NBC's new reality singing competition, The Voice, is an American version of the hit Dutch television series, The Voice of Holland.  Carson Daly serves as host and four celebrity judges – Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton each pick eight contestants, based solely on vocal talent, to be on their team in the first of three stages in the competition.  After this initial "blind audition" phase has been completed, contestants sing against others in their teams in the "battle" phase.  Those making it through advance to the "live performance" phase and will sing in front of America for the grand prize – $100,000 and a recording contract.  Perhaps the most high-profile contestant of this initial season of the series is Frenchie Davis, who was dismissed in the early rounds of American Idol Season 2 after pictures she had modeled for years earlier came to the attention of the public.  Since then, Ms. Davis has found success on Broadway, but is back on the national scene on this inaugural season of The Voice.

MAY 9:  

USTOWNHALL SPEAKS TO JAVIER COLON, NAKIA, TYLER ROBINSON, BEVERLY McCLELLAN OF THE VOICE:

USTH: Javier, you were one of the two contestants in that first round who was selected by all four judges just like Jeff Jenkins was. Just like Jeff, you selected Adam Levine as your coach.  What made you select Adam?

JAVIER COLON: You know, I honestly would have been absolutely just ecstatic to have just one person turn around and then stay in the competition.

But the fact that all four turned around was just awesome. I was very flattered. And the reason that I picked Adam was because the way the competition is set up, your coaches are the ones that keep you in the competition or they send you home for these first rounds.

So, if I was lucky enough to have my choice between several judges or coaches, I wanted to make sure that I picked somebody that I thought was enthusiastic and just really adamant about having me on their team.

And Adam was almost distracting me during the song because he was just so animated and so into the performance which really, really meant a lot to me and which is one of the main reasons that I chose him.

USTH: Nakia, you were one of two people that selected a song to sing that was one of the judges' own songs.

What was your strategy in selecting a Cee Lo Green song? Were you hoping he was going to pick you, and did you ever consider that choosing a judge's song could derail your chances of getting picked?

NAKIA: Well, I chose "Forget You" first and foremost because "Forget You" is an instantly recognizable, wildly accessible song all over the world.

Anybody who hears those first four bars of dah, dah, dah – you know what song it is. So, my thinking was that sure it's great that Cee Lo's in the audience, but at the same time the American audience, the people watching at home will recognize that song and connect with that song thereby connecting with me because what happens if no one does turnaround?

I still needed the opportunity to connect with America in that one moment. I knew choosing it was a risk because Cee Lo was in the audience.

But having Cee Lo turn around, I mean that in itself was hugely validating for me as an artist for him to say, "You know what? You sang my song, and I think that you did a great job, and I think I could do something more with you."

So to me, it was not only a risk but at the same time it was also a chance for me to connect with the viewing public at home.

USTH: Tyler, what has your coach Blake Shelton taught you, or what have you learned from Blake?

USTH: Beverly, how has Christina Aguilera been as a coach for you, and what have you learned from her?

BEVERLY McCLELLAN: Well I've been learning from [her] since she was a young child – started way before this competition. She has been singing it dirty for quite some time. And I'm just honored to be on her team and singing it dirty for her now. So you know that feels good. That feels great.

And more than anything, she encourages me to bring it and also gives me advice on how to do that. She is awesome. That's all I can say. They all are, but I'm so excited to be on Team Christina for sure.

USTH: The Voice is obviously structured very differently from a lot of other singing competitions like American Idol. What is it like for you guys to have to compete against other more directly? You're pitted against each other within your own teams.

Would you have preferred something more straightforward where you're singing for America's vote every week like American Idol?

How are you adjusting to the format of The Voice? Are you able to maintain friendships with each other even though you're very much in direct competition with each other for a spot in the finals?

NAKIA: That's a great question. And I think that one of the main things that I'm taking away from this experience is the cherished and treasured friendships that I've made with the other artists on the show.

And I think I can speak for everybody when I say that without exception that all of us have a deep love for each other and that we really and truly came out of the blind auditions with some serious friendships.

