"The Voice" works. From its personality-driven coaches to its spinning chairs and battle rounds, the NBC talent show is clicking with viewers. But, the show risked that when it played around with its coaches' panel.
"I don't think we were nervous," coach Adam Levine said of the transition after Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Geen decided to take a break from the show and were replaced by Shakira and Usher.
"We were kind of curious as to how the chemistry would be," he continued. "But, I think that we're beyond happy. It's obvious when you watch the show that the chemistry is there."
Levine probably shouldn't have spoken for everyone on the panel at NBCU’s Summer Press Day in Pasadena on Monday. "I was a little nervous," country singer Blake Shelton said.
"I didn't know either of these two before and the thing is you can’t fake chemistry," he continued. "Whoever picked these two knew they weren’t working with egos and that's what makes it work."
For their part, Shakira and Usher pay respect to the show's success before they arrived. "They didn’t need us for the show to work," the R&B star said. "I was very proud of what I saw before."
“There’s something distinctive about this show,” Shakira explained. “How real it is.”
The fans have voted in favor of the show (and its recent changes) every week, which routinely registers more than 13 million viewers an episode – a figure that’s been rising as of late. "American Idol," on the other hand has been on a downward trend for several seasons now.
This past week, "Idol" attracted just under 12 million viewers and was beat by repeats of CBS's "Big Bang Theory" in the ad-coveted 18-49 demographic. But, it isn’t "The Voice's" style to kick a competitor while they’re down – they won’t even talk about "Idol" at all.
"We don’t even consider them in meetings," executive producer Mark Burnett told reporters when asked about the state of "Idol."
"And most certainly we don't talk about them in the press," Levine added.
That’s just part of what makes “The Voice” pretty classy. It can afford to be classy right now.
"'The Voice' has clearly been claimed by young America," Burnett said. "The coaches are all currently superstars. This isn’t their day job. It’s fresh, it’s now. People just love it. And people watch it in real time."
