The Voice

Seasons 3 & 4

Editor

The Voice is the world’s ultimate singing competition show. Its genius is: not only does it spotlight fresh new talent for America to root for, but it also has a parallel competition between the celebrity coaches. The coaches, each a legendary recording artist, jockey against one another to build the most talented team.

The term “reality” is often loosely applied in television. Many shows can be filled with artificial drama as insignificant as “who just left the refrigerator open?!” With The Voice, there was no need to exaggerate the moment. Instead the mission was to capture that emotion for the viewer, while simultaneously reducing hours of time into mere seconds. This magic trick must also be invisible to the audience.

The Voice was also a rewarding show to work on because of the cultural phenomenon it became while I was working on it. The Voice was airing twice a week, and both episodes were routinely in the top ten shows by viewership. Needless to say, it was a smash hit for NBC. That also meant that, like the eye of Sauron, NBC was always watching. Their executives were always ready to stir things up by restructuring the episodes at a moment’s notice.

Luckily, the team thrived under the pressure of tight deadlines and even tighter expectations. Personally, I worked on nearly all aspects of the show, including blind auditions, battle and knockout competitions, background packages, coach deliberations, mentoring sessions, rehearsals and teases.