Even the people that went home we had bonded with. So that was very tough. But when you get to see the battle round, I think that it becomes a lot more tough for us to watch each other go through that process because we have formed those relationships and we have bonded so much.

And it definitely becomes harder because you don't want to see someone go home. But at the same time you want to do well and you want to succeed.

So, you have to put that aside for that time while you're performing and really turn on your game, you know?

USTH: Javier, how do you feel about this format versus a more straightforward format like American Idol?

JAVIER COLON: You know what? It makes it difficult like Nakia said because you make some really strong  friendships just being on the show.

It makes it hard when you have to go into a battle round knowing that one of you is going to advance and one of you is going to go home. It's a very difficult situation.

But, after the battle round obviously it goes to live shows where it does get to that point where basically America will be choosing who they like and so forth.

So, I think it's kind of the best of both worlds. I mean, it's really exciting TV to watch, for sure.

The tension is high and the emotions are just running rampant. So, it's going to be exciting to watch, for sure.

USTH: Tyler, as Javier said, it's exciting TV. But, is it difficult for you to compete against someone that you have a friendship with and have to knock them out of the game?

TYLER ROBINSON: Absolutely. It was definitely something that was hard to do because we did become such good friends. We were stuck in a hotel with these people for five weeks and we're sort of forced to become friends with them.

And it was all good. And then you get put up against someone, and you just have to put your differences aside and be like, "You know what? This is a competition."

And in the end, we're all there for one thing. And so, you both sing your heart out and it's crazy to see it – how a lot of these battles go down.

It's very exciting. And I think the format is wonderful and so exciting and new. And I think it's just a great idea.

USTH: Beverly, as everyone has said, it's difficult. Were you aware of this format before you signed up to do the show? And was the reality more difficult than you perhaps first thought it would be?

BEVERLY McCLELLAN: Well, you know, it sounded like a pretty easy idea from home. And then you get there, and you meet all of these wonderful artists and, you know, now artists-slash-friends. 

But like you said, you make really good friends and you've met some wonderful artists. And, it's a hard thing to do, yes. That is the reality of the show – not versus any other – but I'm just saying as far as me personally living it, I have a newfound respect for reality TV.

MAY 3:

USTOWNHALL SPEAKS TO FRENCHIE DAVIS, JEFF JENKINS, KELSEY REY, & PATRICK THOMAS OF THE VOICE: 

USTH: My first question is for Jeff Jenkins. You were one of the two people that were selected by all four judges. What made you decide on Adam Levine as your coach, and how has it been working with him?

JEFF JENKINS: A big thing my mom always taught me was to follow your gut. When listening to all of the coaches talk to me and say why I should be on their team, he really stood out. He spoke after every other coach spoke and said that he could take me to that next level. And that's what The Voice is about is going to that next level.

And, I'm really happy with my decision. He's an awesome coach. He really, really knows exactly what he's talking about. He pinpoints all your problem areas and knows how to tell you how to fix those. And he's really cool. And he adds a new side to what I know about the music.

USTH: Frenchie, it's been about eight years since you were dismissed from American Idol in season 2. I'm just wondering...

FRENCHIE DAVIS: Almost nine. Yes, I'll be 32 on Saturday and I was 23 when I did Idol so it's been a little minute.

USTH: Well, happy birthday.

FRENCHIE DAVIS: Thank you.

USTH: And my question for you though is in all these almost nine years that have elapsed, what in your personal life or in your personal upbringing got you through those tough times? And what have you learned about yourself over the years that has helped you in The Voice?

FRENCHIE DAVIS: I've learned that I'm a lot stronger than I gave myself credit for. And, I have just used this time to grow. What's gotten me through the tough times? I would have to say faith and just [that] I am one of those people that – I truly believe that there's good out there. I believe that there's good out there for all of us. You just have to go out there and grab it.

And there was a part of my life when I had allowed what happened with me on Idol to kind of scare the hell out of me. And there was a part of me that had been afraid to really take a chance and take a – you know, Broadway was safe for me. There was a part of me that was afraid to take that leap of faith, take that chance and really put myself out there again.

