Hyphen TV: Constructive Criticism

JR and Diego show off how they can sing and hold out their hands at the same time

With the vice presidential debate on, it was another thin week for Hyphen TV. The battle rounds began on The Voice, and our man, JR, was paired up against Diego Val to perform "Jesse's Girl." It seemed that JR had a leg up since he was familiar with the song, picked by team coach CeeLo, while the Peruvian-born Diego was not. Guest coach Rob Thomas complimented JR's "really cool, smooth, almost R&B" voice, and when he heard about JR's YouTube popularity he commented, "I sold out the Staples Center and I don't have 44 million views!"

Before the battle, JR went in for a handshake, but it was a fakeout. I'm sorry, but isn't it always lame when people do that? My grumpiness was settled by the sight of JR's parents enthusiastically dancing along to their son's performance in the audience. Aww. Afterward, Adam said that he's "still recovering" from not being chosen as JR's coach. Blake thought JR was the better performer of the pair, but Christina commented that Diego's vocal tone was stronger. Although coach CeeLo said that JR was "so refined," he went with Diego, and none of the other judges used a steal on JR. At least, he went out with a good attitude -- before leaving JR said, "I really am thankful for all the constructive criticism." We'll be watching you on YouTube, JR!

JR regrets not having extreme enough hair

On The X-Factor's auditions, we barely got a glance at Brandon Hassan of Irving, TX, but he popped up again after making it through Hollywood week...only to be eliminated. But wait! At the last second, Simon brought together Brandon and four other solo male performers to create the new group Playback. The Playback boys and five other groups all headed to Simon's house in Miami, where they performed "Rich Girl$" for Simon and guest mentor Marc Anthony. Marc was bored during the song, saying that he was looking for planes while they were singing, but Simon disagreed: "There's something kind of naive and fun and likable about them." Will Playback be one of the four groups to make it to the live shows? We'll find out this week!