'Reality Check': The Magic of Caroline Pennell, and the Failure of 'X Factor' Mentors
TVLine.com's Michael Slezak returns with American Idol Season 6 finalist Melinda Doolittle for an all-new episode of Reality Check, dissecting the week in reality singing competitions.
This week’s episode covers the highs and lows of The Voice Knockout Rounds, including the biggest surprises and greatest disappointments. The pair also discusses the outstanding Caroline Pennell (who may or may not be a wizard of some sort), and the remarkable battle between Will Champlin and Matthew Schuler. Lastly, the hosts talk about the sorry excuse for mentoring that the judges on The X Factor USA have been doing. It's another great episode! Watch out the full video below via TVLine.com:
Credit: TVLine.com
Oh, Caroline Pennell -- she with the Voice of Honey, whose every note is trailed by a magical fairy, flatulent with pixie dust. I couldn't possibly agree more with Michael and Melinda about the inability to picture a final three without her in it. But I also agreed with them about their assessment of the Matthew Schuler/Will Champlin battle, as I absolutely adored Will's take on "When I Was Your Man," which I genuinely enjoyed more than the original.
With that said, The X Factor USA has far more problems than just the mentors forgetting their contestants' names (if they ever knew them in the first place). There seems to be a complete disconnect between mentor and act, and I'm not entirely sure how that can be salvaged other than to go full-Scherzinger and make mentoring your contestant your entire life. You'd never know Nicole Scherzinger has other stuff going on from how much time she spends with her contestants outside of The X Factor UK. Of course, I'm not sure how willing any judge is to put in the necessary work to really mentor their act, and until they get serious about mentorship, The X Factor USA's formula will remain broken.
What do you think? Are The X Factor judges doing a lousy job? And who are the real contenders for The Voice Season 5? Who are some of the dark horse possibilities? Sound off in the comments!