And I'm telling you ending up on the cover of the National Enquirer for being fat is the best thing that could have ever happened to me because it made me have an epiphany that being afraid of putting myself out there isn't protecting me from the scrutiny. So I might as well go balls to the wall for my dream because they're going to come for me anyway.

USTH: That is true. Well, good for you. Do you keep in touch with any of the other American Idols from your season – season 2?

FRENCHIE DAVIS: I do. And, you know, it was so amazing watching Ruben Stoddard and Kimberley Locke tweeting the other night rooting for me. Ruben is like my brother. Kimberley and I – we still perform together every now and then because we both have a huge following in the gay community, and the gay boys will revolt if we don't sing together.

And I'm still friends with Trenyce, and Clay has been an amazing support. He's come to see me in almost every Broadway show I've been in. And I went to go see him when he was in Spamalot in Broadway. What's been the highlight of this experience has been the wonderful friendships that I've built because I made lifelong friends when I did Idol and I was only on Idol for like two minutes.

USTH: Kelsey, if you should, down the road, make your own record, what type of music do you think is your particular style, and what type of record would you like to make?

KELSEY REY: It might come to surprise everybody that I – yes, I do love pop music, and I do think that I fit in with the pop genre. But I like pop with flair – like I like soul music, and I like blues. Like I really like to sing from the heart. And I like big band stuff. I would like to eventually someday have a band behind me. And I would love to have an all-girl band, which is kind of crazy but I think that would be really cool.

I really like big band stuff. And I think that's another reason why I chose Cee Lo.

USTH: And for Patrick, what are some of the artists that you grew up with that have been an influence on your career?

PATRICK THOMAS: You know, country was kind of a recent thing for me. I didn't really start singing country until I was about 16. For me, in middle school, I was listening to Josh Groban. And when I was singing even at a younger age – at 8, 9, 10, it was Robert Goulet. It was Broadway artists. It was Bing Crosby. I was singing "Would you Like Sing on Star." And so, I've had a very wide array of influences.

My parents were both Broadway performers, so I had that background always. But country was the most commercial for me, and I learned to love it. I needed a place to play at 16, and my dad suggested country.

And at first, I hated it, but I started watching CMT television every morning and I fell in love with "Amazed" by Lonestar. I fell in love with Clay Walker – with Blake Shelton. And it became the only thing I listened to on the radio. I still have a lot of different genres that I love, but country is not definitely how I identify myself.

USTH: Our thanks to the cast of The Voice for speaking with us today.  The Voice airs Tuesday nights on NBC.

Veteran comic actor Paul Reiser returns both to weekly television and to NBC in his new sitcom, The Paul Reiser Show, which is a semi-autobiographical look at his own life.  Paul Reiser plays Paul Reiser, an actor who hasn't appeared regularly on television in several years.  While he is enjoying his home life with his wife and kids, he also spends a lot of time with his group of guy friends – all of whom seem to be made up from the fathers of his kids' friends or the husbands of his wife's friends.  The series follows Paul and his comrades as they search for the next big thing in their lives.

USTOWNHALL SPEAKS TO PAUL REISER OF THE PAUL REISER SHOW:  

USTH: Glad to see you back on television. Your new series is a single camera filmed show. How is that different for you since a lot of your experiences have been in three camera with a studio audience? How has it been acclimating yourself to the new format?

PAUL REISER: The irony is I always wanted to do single camera even when we did Mad About You. I originally pitched it as a single camera, which they didn't do back then and it has come into play. As fun as it was to have a live audience, I never really felt that comfortable with it. I love it when I do stand-up – it's great to have an audience – but I always felt that when doing a show, it kind of distracted me a bit and this feels just perfect and right and it has a much more real-life quality, which is what the show is really about.

I mean hopefully people recognize it and they go, "Oh, okay that really feels real, these are real people." I'm playing myself, and it's obviously accelerated a bit and it's because it's a comedy, but that part of it feels right, and it looks exactly like the show that I wanted to make so I'm very pleased with it.

