The Voice takes on American Idol

Here's an excerpt from Shirley Halperin's backgrounder on NBC's The Voice in The Hollywood Reporter.

Will the show live up to expectations? I hope so!

I watched the Mark Burnett-produced Rock Star on CBS for two seasons and I enjoyed it, so I wouldn't be surprised if I liked this show too (even if the ratings are not stellar). Hopefully you guys will join me on April 26 and the rest of the 13 week run of this show. I think it's going to be great!

From Hollywood Reporter:

"The Voice is looking for individual singers that are ARTISTS, preferably no singer-songwriters or divas," read an e-mail from a Voice scout in January, as the team was setting up one-on-one appointments. "We got plenty of both, so that didn’t work," Burnett scoffs.

But though the show’s producers and stars are making every effort to differentiate Voice from Idol, mainly emphasizing its format — auditions where the coaches can’t see the singer; who advances is based purely on their singing voice — it’s not cowering from the primetime powerhouse, either. Declared Daly during Voice’s first press conference: "The level of talent is leaps and bounds beyond the winners of any other competition show."

Even if that talent pool includes a former Idol semifinalist. Burnett confirms that Season 2’s Frenchie Davis, who has starred on Broadway since her Idol disqualification for racy photos in 2003, made it past the first round with Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” as did an alumnus of CBS’ short-lived Rock Star, another Burnett vehicle. "It’s a meritocracy," Burnett says. "It doesn’t matter where you came from. If you won American Idol and you wanted to try this, too, you could."