Good golly. I truly cannot decide if Duets is an entertaining show or not. I suppose being under the influence of novacaine from my dental procedure could have affected my mood tonight. I thought the numbness was going away, but this show kind of … prolonged it. Or maybe it was simply the continuing emergence of corniness from Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke that put me off. Or maybe it was a combo platter.
I told you last week that I liked it but wasn’t jumping up and down. My writing partner Michael jawed about it with me last week, and wasn’t as enthusiastic. (This week you’ll find him copiously absent. He claimed busyness with the Touch finale. However, I secretly believe he was relieved not to have to sit through the thing.)
This week’s theme was “The greatest duets of all time.” Huh. My first thought was that it’s rather early in the game to tackle such an obvious and big subject, but what do I know? Let’s see how each “superstars” team performed. …
John Legend chose “I Knew You Were Waiting” for he and fellow duetee Bridget Carrington. This was a big ole song back in the day for George Michael and Aretha.
Bridget is John’s best chance to get somewhere in this competition. She has confidence up the waz. And a great look. They play off each other quite pleasantly. S’aight so far.
But then! Drama! As John had to pick a new contestant after the ousting of Johnny Gray. Nothing was said by obnoxious host Quddus as to why Johnny was gone, but he is. And after a boring five minute package, we saw him pick Meleana Brown to replace him. The gal did mighty fine for having almost no prep time. After one performance, it’s impossible to see whether she’ll be a huge asset to him or not, though.
Robin Thicke continues to amaze us by putting the “pomp” in pompador, and proving he’s the least helpful mentor on the the panel. I mean, the guy goes on and on about teaching his “kids” (Alexis and Olivia) to get over their nerves and have more confidence. Then he completely abandons them onstage by either hiding behind a piano and not interacting with his partner at all, or by showboating his own self around the stage.
He has no idea what a duet entails. None at all. For this reason, one of his chickies are goin’ down next week when “someone” gets eliminated. Oh and the other reason one of them will go? They couldn’t sing on key if a gun was pointed at them.
Jennifer Nettles is almost as clueless as Robin. Only I believe her biggest problem is in song selection for her contestants. Why? Oh why would you choose the hokey tune “You’re the One That I Want” for your best singer?
It shows no vocal range. It’s cornier than all get out. And J Rome (again puh-leeze with the name) is possibly the best contender on this thing! What’s the matter with you Jennifer? Do you just need reasons to shake your ass for attention as you head into middle age? (Although I can relate. But there are more classy ways to get noticed, girlfriend.)
“Ain’t no Mountain High Enough” was the wrong choice for Jennifer to make with John, as well. Again; an over the top extravaganza that Kelly judged as cheesy, and I was right there with her.
Jennifer picked some strong contestants. But like Robin, she doesn’t know how to make them shine.
Kelly Clarkson, on the other hand? She seems to be all about helping her contestants to improve each time they’re out there. She offers encouragement, good advice and support. She chooses songs to display her partners without completely overshadowing or ignoring them.
The only problem is … she picked some pretty young and skittish performers in Jason and Jordan. We’ll have to see how this pans out. If Kelly can get them, both talented singers, to shake off those nerves and come out swinging.
So. There you have it.
Wait. One or two more things! What is with the premise of your fellow “superstars” voting on each others contestants to place who is in the lead? Um. How does this make sense? I’m sure they’re all giving high marks to their own “dueters” and low marks to everyone else’s. How is this fair? And why can’t the director show me the leader board for more than three milliseconds? If you blink, you miss it. Every time.
Yeesh.
What do you think? Are Jennifer and Robin setting your teeth on edge, or do you think it was just my three hour dental experience today?
Clacked by Tara Shrodes
on Jun 01, 2012 @ 07:22 EST5EDT
Not watching yet, but I’ve your posts [and Seattle Diva’s] so I may stop by.
I may have to check out some of these duets on YouTube to see what I think of your novacaine inspired opinions. As always, tho, a fun read.
LOL…love it…”SeattleDiva” :)
I think the whole other stars judging another stars Duet thing is a bit odd.
I think MAYBE it will be better when we get to vote, which I thought I heard will start in like week 6. Oh and they don’t get to vote for their own contestants. That’s what makes this weird, and Kelly shot herself in the foot when she said out of the gate that her contestants are gonna blow it out of the box….ooops, no surprise her 2 contestants were at the very bottom in week one!!!
As far as Johnny goes, we have chatted via FB, and he’s a class act, and likely under a gag order, so all he’s sayin’ is that the show was an amazing experience, and to “stay tuned” I’m hoping to get a chance to meet him here in the karaoke community, of which he is a big part of.
I don’t think they get to vote on their own contestants but I could be wrong about that. I think Jennifer and John have the 2 best contestants right now. I personally am not a fan of Jennifer not since she did that stupid song “Stuck Like Glue” and “All I wanta DOOO”. Both songs really get on my nerves and totally turned me off where she is concerned which made me sad cuz I did really like her.
I don’t think Kelley’s contestants are going to hold out maybe not even past next week. But I do believe she is good with them.
Robin is very dorky if you ask me.
Who the hell is Robin Thicke? I am a big fan of all of the singing and dancing competitions however I have tried to watch this show three times and had to turn it off every time. There isn’t any chemistry between the – is it superstars, singers, judges or what? The contestants seem really green. I thought The Voice was pretty corny but this is a nightmare! If they want to make it work they need to can Robin, Jennifer and John and hire some better mentors and bigger names who are likeable. They need to spend more time choosing and developing contestants. The viewers need to vote as soon as the contestants are chosen. They also need a more likeable host. Someone like Ryan Seacrest or Cat Deeley.