NBC's The Singing Bee VS. FOX's Don't Forget the Lyrics

As a self-proclaimed popular music lyric master I was excited to hear about the prospect of a game show starting this summer where contestants competed to see who was more knowledgeable about lyrics to popular songs. When I found out there would be TWO shows like this I thought, even better! After all, it's not like there is a huge selection of interesting and entertaining programs on tv in the summer. I counted down to this week and eagerly sat down to see how these shows were going to work. Although both shows are obviously based on the same premise (knowing lyrics to popular songs), they go about this in two very different ways. Here is a breakdown of how the shows work and some important aspects of both.

"The Singing Bee" on NBC (Tuesday, 9:30pm EST)

Background:

According to the NBC website this show is produced by Phil Gurin and Robert C. Horowitz, who are listed for their work on the Miss Universe Franchise and Super Bowl Greatest Commercials Top 40 Countdown respectively. The host for the show is Joey Fatone of N'Sync fame. Their tagline is "You don't have to sing it well. You just have to sing it right."

How it works:

The show is divided into 3 different rounds in which the original group of 6 contestants gradually gets narrowed down until they have only one left. The first round is simple spelling bee style with the contestants each getting the chance to sing lyrics to a song chosen by the show in advance and the first 4 correct answers moving on to the next round. The next round splits the remaining 4 into pairs and each contestant gets a new song and has to fill in the lyrics once again. The twist is that in this round the required lyrics are on a screen in front of them but jumbled so they need to figure out the correct order. A contestant from each pair is eliminated when they miss a lyric. The final two compete with another spelling bee style elimination. Once they are down to one player, that player gets to try their hand at guessing the lyrics to 5 out of 7 songs. Each correct song wins them $5,000 and if they can get 5 right then they will win the game and get a grand prize of $50,000. If they answer 3 wrong the game is over and they only get what they have won up until then.

Sound confusing?? It is. It is also choppy with all the stops and starts between the different rounds and explaining the changes in rules for each round takes time away from the fun stuff as well. In my opinion this made it hard to get into the fun aspect of the show which is, of course, the singing itself.

Extras:

There is a live band that plays each song with singers who perform the vocals until it is time for the contestant to guess the next line. Although the band and vocals were passable, it seemed somewhat abrupt when the singer would suddenly stop and the host would turn to the contestant for their lyrics. There are also Bee Dancers. No, I'm not making this up. Before commercial breaks they would cut to several women in yellow and brown bikini-esque outfits dancing (frankly somewhat poorly) who were referred to as the Bee Dancers.

My thoughts:

In my opinion they took a good idea and made it too complicated for a half hour of mindless television. The audience spends so much time jumping from one thing to another (Bee Dancers?? Seriously??) that it is hard to really get caught up in the fun of trying to see if you can remember the right lyrics before the contestant on tv. After all, isn't that what we all want in a game show...something to make us feel smarter than the people playing on tv? Or is that just me?

"Don't Forget the Lyrics" on FOX (Wednesday, 9:30pm EST and Thursday, 8:30pm EST)

Background:

This show is produced by RDF USA (Wife Swap, Shaq's Big Challenge, Junkyard Wars and more) and Brad Lachman Productions (Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2006 and many other tv specials, many of which are in the World's Funniest...genre). The host is Wayne Brady, best known for "Whose Line is it Anyway" and "The Wayne Brady Show". Tagline: "10 songs, 10 missing lyrics, 1 million dollars...if you don't forget the lyrics."

How it works:

The format here is very similar to another recent game show, "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" also on FOX. The contestant (only one plays at a time in this show) is given 10 categories of songs to choose from and has to correctly give the missing lyrics to one song from each category to win $1,000,000. Each correct answer gives them a portion of the money. If they answer wrong then they lose everything unless they have made it to at least $25,000 after which they are guaranteed to take home at least that much. The contestant picks a category and is then given 2 songs to choose from. They pick which song they would like to sing and then the song is played for them by a band (no vocalist) and the lyrics placed on a screen karaoke style. The contestant must serenade the audience with their rendition of the song and when the lyrics suddenly disappear from the screen they have to keep singing at least 4 words for the first 5 questions and 10 words for the last 5 questions. If they get the lyrics correct then they get to pick a new category and try for more money. There are also 3 hints that can be used a la "Who Wants to be a Millionaire".

So here you have a format basically stolen from other game shows and redone with song lyrics, but it's easy to understand and has a much better flow, in my opinion.

Extras:

The only real extra here is the chance for more personal interaction between the host, the contestant and the contestant's family or friends who have come to cheer them on (and possibly be their hint donor if needed). Wayne Brady provided backup dancing and vocals for one song as well, but no dancers in this show. (Not that they were missed...)

My thoughts:

This was much more of what I was expecting. Opportunities abound to make fun of contestant's vocal ability (or lack thereof) and to try to sing along at home and see how many of the lyrics you know. Since the contestant is singing the whole song there is no awkward pause before they have to give their answer and you see much more of their personality since they are not limited to only singing small phrases.

My rating: "Singing Bee" = C- "...Lyrics" = A

I'll be tuning in to FOX tomorrow to see if the tap dancing entomologist gets her chance at enough money to buy the world's largest ant farm. See what having more time to get to know the contestants allows you to find out???