« Greek premieres and a Big Brother highlight | Main | Spielberg, Big Brother ... and Earnest »

Singing Bee vs. Don't Forget the Lyrics | July 12, 2007

I have watched both the NBC's Singing Bee and Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics this week, and I don't know which of the shows I prefer. In fact, I'm not even sure whether I like either of them. Singing Bee was announced for NBC's fall schedule and had to be moved up to this past Tuesday after Fox announced that it would be ripping off the idea and premiering it during the summer (that's a standard play from Fox's playbook). Both of these gameshows feature ordinary Joes and Janes attempting to sing the hits of yesterday and today. Of course, minor complications are thrown their way.

The Singing Bee, hosted by Joey Fatone, is done in a more traditional gameshow format. The show starts with a group of contestants, who are wittled down, round by round, until one remains to participate in the final round. In the first round, the contestants compete to see who can sing correctly a missing line from a song. This round actually is a bit annoying because of how nitpicky the judging is. I grew tired of hearing "Ohhhh, you added an extra "ah" here." The second round is more challenging becuase the singers are given several phrases of a song and then they get a phrase where the words are jumbled on-screen, and they must unscramble the jumble of words and sing them. That's a bit more fun. In the final round the sole remaining competitor attempts to win 50,000 dollars by singing the missing lines from several songs in a row. It's sort of a lightning round, I guess. The set is bright and colorful. There are dancers dressed as bees. Yes, bees. In fact, there's an animated bee that makes an appearance in the show's logo. There's something about the show that feels very daytime TV.

Don't Forget the Lyrics uses a more modern, Millionaire-inspired, format. It's hosted by Wayne Brady, who guides one contestant on a journey to a million dollars. On Don't Forget the Lyrics, contestant have a choice of nine categories, and at each step up the ladder to a million dollars, the contestants have to choose a category and sing a song, filling in a line of missing lyrics. After the contestant sings the lyrics, Wayne asks if the contestant wants to lock in their lyrics. The contestant also gets three lifelines. Unlike Singing Bee, this is a thoroughly modern gameshow.

There are problems with both shows. Singing Bee, first. Joey Fatone is no Wayne Brady. I'm a fan of Fatone, but Wayne Brady is simply better at being quick-witted. That's a necessity in a game show host. The prize money on the show also seems ridiculous. I recognize that The Singing Bee is probably easier to win than Don't Forget the Lyrics, but fifty thousand dollars? That's all? I also feel that the game is a little too easy. I do like the variety that using the multi-round format provides. Don't Forget the Lyrics, on the other hand, has to rely too heavily on Wayne Brady to make the show interesting. Each round is the exact same thing. The songs do get appreciably more difficult (Walk Like an Egyptian?) as the contestants advance, but it's the same thing over and over again. I think these are two average shows that could learn something from each other. Of course, I'm left with one question: Is it fun to watch Karaoke when you haven't been drinking?

Posted by earnest in Earnest's | permalink