TV tonight: 'The Voice,' 'Hell's Kitchen'

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

Posted September 9, 2012

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Blind auditions for 'The Voice' begin tonight. Tune in to watch the judges in their spinning chairs. (Credit: By Tyler Golden, NBC)

•Are you ready for some extra football?

ESPN offers a special doubleheader run of Monday Night Football.

The first game features the Bengals and Ravens (7 ET/4 PT); the second, the Chargers and Raiders (10:15 ET/7:15 PT).

•Normally with TV talent shows, the wisest course is to avoid the auditions, which are generally a parade of the sad and deluded, trotted out to show how incredibly amusing the judges are.

But as the show's fans know, that's not true with The Voice (NBC, 8 ET/PT) — the only show that's actually at its best during the audition process, as that's when its trademark spinning chairs take center stage.

The network says it has come up with new ways this season to keep the chairs in play, but just in case those innovations don't work out, chair fans are advised to tune in now.

•Speaking of reality contests, Fox's Hell's Kitchen (8 ET/PT) and MasterChef (9 ET/PT) choose their winners tonight.

There's no earthly reason to care about the results, but reaching them will at least temporarily get Gordon Ramsay off the air.