The Voice

To state the obvious, they're all past their sell by dates, X Factor, The Voice, Got Talent, Idols' etc,, the judges are in it to promote themselves and no more so than will.I.AM, the contestants can't get on unless they provide a back story and the winning acts are forgotten less than a month after millions people have voted for them, as the bottom line is just that, money. Is there any 'pop' music talents show out there that is really just all about the music? if there is it makes no money as businessmen like Cowell and Fuller would never discard a Cash Cow for the sake of credibility though so they're here to stay. The idol franchise itself has been going strong 13 years.

What some don't realise is that on these talent shows (mostly x factor/idol), the judges are not locked in a studio for days and days on end during auditions,they only see the vetted one's, as contestants can't just  rock up in front of them on the day and start singing, they have to go through other sets of judges off camera in the months leading up to it, to see if they fit the shows criteria, 1)a sob story, 2)can be controlled?, 3) and/or an amazingly good voice or an amazingly bad one - no inbetweeners, that's not television. If you're too talented you wont get on as you're not allowed to be bigger than the show, the ultimate cardinal sin is telling the producers you write your own songs, you can get away with saying you strum the guitar a bit though. You have to sign a contract that if you make the show and are voted off and not signed up by Cowell's record company, you can't release any music after with another label for the next 12 months, no pre contract = no first audition, Syco want to fully capitalise on the winners short lived earning potential without having to compete with the other temporarily popular acts, one of many way they control the music industry. There is nothing spontaneous about the whole process, it's all pre-empted stuff, Cowell knows the background of every act that makes it on stage and acts accordingly.

Established music icons such as Elton John wouldn't have made it through the first round should he have made the first round at all. If that's not a sad indictment on talent shows today I don't know what is.

Can't take shows like this seriously.

MONEY MONEY MONEY.

Agreed, very well put sh!

excuse the typo,s

Used to work with a guy about six years ago, whose best mate was on X-Factor and got down to the last five or six.  He was a household name during that period and consequently well known at the time amongst the tabloids and sorts that watch this type of programme.  If I told you who he was, you may remember him, and he'd certainly be on YouTube (I won't do that obviously). As it happened, his old man was became very ill and was clearly on his way out; he had to work incredibly hard to keep it from the show's producers because he didn't want it becoming public knowledge.  Eventually, his old man died and he couldn't keep it quiet, as he was having to spend time with his family rather than fulfil some of the show's off-screen obligations, and he basically "volunteered" to get voted out, rather than have the producers make a big deal over his private grief.  There was no way they would have allowed him to carry on, without turning it into a marketable sob story.  Utter kants the lot of them.

Come to think of it, I should have laid him in the betting and made a few quid

Imagine if a young Bob Dylan appeared on The Voice, would any of them have turned round ?!!  And that Will-I-Am talks some cr@p !

what, you mean you don't enjoy the shoutey boxing ring bit ?

I like the boxing bit, the rest is bolocks.

If she'd slid onto that floor in front of me in my youth I'd have been on her like a dog on a sausage.

swing your pants tribute act on tonight

or was it Mulligan and O'Hare?

http://youtu.be/6T8FGN0lNLs

Irish version way better.

Rachel Stevens and Una Healy judges

A few years ago they did Fame Academy - the best of these awful succession of get famous quick programmes.

Contestants then were encouraged to play instruments and write their own songs. Definitely better than today's karaoke shows for people with a sob story.

The sort of programme that you watch only once.