LITTLE ROCK — The Voice is over for the season, so is American Idol. It’ll be fall before we get Fox’s rebooted The X Factor and another round of The Voice.
What’s a singing competition junkie to do?
ABC to the rescue. Duets kicks off at 7 p.m. today with a two-hour premiere.
Although we got to see the Voice judges/mentors sing with their teams a few times, Duets takes that aspect and works it from the beginning.
On Duets, celebrity singers JohnLegend, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke have each scoured the country in search of two amateur contestants to nurture and perform with. That search process will take up several episodes.
When we get around to the live performances, each star will sing duets with his two team members. The last contestant standing will go on to a recording contract with Hollywood Records, a stellar career and a life of fame and riches beyond their wildest dreams.
Or we’ll never hear from them again. It seems that happens more than not.
Clarkson, you’ll recall, was the very first winner of American Idol a decade ago and she is one of the few winners who has had a successful career.
And I’m not counting 2003’s insipid film From Justin to Kelly that was rushed into production to try to capitalize on Clarkson’s first fame. It was embarrassing.
About Duets’ concept, Clarkson said, “The simple fact that I get to go out and find two people that I believe in, sing with them every week, and help them accomplish their dream is an amazing thing.”
Nettles is the lead vocalist for the duo Sugarland. Singer-songwriter Legend (born John Roger Stephens) has won nine Grammy awards.
And R&B singer-songwriterThicke is the son of Alan Thicke (star of the ’80s sitcom Growing Pains) and singer Gloria Loring.
Here are the four stars’ eight partners.
Legend: Bridget Carrington, 34, Farmville, Va.; Johnny Gray, 37, Shoreline, Wash.
Thicke: Alexis Foster, 21, Knoxville, Tenn.; Olivia Chisholm, 21, Charlotte, N.C.
Nettles: John Glosson, 32, Douglas, Ga.; J Rome, 25, Laurel, Md.
Clarkson: Jason Farol, 23, Torrance, Calif.; Jordan Meredith, 21, Kimberly, Wis.
Host for the series is Quddus. If you have no idea who he is, well, you just don’t sit at the cool kids’ table in the cafeteria.
Quddus is the former host of MTV’s Total Request Live and was once labeled by The New York Times as “the Ryan Seacrest of the hip-hop generation.”
The 31-year-old Canadian’s full name is Benjamin Quddus Philippe.
It will be interesting to see eachweek whether viewers vote for the duet partner or the star. My prediction before seeing any of it is that Clarkson will win with one of her two.
Rookie Blue
.
Immediately following Duets, Rookie Blue returns for Season 3 at 9 p.m. on ABC.
The Canadian series, following a group of young and ambitious rookie cops, features Missy Peregrym as Andy McNally.
Canadian actor William Shatner guest stars on the premiere as a belligerent drunken driver with a haunting secret.
Dance time.
If you prefer dancing over singing, Fox has your thing. So You Think You Can Dance returns with a two-hour Season 9 premiere at 7 p.m. today, then moves to its regular 8 p.m. time Wednesday.
Why debut tonight then go to a different day and time next week? Just to mess with Duets over on ABC. TV is like that.
Cat Deeley is again our host with judges Mary Murphy and NigelLythgoe.
Simon time.
I’ve written before that Paul Simon is my most favorite singer-songwriter of all time. I learned to play the guitar with his first simple songs and his was my first concert I ever attended.
If I had to single out one album as the most meaningful, it would be Graceland. It’s hard to believe it has been a quarter century since it came out.
In honor of that, A&E presents Paul Simon’s Graceland Journey: Under African Skies at 9 p.m. Friday. The documentary will revisit the recording of the album and the dustup over Simon’s decision to work with South African musicians.
The film runs two hours.
Series end.
NBC airs the final episode of Awake at 9 p.m. today. The show has been canceled.
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Weekend, Pages 34 on 05/24/2012