Another Reality Singing Show? Too Much or Healthy Competition?

The field of options just grew as ABC released a trailer for its own singing show, Duets. Of course, being that it’s joining the American Idol behemoth, NBC’s hit show The Voice, and Fox’s mildly whispering effort The X-Factor, Duets has its own twist. No spinning chairs or Pussycat Dolls are to be found; instead contestants will compete by singing with musical hit-makers Lionel Richie, Kelly Clarkson, Robin Thicke, and Jennifer Nettles. But with all these competing shows, you can’t help but wonder “Where does the series fit?”

It’s clear that the U.S. has no deficiency of talent. The slates on all three of the big singing series proves that, and while Idol’s contestants don’t always become, well, idols, they tend to be fairly successful. Just this week, Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson, and Scotty McCreery nabbed spots in the Billboard Top 200 and 2006 Idol runner up Katharine McPhee is making waves on NBC’s hit show Smash. 

But what about the rejected contestants? Could this overwhelming wave of new talent shows provides a bevy of second chances? We’ve already seen past Idol contestants find new fame on The Voice — we’re looking at you, Frenchie. And this phenomenon isn’t that uncommon. We’ve also seen crossovers between Making the Band and The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll as well as connections between Nigel Lythgoe’s babies, Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. 

With this oversaturation of talent searches, the result will go one of two ways: we’ll find more talent than we could ever imagine, or everyone will simply start tuning out. Will you add another singing competition to your line-up?

Source: People