NBC’s latest reality series, The Singing Bee, is doing so well in the ratings that the network has decided to renew the show for another run during the fall television season.  The premiere drew about 13 million viewers, while the second episode earned a 6.8/11 ratings share.

The karaoke competition will remain on the network’s Tuesday night lineup when it comes in the fall. Hosted by Dancing with the Stars season 4 runner-up Joey Fatone, The Singing Bee starts off each week with six contestants, who then try to advance to the next round by completing songs played on the show.  The first four who provide the right set of lyrics move to the next round, where they go against each other in pairs.  The two contestants from the winning pair then go head-to-head in the championship round.  Whoever wins the championship round gets the chance to earn big money during the Final Countdown.

"You'll see, over the course of the series, everything is fair game over the last 50 years," series creator and executive producer Phil Gurin said of the show’s upcoming episodes.  "You'll see Elvis. You'll see Kelly Clarkson.  You'll see everything in the middle.  We're going to do TV theme songs and pop songs and standards.  We're going to do holiday themes.  We're going to do commercial jingles.  We're going to do every genre of music.”

The Singing Bee premiered one night before FOX’s own karaoke competition, Don’t Forget the Lyrics, hosted by comedian Wayne Brady.  The latter moves at a much slower pace and operates under more rules. Don’t Forget the Lyrics is also drawing far less viewers than its main competitor.

Fatone attributes the show’s immediate success to its bright, cheerful and upbeat presentation and unpredictable participants.

"That's what is so much fun about it," Fatone said.  "You never know what you're going to get. When I put the microphone in front of the person, you don't know what they're going to do.  Either they try to sing the lyrics, or they scream at you.  I've gotten pushed out of the way.  You never know what's going to happen in a live audience."

For Gurin, the show’s appeal is due to its unique style.  “It keeps coming back to the fact that we made a show that was different," he said.  "We made a musical variety game show.  And so we felt all along, and NBC felt all along, once the viewers saw us, hopefully they'd like what we had to offer."


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Detroit Free Press, NBC
(Image Courtesy of NBC)