‘The Voice’ expands to two nights a week; ‘America’s Got Talent’ to premiere in May sweeps

Jesse Campbell and Anthony Evans check in with their coach, Christina Aguilera, during the battle rounds on “The Voice.” (Lewis Jacobs - NBC) In the wake of big ratings for the second season of “The Voice,” NBC will expand the singing competition show to two nights a week, with a two-hour live performance show on Mondays followed by a one-hour results show on Tuesdays, beginning April 3.

Last year, the show aired both a performance show and results night for the last two weeks of the season — this time, the show will pull double duty on NBC’s schedule for six weeks until the finale.

Makes sense, given that the singing competition is by far NBC’s highest-rated show. According to the most recent Nielsen stats, “The Voice” was the sixth most-watched series on broadcast primetime TV last week with about 15 million viewers. The next most-watched NBC show? Lisa Kudrow’s ancestry reality series “Who Do You Think You Are?” with 7.4 million viewers, ranking No. 39.

Meanwhile, NBC has decided to premiere “America’s Got Talent” right in the middle of May sweeps (approximately two weeks earlier than last year), in which shock jock Howard Stern will make his reality show judging debut. Once “The Voice” wraps up on May 8, “Talent” will have a two-night premiere on May 14 and 15.

And in order to juggle this new lineup, starting April 3, “The Biggest Loser” will be trimmed down to an hour on Tuesdays. The weight-loss series has taken a ratings nosedive lately, its most recent episode grabbing only about 6 million viewers, compared to approximately 10 million in its heyday.