‘The Voice’ EP: There Was ‘Never Any Conversation’ About Skipping Season 19 Due To The Pandemic

NBC

The show must go on! ‘The Voice’ returns for season 19 on Oct. 19, and EP Audrey Morrissey revealed there was never talk about ‘skipping a season or pushing it’ because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2020 fall TV season is underway, with many TV shows filming amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. One of those shows is The Voice. Last season, the live shows went totally virtual. Season 19 is kicking off in-studio with safety protocols in place.

The show could have easily postponed to 2021, but executive producer Audrey Morrissey didn’t see that as an option. She told media, including HollywoodLife, that it was not on “many people’s minds” to cancel season 19. “You just have to manifest things and keep positive and just know that where there’s a will, there’s a way we could figure it out,” she said. “That said, could that have happened or could we have needed to push really dramatically? I guess that was a possibility.”

Audrey noted that there was “never any conversation about pushing it, and I think part of the reason that didn’t happen is we just did it.” She added: “There was no time that I was ever talking with anybody at NBC about skipping a season or pushing it. All my conversations and my mindset were always like, ‘OK, well if this happens, we’ll do this, and we’re working on plans with this, and I’m talking to these people about this technology.’ It was like, we’re doing it. It’s just a matter of how.”

Audrey said the “main focus” in front of the cameras and behind the scenes is trying to keep The Voice “the show everybody loves” while staying safe. The executive producer revealed that on set everyone was “absolutely vigilant about the safety protocols, including testing the coaches religiously.”

The Voice has mostly finished filming all the episodes before the live shows. Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, John Legend, and Kelly Clarkson are the coaches for season 19. The Voice will air Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.