Go Patti LaBelle! And go Philly!

NBC has put together a music competition that’s family friendly and appropriate for the holiday season: the four-day “Clash of the Choirs” starting Monday night for $250,000 in charity. (The finale is Thursday.) They brought in five celebs to compile choirs from each hometown: top stars are R&B diva LaBelle and soul crooner Michael Bolton, followed by Nick Lachey (“98 Degrees,” Jessica Simpson’s hubby) and Kelly Rowland (Destiny’s Child) and mid-level country star Blake Shelton, who’s B level at best even in the country world with three no. 1 hits and 13 top 40 hits since 2001.

Each celeb held auditions in their hometowns and picked 20 people for a choir.

One observation: having the other celebs “judge” each other’s choir is pure silliness and a waste of time. Nobody was going to say anything bad about their competitors no matter how blah they were. Simon would just roll his eyes watching this spectacle.

For all of its good intentions, this show is probably going to bomb. Choirs are not the sexiest draw, especially for younger viewers. It just seems like too much of a stretch as producers try yet another permutation of “Idol.” If the choirs were amazing, I’d feel okay about this but outside of Patti’s team, the performances were too spotty and some of the song picks highly questionable. Natasha Bedingfield? Bon Jovi? Tom Cochrane? Huh?

Here are my more specific thoughts on the five choirs from best to worst.

1- Team LaBelle from Philadelphia I have a bias toward Patti LaBelle (above) because I got to meet her earlier in March at a Wal-Mart and she was nothing short of a delight. Chatty and funny, she’s also a diabetic (like me and Elliott.) She’s imbues the show with humor and grace. I loved her reaction when auditioners sang “Lady Marmalade” over and over - and how she pushed for her singer, the not-so-obvious white guy with real chops and soul vs. a big Ruben-type who didn’t quite have the charisma. As for the choir’s “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands,” it was inspiring, dynamic and vocally superior to the competitors. This was a true team effort, just brilliant. You can see why the show producers placed them at the end.

2- Team Rowland from Houston Kelly offered a very faithful version of George Michael’s “Freedom,” which has a wonderful, uplifting chorus for a choir. She gave solos to the Asian dude and the black guy with a cowboy hat. They were both okay, not great. Overall, I liked it, didn’t love it. This was a serious distant second.

And the bottom three, well, it was close call. It’s hard to say which was the worst. None really impressed me.

3- Team Shelton from Oklahoma City Blake admitted he knew zip about putting a choir together and it showed. I loved how he picked the brains of a choral director, then cut him. Funny! He smartly picked a couple of military guys to virtually guarantee his choir will be back tomorrow. He ended up selecting a rather tired Tom Cochrane rock song “Life is a Highway.” The choreography was fun and there was decent chemistry. I wish the male vocals had more stage presence but the vocals were adequate.

4- Team Lachey from Cincinnati First of all, while “Unwritten” isn’t a half bad pop song, it’s still too poppy for a choir, even with the gospel elements amped up to 11. The two lead singers he opened with were relatively weak and lacking in stage presence. The choreography was incredibly cheesy. It was pretty darn tepid, even with a spirited ending.

5- Team Bolton from New Haven Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” for a choir??? Where was the beat boxing? :) The lead guy who opened wasn’t half bad but it wasn’t quite a team effort. I did enjoy seeing the 77-year-old grandma gal singing the chorus to a Bon Jovi song. This was definitely the worst song choice for a choir and they suffered as a result.

My prediction is Lachey’s group is a goner because he went first and Bolton has more appeal probably for the types of folks voting. Lachey’s crowd probably isn’t watching this show but Bolton’s certainly is.