NBC’s ‘The Voice’ season 5: Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green returns official

While it is debatable just how excited you really are about this, the news is nonetheless official. After a great deal of waiting and debate, the original judging panel on “The Voice” is going to be back in action very soon.

On Friday, NBC confirmed that Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green, who both took some time off this spring to work on some other projects along with a few concerts, have both decided to return for the fifth season. Not only that, but Adam Levine and Blake Shelton (the core of the show when it comes to goofy humor, and the only two coaches to have won) are also going to be back for another go-around.

In a statement, network programming head Robert Greenblatt confirmed this news with what has to be one of the most overly-nice series of sentences of all time:

“We’re very fortunate to have these six incredible artists to weave in and out of the show as their performing and recording schedules permit … The show has taken off largely due to the rapport and commitment of these great coaches, in addition to the expert hosting of Carson Daly.”

In the end, we think that come the end of season 5, the show could really start to lose its luster somewhat. The problem with airing the show twice a year is that it feels less like an event, and thus the winners are not as special or as separate from everyone else. Just look for example at Javier Colon and Jermaine Paul vs. Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips.

If you did prefer Usher and Shakira, which are certainly nice if not particularly exciting during the live rounds, the good news here is that both parties are going to likely be back once again in season 6 while Cee Lo and Christina take some more time off. The show has a pretty good system going right now, and so long as the ratings clobber almost everything else on television, we have a hard time seeing that changing.

Photo: NBC