Rob Thomas (left) will mentor Team Cee Lo this season. (Tyler Golden/NBC)
This season, we won’t be able to escape “The Voice.”
In a flog-to-death programming maneuver by NBC, the popular music competition show will air a third broadcast, on Wednesday nights, following its Monday and Tuesday night installments.
“It’s kind of ironic that NBC is a peacock. It’s definitely a peacock move,” says judge Cee Lo Green. “I think it could be too much. But there’s such an absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder feeling for ‘The Voice.’”
Speaking by phone from LA, Green commented on the show’s third season. It’s the first time the series is airing in the fall and there will be other changes as well, including a “steal” round. He and his fellow judges, Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, will twice have the chance to reinstate rejected contestants during the battle rounds. If more than one judge wants to steal a contestant, the singer gets to pick his or her team.
“Initially, I thought the addition would be awkward and inconvenient, but I think it brings another degree of optimism and opportunity,” says Green, 38. “The steal brings excitement to an enthusiastic show.”
Last season, a singer from Team Cee Lo was the first runner-up. Gravelly-voiced belter Juliet Simms sang the ’70s anthem “Free Bird” as her final song, but lost Jermaine Paul, whose rendition of “I Believe I Can Fly” showcased his soulful phrasing. Green was surprised Simms did not win.
“I had a pretty good indication that Juliet would win, should have won,” he says. “I don’t mean disrespect to Jermaine. For me, as an entertainment enthusiast, it’s important to me to launch the next superstar. It’s not so important as who wins as long as we win as the No. 1 show. ‘The Voice’ showcases so much talent. Our goal is to be more involved in a few careers. Trust, Juliet, Jamar [Rogers], Niki [Dawson]. So many of my people, they’re all very good friends of mine. I’m involved in their different aspirations.”
Green, who milked his camera time last season by stroking the fur of a white Persian cat named Purrfect, is excited to be back on the air. “Going into any new season, you don’t know if you want to fall in love,” he says. “I was totally in love with my team in Season 2. I have come back with a strong team.”
Part of that team is his mentor, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty. “He’s been so grounded and down-to-earth with all the success he’s had,” Green says. “I assumed he would be good at coaching. He’s very articulate. Overall, it becomes a music education for everybody.”
“The Voice” has not only made Green a charismatically odd TV star, it’s opened up a new career path for the flamboyant singer, He is heavily involved now in developing long-term programming with NBC. There are plans to create a half-hour comedy that will be written by Ali LeRoi (“Everybody Hates Chris”). “It would certainly be reality-based,” he says. “It will be art imitating life.”
Green, who has an ex-wife, Christina Johnson, and a son, Kingston, as well as two stepdaughters, was born Thomas DeCarlo Callaway in Atlanta and came to prominence with the Southern hip-hop group Goodie Mob before releasing the mega-hit “Crazy” with Gnarls Barkley in 2006 and solo records. He says he will cut down on touring to fit these new enterprises into the picture.
“What I’ve been planning very carefully is a network and a system. I enjoy touring but not as much as these other things I’m aspiring to,” he says. Even so, he is recording another solo album as well as a reunion record with Goodie Mob called “Age Against the Machine.”
Compared to his fellow judges, Green thinks he’s an odd fit for television. “I still have a hard time learning how to lie on television,” he says. “Blake knows how to be genial and to the point in a quick and honest way. Christina is also well-spoken. I guess I’m supposed to be the wild card. I just want to spill my guts. My emotions run high. I’m much more accustomed to being elusive and enigmatic. And being raw. I like it raw. I’m not as clear as I want to be, but I’m always colorful.”
To keep that palette bright, Green has a new on-air companion/prop — a pink cockatoo named Lady.
Did he get tired of the cat? “Who could get tired of the cat?” he asks. “Purrfect is adorable. She’s just too cool. It’s amazing how she connected with people. But I didn’t want it to become my shtick.”
Like Purrfect, Lady is another rescue animal. “I grew fond of the bird. The immediate affection that it gave me. I am animal lover. I’m actually doing a great deed. Lady is a lot more talkative that Purrfect.”
Having some company makes the 12-hour days at “The Voice” pass more pleasurably, he admits. “People think it’s easy to sit there. We’re sitting there for seven of hours. It’s starting to do a number on this great ass of mine.”