Former *NSYNC singer and Dancing with the Stars runner-up Joey Fatone and Phil Gurin, co-creator and executive producer of The Singing Bee, talked to the press today about the new fall season of NBC's karaoke-style musical game show. The Singing Bee, the ultimate sing-along series, enjoyed such success when it premiered this summer that NBC added it to the fall lineup.  Fatone will continue this fall as host of the reality show.

The fall season premieres on Tuesday September 25 at 9:30pm.

Fatone said that he wouldn't be a successful contestant on The Singing Bee. "I would suck," he said. He said that he would be able to rock the mic to "Jesse's Girl," but would have a hard time remembering all the words to Don McLean's "American Pie" or "It's the End of the World As We Know It" by REM. However, Gurin was quick to point out that Fatone would be a great contestant because of his winsome personality and would fit right in with the party atmosphere of the game show.

In fact, Gurin commented that it was Fatone's personality which made him so successful on Dancing with the Stars and which, ultimately, was the reason why he was chosen to host The Singing Bee. The two met when their mutual agents set up a meeting. Joey walked in and they had a blast, and he knew he had found his host, recalled Gurin.

Because of their tight production schedule—they have shot the first nine shows in just three days—Fatone hasn't had much time to jam backstage with The Singing Bee's house band, Ray Chew and the Groove. Once the schedule eases up a bit, Fatone is looking forward to getting his musical groove on with them.

Fatone's and Gurin's favorite mangled lyrics from the show are "Excuse me while I kiss this guy," sung by the cage fighter who competed on the show this summer.

Fatone didn't go into the hosting gig with any expectations other than to have a lot of fun. The Singing Bee appealed to him because it has such a high-energy concept. He tries to have fun in all his endeavors, including hosting the red carpet arrival for the Emmy Awards for the TV Guide network with co-host Lisa Rinna.

Executive producer Phil Gurin shared some new details on what to expect this season. He promises that there will be the same high energy as in the summer, but this fall, there will be more emphasis on head-to-head competition. The top of the show will begin with four contestants, instead of six, and the two contestants who answer two questions correctly will move on to the next round. There will be new props, such as the "cone of silence" which allows two people to sing at the same time, except that one person will not be able to hear the other. There will also be theme shows throughout the season, as well as celebrity musical guests who will appear to sing their classic songs. Gurin kept mum on the identities of these guests, however, saying only that they are not ready to announce just yet who they are.

At the end of the conference call, Phil Gurin said that there will be Singing Bee merchandise, such as DVD games, available in stores in time for Christmas, and Fatone joked that he is waiting for Singing Bee underwear, with a bee on the butt, to hit stores.


-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of NBC)