Why Are There Only 3 Coaches in ‘The Voice’ Season 29?

Since The Voice debuted in 2011, there have always been four superstar artists serving as coaches to the contestants … until now. For Season 29, the show shook things up a bit by only having three coaches on the panel: Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine, and John Legend.

The shakeup is due to programming changes at NBC. With the networking adding NBA games back to its primetime lineup, there is no longer an episode of The Voice on Tuesdays, which has reduced the number of episodes in the season.

“The hours this season are considerably less,” showrunner Audrey Morrissey explained to Gold Derby. That meant that the show had to reduce the number of contestants who made it onto the season, and if there were four coaches, the teams would’ve been too small. “It felt a little ridiculous,” Morrissey admitted, while promising that viewers won’t “miss four coaches at all.”

This year, the three coaches will each get 10 artists on their teams in the Blind Auditions, and that number will be dwindled down in each round until four singers make the Finals (whichever coach wins the new All-Star Showdown round will have the advantage of an additional artist in the finale).

Related

'The Voice' Premiere: Adam Takes an Early Lead in Triple Turn Competition

So, only 30 contestants will make a team on this season of The Voice, which is a much lower number than recent seasons. For comparison, in Seasons 27 and 28, all four coaches got 12 artists on their teams, which meant 48 singers made it through the Blind Auditions. In Season 26, the coaches had 14 artists each for a total of 56 singers who advanced to the Battle Rounds.

Season 29 of The Voice airs for two hours on Monday nights at 9/8c. The Blind Auditions will continue with the Monday, March 2, episode, and a rerun of the premiere episode will also be airing on Wednesday, February 25.

The Voice, Season 29, Mondays, 9/8c, NBC