UPDATE: Duets has been cancelled: http://www.imdb.com/news/ni53931946/
So, what makes Duets unique?
1. Each judge is only allowed two contestants and the judges must find the contestants on their own
This method is similar to The Voice, which allows each judge to have twelve members on his or her team. However, the major difference here is that the judges (Robin Thicke, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles) must scout and decide on their talent completely by themselves. There are no cattle calls, no studio audience, and the other judges have no say in who ends up on the other judge’s team. Also, two is a very different number from twelve. The judges, we find in retrospect, have different ways of trialing their various potential contestants: Anything from singing together in a studio to performing in front of a stadium crowd. How many contestants the judges actually look at is unknown. Unlike American Idol, they don’t boast about their submission numbers, leaving the viewer to wonder just how many audition tapes the judges had to look through and how they narrowed it down to the few we see in retrospect on the show. This small contestant size forces the judges to connect with their team on a very personal level. The judges put the work in by discovering them on their own and choosing their end team on their own. The small contestant pool also allows the viewer to get to know each contestant by name within the first episode. |
2. The judges perform with their contestants each week
This method is also similar to The Voice, yet vastly different. On The Voice, the judges do not perform each week with their contestants, and, when they do perform with their teams, they usually perform with the whole team, not with individual contestants. Also, on Duets, the only time the contestants perform for a score is with their mentor judge. This goes to show the importance of the judges hand-picking their teams. If the contestant’s voice doesn’t work well with their judge’s, chances are their performance won’t be very good. Furthermore, this also causes the judge’s fans to tune in to watch their favorite superstar perform each week. As viewers, we are reminded that these people are not just judges, but vocal superstars who can sing live without flashy dancers or outfits. |
3. The stage set up is simple with the mentor judge and the contestant being the main focus
4. Unlike most singing competition shows, the banter and judging is not drawn out (or, at least, not so far)
The host, Quddus, asks each contestant one question after their performance and does so with a freshness that the scripted Ryan Seacrest and the pedestrian Carson Daly haven’t had for years. Each judge speaks for less than one minute on each contestant, giving them helpful feedback (no one seems to be “that judge”: the Steven Tyler, Paula Abdul, or CeeLo Green), and do so in a succinct fashion. The banter between the judges is also entertaining without being drawn out (no Simon and Paula or Adam and Christina). They all seem to genuinely get along and even opened the show together with Robbie Williams’ “Let Me Entertain You.” |
5. The person who ends up getting sent home each week is decided based upon by their ranking amongst their fellow competitors
After each performance, every judge EXCEPT the mentor judge gives the contestant two scores: a presentation score and a performance score. These numbers are then used to rank that contestant amongst the other contestants. The contestant who comes in last place is the one who gets sent home (So far on the show, no one has been sent home. Next week, the two people in the bottom two positions will battle it out in some sort of singing showdown. We're guessing that the judges will then vote or use scoring to decide which of the two goes home). This is completely different from any other singing competition. On The Voice, initially it is the mentor judge who decides who stays and who goes. On American Idol, it is initially up to the three judges and America’s votes. So far in the show, there is no voting. This idea of the judges being the sole ones to decide is similar to NBC’s recently cancelled acapella show The Sing-Off, where the viewer’s had no say in the contestants’ fates until the very last week. The show has announced that in week six, when it goes live, it will include viewer voting but it is still uncertain how this will work (for example, they could do it like ABC’s other show, Dancing With the Stars, where both the judges and the voters have a say in who makes it). |
UPDATE: Duets has been cancelled: http://www.imdb.com/news/ni53931946/
Overall, Duets is a unique show with a unique and very personal approach towards its contestants and judges. It is a show that strays away from the flashy and drawn out and seems to genuinely want to spotlight the contestants’ talent, while also spotlighting the fact that the judges are real singers with real careers who can handle breaking someone into the business. |
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