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‘Duets’: I missed it because of singing-show fatigue

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“Duets,” I already owe you an apology.

I didn’t intentionally snub your premiere Thursday night. It wasn’t a slip by the ole trusty DVR. But to be completely fair, there’s a severe case of viewer fatigue happening.

The premise is rather enticing: four massive-selling superstars artists -- Kelly Clarkson, Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles, John Legend (who replaced Lionel Richie in the eleventh hour) and Robin Thicke -- not only coach their selected contestants, they sing side by side with them.

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It pushes forward “The Voice’s” close-knit mentorship between acts and their respective coaches. Of course, folks are eliminated, there’s a ‘save me’ song, a record deal (Disney-owned Hollywood Records, which, surprise, also owns ABC), blah, blah, blah.

The misfortune with “Duets,” however, is the show came a day after America predictably crowned Philip Phillips as the winner of “American Idol,” weeks after “The Voice” crowned its winner and weeks after “The X Factor” officially announced Britney Spears and Demi Lovato would join the upcoming season, which had the first of its taped over-the-top auditions on Thursday.

Needless to say, this writer needs a break from all the competition among the competitions -– do you have any idea how many hours of “American Idol” and “The Voice” can clutter your DVR in just one week?

Others seemed to have felt the same. ABC’s first venture into a very overcrowded landscape of singing competition shows opened to a modest 6.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. To compare, 20.7 million viewers were glued to “Idol’s” finale.

Like plenty of you out there, I love these shows. All of them. But I was looking forward to a break. After watching YouTube clips of the star’s duetting with hopefuls on some of their own hits -- Legend’s beautiful “Ordinary People,” a fist-pumping take on Clarkson’s “Stronger,” Sugarland’s pleasing “Tonight” and a smoldering version of Thicke’s “Lost Without U” -– I felt that ping in my heart, that tug. Crap. I’m going to get pulled into yet another one of these shows.

You win ABC, my DVR is cleared.

Check out Thicke and his contestant Olivia Chisholm singing “Lost Without U” below:

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-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

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