<em>The Voice</em>’s Empty Promise of the American Dream

The Voice’s auditions are some of the best reality TV you can watch. Early in each new season of the NBC show, celebrity coaches will listen to contestants sing with their backs turned. If coaches like what they hear and want to recruit someone for their “team,” they press a button, and their giant red chair spins around for a grand reveal. (If more than one turns, the contestant gets to pick his or her coach.) I see those chairs a-swivelin’ in a commercial, and I can’t resist Hulu-binging several hour-and-a-half-long episodes of these blind auditions.

Still, I’ve never made it through an entire season of . I get enticed by the auditions, and usually stick around through both , when coaches pair members of their teams in head-to-head sing-offs. But I always stop watching during the bloated live shows, where couch potatoes actually get to vote for their favorite singers. At that point it’s just -style voting in broadcasts padded with backstage fashion and performances by the coaches, and oh-so-many commercials between contestant performances, and the unique