USTH: You have a very eclectic cast there. When I saw that Omid Djalili would be part of the cast, I assumed he would be playing a Middle Eastern character. Are you using that as story material – I guess your character is Jewish, and his character might not be Jewish – is that part of the story material or are the differing backgrounds just presented matter-of-factly as "We're just a bunch of different people who happen to hang out together"?

PAUL REISER: Well, it's more that. It's more the latter, and it's really based on my group of [real-life] friends, and one of the premises of the show is sort of that when you're a father of kids – I find most guys have backed me up on this – that you realize your friends are not people of your own choosing – that your friends are all fathers of your kids' friends or husbands of your wife's friends.

And in my case this has certainly been true. And I have this world of friends that I look around and go, "How did I get these people"? Omid's character, Habib, is based on a couple of friends of mine who are Persian, and one of the things that makes me really thrilled about the show is the sort of diversity of the characters. They all have such comedic styles, and Omid is hugely powerfully funny, and he's a huge comic in the UK and I'm hoping this show reintroduces him. He was on Whoopi's show ten years ago [Whoopi, which aired in the 2003-2004 television season], but I hope America gets to see him every week because he's just absurdly funny.

And Andy Daly, who is a totally different look and based on another friend of mine who looks like him, has a huge following in the comedy community, and he's really a clever, inventive comic and has really sly timing.

And Duane Martin who is a whole other feel and not known as a comic, but is just really also in his own way very funny and such a delightful screen presence.

And Ben Shenkman who has this very New York acerbic – his own cerebral tone, and Amy Landecker has her own comedy style.

So there's such a nice, eclectic group of performers, and there are no cheap jokes. There are no jokes at the expense of anybody being Persian. I think it certainly adds a color to the show, but these are guys who are just friends.

USTH: You mentioned Amy Landecker. Can you talk a little bit about the balance of the show's stories between you and your guy friends and your character and his home life with his wife? Is it going to be more with you and the guy friends and maybe just a little bit of Amy, or will it be more evenly balanced?

PAUL REISER: Yes, I think it has become that. One of the things that's really fun about this is this show to me is everything that Mad About You had and then so much more. I mean at the heart of it, it's really based on my life and my life starts with my family and that is the priority, so it always comes down to – and for all these guys in the show – it comes down to, "Well here's what's going on in the home and here's what's going on with my wife and my kids."

But you rarely see the kids in the show. They inform the show and you're doing things and you're running around doing stuff for your kids, but you're not going to see them much by design. And Amy – there's a lot of great stories of husband and wife stuff, but they really serve to ground the other stories.

I think the kick-off for all the stories is about the guys, and that's an element we didn't have in Mad About You that is so fun to explore, and it was not really part of my life 15 years ago, and now it is, and now I have this group of guy friends that you suddenly find yourself driving to Disneyland with these two guys for three hours so, okay, this is my life now.

And so, the stories almost always come from the guys, or they start with the wife perhaps but they filter into, "Okay, now I'm off and running with these other guys." And these guys are such strong performers, we thought, "When are we going to get stories with just them?" And we thought probably not 'til season 2 or 3, but we found even in the first six-seven episodes, we were able to cut away to two of the guys, and it was great. It's really an ensemble show in every sense of the word.

USTH: As far as television producing is concerned, did you learn anything from your Mad About You experience that's informing your decision-making process now?

PAUL REISER: Absolutely, yes, seven years of Mad About You, I learned what worked for me, and I learned what works and what doesn't work, and going into this, I just knew I wanted to make it a certain style, and I wanted – sometimes just the way you structure the workday. I mean, I knew I wanted this to be surrounded by friends and I have. I called friends that are directors.

Helen Hunt was the first director I called, and Daniel Stern is an old friend and Brian Gordon, and it's just a very sane – at this point you know you want to do your work but you want to get home. I think gone are the days where people say let's hang out until 3 in the morning and eat Chinese food and never see our families.

I think people want to get home and have a life as well as do a show, so it's really been run very efficiently, and that was very much by design.

USTH: Our thanks to Paul Reiser for speaking with us today.  The Paul Reiser Show premieres Thursday, April 14 on NBC.