Did 'Idol' Use Pia and Mark to Mess With 'The Voice'? If So, It Didn't Work

By Rob Shuter Posted Apr 27th 2011 02:15PM

Head-scratching TV insiders are wondering today, did 'American Idol,' which controls every appearance of every finalist with an iron fist, deliberately allow kicked-off Pia Toscano to appear on 'Dancing With the Stars' last night to mess with a competing talent show? We're of course talking about NBC's 'The Voice,' which debuted the same hour as 'Dancing' on ABC.

"Of course they did," one NBC producer not directly tied to 'The Voice' tells me. "'Idol' has not allowed any of its talent from the present season appear on 'Dancing,' and all of a sudden they book Pia!"

My industry source believes FOX may have been worried about another singing competition "stealing their thunder, so they did everything they could to sabotage it."

Well, if it's true then mission not accomplished. Via the Hollywood Reporter: "With a 5.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 11.8 million viewers overall, it is the top-rated series premiere on a major network since CBS' Undercover Boss debut following the 2010 Super Bowl."

More importantly, 'The Voice' bested 'Dancing' -- which saw the departure of Chris Jericho -- in the 9-10 p.m. time-slot. Ouch!

Sabotage theories aside, Pia's performance was also great due to the rumors that she is dating professional dancer Mark Ballas, who performed while she sang. At the end of her number, host Tom Bergeron slighly asked Pia about her status with Mark. "He's a wonderful person," she replied.

"This was too good an opportunity to miss," a past 'Idol' winner who asked to remain anonymous tells me. "The connection between Mark and Pia was perfect to ensure great ratings for 'Dancing With the Stars' at the expense of the new show."

The former 'Idol' likens the show's efforts to take on its competition as a war game, adding, "If you think for one minute that the producers of 'Idol' are not thinking everything through like a chess game, then you don't understand why this show is such a monster success."

We only wish Simon Cowell's new competition, 'The X-Factor,' was debuting during an 'Idol' season. Now THAT would be war!

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Tags: American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Mark Ballas, Pia Toscano, The Voice

Comments

(174)

Wednesday 27 April

By Heidi

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I don't watch American Idol but I did hear this girl sing last night and perhaps it was just my hearing, but I thought she was way off key.

By JJ

Pia already has a hollywood reputation as another cheater.Just like leann or christina and look what happened to them when people realized what they are all about.down the road Carlos the ex B/F will wind up married with a couple of kids a white picket fence and a nice life with a loving faithful wife,while pia will just have her career and go from guy to guy like so many other hollywood skanks do.Its what you call karma when you take a guy that stood by you for four years and supported you when you were nobody and you get half a break and can't wait to trade up.And ballas will dump her just like he did so many others on DWTS.If Carlos goes back with her he's nuts,he works at a place where there are wall to wall women at weddings and things he will have no trouble finding another girl.And if she's a normal girl he won't have to worry about her cheating on him...

By purplehntr

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

OMG JJ take a freakin breath! Do you know what a period at the end of a sentence looks like????? Learn some grammar before you type a page long run-on sentence.

By NAUGHTY BUT NICE ROB

THIS IS SOOO NAUGHTY OF IDOL...YOU KNOW THEY DD IT ON PURPOSE!

By busymissnanci

Of course they did, Rob.....THey had to throw her some sort of bone after they had pretty much let the world know that she was going to win Idol. Get over yourself. The conspiracy doesn't work. "The Voice" has only one good thing - Blake Shelton.

By kathy

Several friends and I watched "Voice" and we were blown away, honestly we never expected to even like it, thought we'd get a good chuckle watching it. Surprisingly enough, we found we absolutley loved the concept and found it entertaining, fun and dislaying some real talent. As good if not better than "Idol".

By DD

MICHEY,
YOU ARE JUST A DOMB JEALOUS. FOR SURE YOU WILL LIKE TO BE HER, SINGING FOR DWT, AND BE INVOLVE WITH HOLLYWOOD, WITH A GOOD FUTURE FULL OF MONEY.

By rg

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

Pia has great TITS , and should get naked as soon as possible.

By Michael Lassell

Not only is Pia a crashing bore, but so is Dancing with the Stars. THE VOICE is a much, much better program.

By MijaDiamond

There are many singers who were voted off AI that can sing, Pia is one of them. She has a beautiful voice, for those who don't know using racial remarks, shows how ignorant you really are. Networks do what they have to do for ratings. NBC or whatever network shows VOICE do what they have to dodraw in people. Lets not forget May, Nov, Feb are sweep months for those who dont know. If you dont like a certain show or persons voice dont watch or listen to them preform. Bottom line.

By Denny

Well - It worked for me. I watched "Dancing" instead of "Voice", and the fact that Pia was on the show was the final deciding factor. She is so much better than the others on Idol, and will have a great career.

By kimball hawkins

slighly is actually spelled slyly.

By Soonya

She has a nice voice but there is no emotion when she sings.....it almost seems fake.

kAYE,

You are a domb jealous. Fell sorry for you.

By vickie

Pia will sell more records then anyone on idol...except for james,lauren...scotty will sell country but I wouldn't buy it..haley ,I couldn't listen to one song let alone a whole CD...every song sounds like her voice is straining.......Pia was voted off because most people thought she was safe..

By mmm2011

Whatever she can not sing, hello that is why she sang safe all the time,cause that is all she could do. BORING!!!!!!!!!!!

By Bob

Vickie nailed it. Oh and by the way, you are not voted off, you are off when you receive the least amount of votes. Most people thought Pia was safe.

BTW, why does everyone have to be so mean? Can't you express an opinion without bashing someone? I don't recall this young lady announcing that she was beautiful, or a great singer.

When someone expresses their opinion about someone being beautiful, or having a great voice, many of you start bashing the person that we are all talking about. What the heck is wrong with you people?

By Jenn

Those of you saying she was boring are sooo right! I didn't even know she was on the show, I don't watch this particular show, so it didn't deter me from watching The Voice last night. Sometimes I wonder if they think the public has little minds that they can be so easily persuaded to watch something just because someone is dating someone? I know it works sometimes, but not always. I'm glad they lost in the ratings! Shows them they're not as smart as they think they are.

the ratings always fall on the result show ...I have been watching since the beginning...everyone switches back and forth to see goes off instead of watching the whole show...that's all...nothing to it....the other show will eventually fall in ratings like all new shows do...

By Rick

Maybe I should stay out of the fray, because I don't watch any of these shows, but....my only exposure to this girl is from the embedded video in the article above. She's no Edith Piaf, but it sounds like her voice has as much "feeling" or "emotion" as most of today's pop frauds. What's with all the bogus negativity aimed at her?

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