whose team they want to join.
 * The Battle Rounds: After several weeks of coaching, each coach pairs up the artists on their team to sing head-to-head the same song on the same stage. They are then forced to eliminate one artist in each pair.
 * The Live Performance Round: The traditional Talent Show voting stage -- first, each team is whittled down to one contestant, and then these last four face off in the final voting round.

Season 1 ran from April 26, 2011 to June 29, 2011 with Team Adam's Javier Colon winning the debut season. Season 2 began on February 5, 2012 and ended May 8, 2012 with Team Blake's Jermaine Paul taking the win.

Does not actually involve The Voice.


 * Absolute Cleavage: Christina's dress during the Battle Rounds of Season 2. Lord. It actually made headlines.
 * Bow Ties Are Cool: Pip from Season 2.
 * Cliff Hanger: Often when a contestant has to pick between multiple coaches, they will put off revealing their choice until after the commercial break.
 * Delayed Reaction: One of the contestants auditioning for Season 2 was Tony Lucca, who was in The Mouseketeers with Christina Aguilera. She didn't recognize him until after he'd left the stage, at which point her jaw dropped and she got up out of her seat--much to the confusion of the other coaches--and ran backstage to greet him. Any grownup Mickey Mouse Club fans watching must have Squeed.
 * Right-Hand-Cat: Cee Lo Green strokes a white cat several times during the confessionals. He's his pet cat, Purrfect.
 * Taken to memetic levels with Twitter and, in the montage in the finale, when Christina says "Purrfect is the brains of Cee Lo's team."
 * Stupid Sexy Flanders: Male dancers appear to have this affect on Blake.
 * Talent Show Version: Even the full-length versions of the songs from the Blind Auditions and Battle Rounds are generally cut-down from the original tracks. At least in Season 1, however, the trope was averted for the Live Performance Round.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: The four coaches seem to have this kind of relationship on stage. Especially Adam and Blake.