stars on screen
‘Voice’ silenced
Adam Levine departs NBC’s singing competition
By Andrew Warren
TV Media
’Voice’ silenced: One of the
pillars of NBC’s long-running
musical competition series has
sung his swan song — for now,
at least. Adam Levine recently
announced that he’s stepping
down from his role as one of
“The Voice’s” coaches to work
on other projects, leaving a job
that he’s held for eight years
and 16 seasons.
The Maroon 5 frontman was
one of the four original coaches,
competing with Blake Shelton,
Christina Aguilera and CeeLo
Green to land the most talented
amateur singers onto his team
so that he could coach them to
victory in the competition. With
Levine’s departure, country
singer Shelton becomes the sole
torchbearer from the original
four, and the only one left who
has appeared in every season.
Of course, while the com-
forting stability of Levine and
Shelton’s presence has been a
big part of “The Voice’s” mas-
sive success, the way the show
is set up makes it easy for other
big-name artists to pop in for
a season or two. Both Aguilera
and Green have returned on
numerous occasions when their
busy schedules permitted, and
there’s no reason to think that
this is truly the end of the line
for Levine’s relationship with
the series.
The first Levine-less season
is scheduled to premiere this
fall, and even though it’s still
months out, the new lineup
of coaches has already been
revealed. Although Levine’s ab-
sence will be felt by the fans, the
coaching lineup is still a familiar
one. Shelton will be there in one
of the show’s iconic rotating red
chairs alongside Kelly Clarkson,
who coached the previous three
seasons, and John Legend, who
took home a win for his chosen
singer in his first season as
coach this past spring.
Don’t worry, Levine’s seat
won’t be left empty — in fact,
it’s already been filled. Gwen
Stefani, who has previously
24 | Screentime
Adam Levine as seen in “The Voice”
aired in the United Kingdom
coached three seasons, will
this past spring and was met
return for the new season this
with rave reviews. Now audi-
fall on NBC. With Carson Daly
ences on this side of the pond
also returning as host and the
get a chance to see what the
coaching chairs filled with
near future might look like.
series veterans, “The Voice”
Springing from the mind
remains in good hands.
of Russell T Davies, who cre-
ated “Queer as Folk” and
Day by day: Man oh man,
revived “Doctor Who,” “Years
the pace of change in the world
and Years” follows several
just feels like it’s speeding up
generations of the Lyons fam-
all the time, doesn’t it? With
ily through 15 years of their
innovative new technologies
lives, beginning with a crucial
and political turmoil seemingly
the norm these days, I guess the event in 2019. In this version
of the not-so-distant future,
only thing you can do is take
the U.K. leaves the European
things day by day.
Union, President Trump wins
That’s the premise behind
re-election and a new politi-
HBO’s new drama “Years and
cal figure, played to the hilt by
Years,” premiering Monday,
two-time Oscar winning actress
June 24. The British miniseries
June 19, 2019 | East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald
Emma Thompson (“Love Actu-
ally,” 2003), further divides an
already fractured nation.
Rory Kinnear (“Penny Dread-
ful”) stars as Lyons family pa-
triarch Stephen. He has a wife
(T’Nia Miller, “Witless”) and
two young daughters and is the
eldest of four siblings, played
by Russell Tovey (“Quantico”),
Jessica Hynes (“Paddington 2,”
2017) and Ruth Madeley (“Cold
Feet”).
Over the span of 15 years,
the world changes in dramatic
ways, but something stay the
same, and the Lyons family just
tries to navigate life as well as
they can, much like the rest of
us. Tune in for the acclaimed
British miniseries “Years and
Years,” premiering Monday,
June 24, on HBO.
Across America: Miss
America is on the move. Not the
current title holder, New York’s
Nia Franklin, who was crowned
last September and who has
spent the months since her
coronation advocating for the
arts. It’s the competition itself
that’s moving, shifting from one
network to another.
The annual contest has aired
on ABC since 2011, but the
2019 event is making a new
home at NBC. It’s a bit of a
homecoming for the event as
NBC aired the proceedings for
more than two decades before
the alphabet network snatched
it up. A host city and venue have
not yet been announced.
Last year’s Miss America
saw some massive changes to
the event, which has been held
annually (with a few skipped
years during the Great Depres-
sion) since 1921. All beauty-
based criteria were dropped,
and the event became focused
on empowering women to
make powerful changes in the
world, bringing it into the mod-
ern age.
Those changes are expected
to remain for this year’s com-
petition, as it settles back into
its old home on NBC. Watch
for more details about Miss
America, including a date and a
host city, later this summer.