Jordis nearly hit the road on 'The Voice'

Credit: Lewis Jacobs/NBC

It's the first ever live results show on "The Voice"! A product of the show's success, NBC is giving it some extra hours on the schedule and making the eliminations more dramatic. Will it be as mind-numbingly inane and unnecessarily padded as the average "American Idol" results show?

Don't count on it, because four people will be going home. And before that happens, the bottom three from each time take the stage for a last chance performance in the hopes of winning a coach's save.

Plus, Gym Class Heroes will perform with Team Adam. That's a lot to pack into a single hour, so let's get to it.

Carson asks Blake what he'll be looking for to save someone. His answer: "Crap man, I don't know." And then he adds the usual stuff about how they all deserve to be there, blah blah blah. "It's sucky" that he can only save one. Christina thinks it's "really tough" but she likes the twist of seeing the bottom three perform songs the coaches didn't choose.

Before the results it's Gym Class Heroes and their hit single "Back Home." (Or "Ass Back Home" for album purists.) It turns out that Team Adam's contribution is awkwardly singing background from the audience near the very end of the performance. No judgments on them until next week.

Before the elimination, Blake took his team to a country radio station to show them nothing compares to the power of radio. But more importantly, Carson has the results...

The artists from Team Blake who received the most votes are: Erin, Jermaine, RaeLynn

Not the three I wanted, or expected. It's a little frustrating to know either Jordis or Charlotte will be done after one week, but I'm hoping Charlotte stays. (However, as Carson mentioned, Jordis was #1 on iTunes rock singles chart with "Alone," so that will probably count for something.)

Christina's field trip for the week was taking her team to meet Jay Leno to give them a "real look at what it's like to promote yourself." And also a real look at what it's like to promote NBC late night during NBC primetime.

Carson has the results... The artists from Team Christina who received the most votes are: Jesse (the one sure thing), Lindsey, Chris

That trio was a little more expected, but it's depressing to see Ashley on the bottom. Sera deserves to stick around too, but unless Ashley tanks her survival performance I don't see how she can.

Naia is up first on the survival performances with Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy." She's more comfortable than she was on Adele but she's still not going to blow anyone away with her voice. There's really no chance she'll make it through. But Blake says he loves to see her on stage. He wished she had picked something reggae but Naia protests that the producers wouldn't let her, there was no reggae on the approved song list.

Next up is Charlotte singing Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris." Based on what we saw last night, this sort of impromptu, no-frills performance isn't Charlotte in her element. But she injects emotion and anger into the song. Even when her voice cracks and she's on the edge of tears, it feels genuine. She's a strong performer.

Last up for Blake is Jordis with Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses." It's actually a little better than what she did with "Alone," but I still think Jordis is an imitation rock star more than the real thing.

Carson asks Christina who she'd save. She says she feels connected with all of them. She loved Charlotte but would go with Jordis. Cee-Lo would go with Jordis. Adam says without question Jordis.

But the only one who really matters is Blake and based on what he just saw he saves: Jordis. Ah well, they didn't even try to make that suspenseful.

Moving on to Christina's survival performances. Ashley is first up and she has somehow found a fun song choice: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' "Paris (Ooh La La)." This girl is like a badass Disney Channel chick. I'm really pissed she wasn't in the top three but it's fun to watch her perform again.

Sera is up next with Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love." I think Sera has a lot more potential than "The Voice" has allowed her to demonstrate, but this song is just too overdone to make her own.

Moses is the final one up for Team Christina with The Script's "Breakeven (Falling To Pieces)." Is he taking Adam's advice to give rapping a rest? Moses has charisma to burn but he just doesn't have a great voice, or enough character to his voice to make up for that lack of greatness.

I don't see how this is even a debate but the coaches weigh in: Cee-Lo would save Sera, Adam would absolutely save Ashley, and Blake says Ashley for sure.

It's up to Christina, who can't handle everyone in the audience shouting at her (the loudest are pro-Ashley). She loves the versatility of all three of them and she thinks Moses proved he can sing, Sera stepped up to the plate and Ashley was crazy (in a good way). Her save goes to: Ashley.

Whew.

And that's a wrap on the first live results show. Honestly a lot more gut-wrenching than I expected, and I'm sad we lost Charlotte and Sera so soon.

We'll do it all over again next week with Team Adam and Team Cee-Lo.

Did the right people go home? How the heck did Ashley wind up in the bottom three? And who are you most excited to see perform next week?

Geoff Berkshire
Contributor

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Geoff Berkshire lives in Los Angeles and writes about film and television. His work has appeared in Variety, the L.A. Times, and Premiere, among other publications. He is the former national entertainment editor and film critic for Metromix.com.