The Voice is back on NBC for Season 19, although as it goes with every other show currently in production, there are some restrictions. The popular singing competition had to jump through some hoops and make noteworthy changes to make the fall season doable, including keeping its studio audience far away from the studio. It turns out the process of switching things up has already produced some shocking results for one executive producer.
EP Audrey Morrissey spoke to CinemaBlend and other outlets during a special Q&A ahead of Season 19. While the show had to forgo its in-studio audience and lost some of the expectations that come along with that, it does appear that the alterations gave Season 19 some unpredictable advantages as well.
I will tell you this, what was absolutely shocking in some ways was the music was incredible; the singing was incredible. It's definitely one of our better singing vocal seasons and a lot of us are wondering if that has something to do because there was no audience, and maybe the singers could actually hear themselves better without the crowd.
The Voice's Season 19 viewers may quickly notice some surprisingly strong performers during the audition rounds, and apparently, there may be something more to that beyond just a truly exceptional batch of contestants. Whether or not the audience feedback, or lack thereof, plays a huge factor in everyone's performances remains to be seen, though fans should be excited all the same by Audrey Morrissey's testimonial that there are plenty of talented voices for coaches like Gwen Stefani and John Legend to work with.
The Voice contestants apparently weren't the only ones able to take sonic advantage of the in-studio audience getting excised – there will be virtual fans and family on monitors. The coaches were helped out in that respect as well. Audrey Morrissey went on and explained what the coaches thought of the change and her overall satisfaction with how things have gone so far.
The coaches commented that they felt they could hear the singing better, which makes sense, because they didn't have the audience. As something that we were hyper concerned about the whole way, [it] ended up not being a problem.
If The Voice has an exceptional step up in quality with performers, one has to wonder if Season 19's changes may become more permanent. Granted, The Voice has always been about showcasing singers with the greatest potential for improvement, rather than perfectly polished vocalists from the outset. But if stage fright was a hindrance to some in the past, maybe having a huge crowd shouldn't necessarily be a part of the audition process right from the start.
More likely than not, future changes will all depend on how the fans respond to The Voice's Season 19 changes. If the response isn't quite so good, the producers already have a dependable formula to hop right back into when safety measures are able to be loosened for TV productions. If the new changes are welcomed, perhaps it's finally time for a more permanent shake-up of this classic show.
The Voice Season 19 premieres on NBC on Monday, October 19, at 8:00 p.m. ET, and then will shift to its normal time slot Tuesday, October 20, at 8:00 p.m. ET. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on the show, and for the latest happening in television and movies, and keep our Fall TV 2020 premiere schedule bookmarked.
