The Voice

This article in The Hollywood Reporter shows how they made The Voice a success on NBC. Well worth a read. And also shows the serious work the BBC need to do to make it a success.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/miracle-voice-202039

I have some thoughts in what The Voice needs

Looking at the American version, all of the judges prove their credibility when they sing live. If any of the judges can't do that they have no business being there. Part of me thinks Cheryl would be a massive coup so I can see why her being on the show would be a big deal.

Also I hope the BBC make this work. They can't afford for this to fail based on the amount paid to secure the format and the reputation of Danny Cohen and the BBC Light Entertainment department (which needs to prove it can deliver a hit), at stake.

It needs to come from a big studio. Studio 1 at BBC TV Centre won't work. Once it has a large set it can't fit a large audience and the atmosphere feels limp. It needs big name judges, the set needs to look radically different from what we see on The X Factor/Britain's Got Talent, a charismatic host. And most importantly it needs good scheduling or else it will die a death.

It'll be interesting to see whether the hugely deserved success of The Voice in the US has killed The X Factors chances of making it big over there. X Factor made Pop/American Idol look dated but now The Voice makes the over-blown X Factor look dated.

X Factor also has the mentoring aspect which was supposed to be its USP but has been beaten by The Voice. X Factors main judges will be Simon & Paula, so its just going to look like a hybrid of American Idol and The Voice. I guess our equivalent would be if Cheryl & Simon ended up on The Voice- it isn't really adding anything new and just capitalising on what was successful in the past.

I think the US X Factor has this Autumn to itself as Idol and The Voice return in January, so it has a chance to establish itself. Will it be bigger than American Idol though? That's the big question.

As for The Voice UK, it needs to be getting Strictly level numbers to be a success. But can it do that?

Look what is now on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/#!/BBCTheVoiceUK/status/113203695352676353

Exclusive! The Voice UK auditions start on the 31st October in London, before crossing the nation via Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester and Belfast. Apply to audition now. #thevoiceuk http://bbc.in/pxZZFL

Welcome to the official Twitter feed for upcoming BBC One show The Voice UK!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/thevoiceuk/

So it'll officially be known as The Voice UK.

That makes no sense, unless they're planning to run the US version?

But isn't The X Factor known as "The X Factor USA" in America? Even though they don't show the UK version?

What exactly have the BBC got by purchasing the rights to make this programme?

Obviously they have got the name and the logo but what else? Couldn't they have just made a singing contest without paying out for rights to this particular one? Is the name and logo well known enough in the UK to be really worth anything? Surely they would be better off building up their own brand from scratch rather than one owned by someone else?

By coming up with yet another talent show format, they may be treading on the toes of someone else's intellectual property - and given the fleet of similar shows, its likely they would.

Buying the rights means they don't have to worry about lawsuits going forward, they get the "book" of exactly how the format runs, plus the goodwill/publicity that the successful forerunner has earned - even if its an overseas show.

The closest thing to compare it with it the slew of chef competitions that you see on lesser digital channels - as opposed to "Hells Kitchen" which is a success in all its territories. All the copy versions have bizarre rules and challenges which detract from the object of the competition, and they have to do this to prevent being taken to court.

It might be cheaper and more advantageous in the long run to buy a winner.

No.

They bought one before which was Fame Academy and that died a thousand deaths!