What’s Worth Watching: Christina Aguilera Returns to The Voice

Matt Roush February 23, 2015, 6:00 am

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The Voice, “The Blind Auditions Premiere” (Monday, Feb. 23, 8/7c, NBC)

Unlike American Idol, now reduced to just a few hours of Fox’s weekly lineup and upstaged by the breakout success of Empire, there’s no shrinkage of The Voice‘s mighty footprint on NBC’s schedule. Returning with back-to-back two-hour blasts of “blind audition” episodes on Monday and Tuesday, The Voice is at its riveting best at this stage of the game.

Each night, we wait in suspense to see who, if anyone, will be first to push the button in support of whichever singers are pouring their souls out on the stage behind the judges’ turned backs. And when more than one—and most deliciously, when all four—of the coaches turn their chairs around, it’s game on as each tries to woo the most promising contestants onto their team. (Once the teams are formed, the show becomes less engaging, but for now it’s musical catnip.)

For those keeping score, Christina Aguilera, one of the show’s original coaches, rejoins Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, along with relative newcomer Pharrell Williams, to sit in the revolving chairs. Shelton’s teams have produced four winners, to Levine’s two and Usher’s one. Could this be Aguilera’s turn? (Bonus points if you can actually name any of the past winners.)