I like it on its own merits, although the cheese is largely gone. The Velveeta factor — the way it apparently unintentionally aped some really bad 1970s variety shows  — was the thing that first drew me to The Show many years ago. But its competitors started to outflank it by becoming, you know, singing competitions with more modern edges. Those shows use real musicians with (at least some) real relevance to judge and coach. And The Show spiraled, causing its original producers to get kicked to the curb after last year.

The new judge lineup is fun, and the development I enjoy the most is that there is almost no dumbshaming of truly talentless/weird/medicated wannabes. That whole wing never added as much to Show lore as the producers thought it did. I’m glad it’s gone.

What we have in its place is a pretty good singing game show where a lot of people appear to be having a lot of good times so far. I’ll take it.