I guess NBC is getting the last laugh. Sort of. Well, not really. Nevertheless, when they first launched The Singing Bee in 2007, the FOX copycat machine was in full effect. In fact, NBC had to push up the premiere of Bee to try and get an edge on FOX's Don't Forget the Lyrics. But while Lyrics has been canceled, Bee is still going strong. Just not on NBC.
Actually, by broadcast network standards, it's still doing horrible, but its 1.5 million viewer debut back in June on CMT was enough to make it the highest-rated series debut ever on the network. CMT is so excited with The Singing Bee, they've asked for 20 more installments. The show went country when it switched to CMT, dumping Joey Fatone in favor of Melissa Peterman (Reba) as host, and focusing more on the sad, sad lyrics that make up country music.
If I were NBC, I'd go ahead and get excited about this. Sure, they canceled the show and it was performing horribly for them. But by doing so, they created a big hit for CMT. And they can still claim that their show outlasted FOX's copycat. Sort of. Well, not really.
For the past two weeks, I've been catching NBC's Celebrity Circus after So You Think You Can Dance aired. Even if this means I only saw 2/3 of both Circus episodes, I saw enough of the show to know that soul singer Blu Cantrell needs to learn some manners.
I didn't know the American Grammy Award-nominated R&B singer before last week's premiere of Circus so I had no expectations. Even if I was mildly amused by the feature that showed her trying to learn her first performance, The Spanish Web, in between her sleeping here, there and everywhere and being lazy, and was somewhat entertained by her demonstration on the show, Blu Cantrell can't count me out as a potential fan of hers. If you haven't watched this week's episode, stop reading now.
If you thought The Singing Bee was bad, wait till you get a load of this. TLC is premiering it's new show The Singing Office at the end of June. The show will be hosted by ex-*NSYNCer Joey Fatone and ex-Spice Girl Mel B. Each week, Joey and Mel B. will surprise a different office and hold an impromptu audition. From each location, they will recruit a team of five for the next round of competiton. Once formed, the teams will go to "boot camp" as the hosts coach the teams on both their performance quality and their singing. Finally, the teams will compete on stage for a shot at $50,000.
Like I said yesterday, the press kits have started to come in to the TV Squad offices. Some of them are way cool, some are downright silly and some are nonexistent. Just last week I got one in from the TV Guide Channel for their upcoming red carpet coverage of the Emmy awards. OK, sounds reasonable, right?
When I opened the box and the hermetically sealed canister within, what I saw made me fear that I had just unleashed some unseen beast unto my unsuspecting family. As it turns out, only my dog was in danger.
This week, two networks premiered game shows that are really similar. NBC launched The Singing Bee while FOX premiered Don't Forget the Lyrics. Which one will last longer? Will both tank? Or maybe both will survive thanks to their lead in: America's Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance, respectively.
Now that both premieres aired it's time to decide if you'll be a singing bee or you'll try to not forget the lyrics.
Are you ready to sing like a bee? NBC hopes you are as starting on Tuesday, July 10, the network will air The Singing Bee. In a press release sent earlier today, the network confirms that Joey Fatone will host this sing-along variety game show.
Fatone is best known for having been a member of *NSYNC. However, he recently made his way on the TV map by finishing second in the most recent installment of ABC's Dancing with the Stars.
(S04E19) After ten weeks, nineteen episodes, and an uncountable number of teases about results coming after the break, it all came down to tonight. As we have come to expect from the finale, ABC pulled out all the stops, bringing back all of the contestants, the pros, and the past champions. Also expected, they allotted an hour more airtime than they really needed, which led to a night that was heavy with pre-taped packages.
(S04E18) As Tom said, "Ten weeks, and it all comes down to this." We could argue about the order of the eliminations, who should have stayed longer (Shandi), and who hung around way too long (Billy Ray). But I think in the end, the right teams made it to the finals. There has been a lot of dancing over the previous nine weeks, and after all of it, these are the three teams that stood out above the rest.
With only three teams left, and the big disco ball on the line, each team has three performances to do this week. One is held off for the results show, but tonight we got to see each of them in the Judge's Choice round, and the much anticipated Freestyle. Let's get to it.
(S04E15) I thought that Mandee made a great comment on the post for last week's results show. She said, "You know, the Results show has been morphing into a terrific '60s style variety show, with comedy segments, guest musical performers, and, of course, lots of dancing. A slice of retro-cool, for the whole family, from grandma to pre-tweens." I completely agree with that.
The results show has always had to fight the problem that they only have about two minutes of actual results for their 60 minute show. Right now, it's as good as it has ever been. It's always going to be behind the performance show, because the star's performances are what it's all about, but the producers deserve credit for how much work is going into the results show. Enough about that though, we have results to get to.
We are still a couple weeks away from the big finale of Dancing With The Stars (I'm betting on Joey vs. Apolo) but rumors about the next cast of celebrities are already circulating. One of those being mentioned is boxer Oscar De La Hoya.
According to the article at contactmusic.com, Oscar has said that once he retires from boxing he will do Dancing With The Stars. That would make him the third professional boxer to enter the competition, following Evander Holyfield and Laila Ali. I think it would be a great bit of casting for the show. Oscar has a huge following, and while I have never seen him do the foxtrot, I'm reasonably confident that he would be successful making the transition to dancer.
(S04E11) ABC brought George Lopez back out of mothballs this week, so there was no 8:00 recap show. Instead, Tom and Samantha ran through the performances quickly at the beginning of the show. The best part of that was seeing Ian's reaction to the judge's comments last night. Much like many of the readers here, Ian didn't really understand where they were coming from.
It's a good point, and something that seems to happen every season. For whatever reason, the judges get a burr under their saddle and just go after one of the better contestants, while soft-pedaling some of the lesser routines. His best course of action is to move along and know that he's in good company.
(S04E10) With only seven couples left, it's getting tough to fill that 90 minute block. Rather than force ABC to trot out another sure to disappoint sit-com, the powers that be at DWTS added the group swing performance. Having now seen it, I have to say it was a good idea. We'll get to that in a moment though. First, the couples all had to perform for the judges.
(S04E08) Leeza Gibbons is gone, which means that there are only two women left to compete. After some of the men's performances tonight, I doubt that Laila and Heather are worried. There was an informal "muscle shirt" theme this evening, and the men's attempts at fun and sexy had mixed results.
(S04E07) They opened the show tonight by naming Apolo and Joey as the standouts. I think they have it right on that one. Ian and Laila have the stuff to get themselves back in contention, but as we sit now, Apolo and Joey are a step ahead of everyone else. Two steps in front of a few people.
When it came time to pick the encore, Len credited Ian, Apolo, and Heather as having great performances the night before, but the encore went to Joey & Kym. It was a good choice. They were the best of the night, and their paso doble was just as good the second time around. They were followed up by the first musical performance of the night.
I guess NBC is getting the last laugh. Sort of. Well, not really. Nevertheless, when they first launched The Singing Bee in 2007, the FOX copycat machine was in full effect. In fact, NBC had to push up the premiere of Bee to try and get an edge on FOX's Don't Forget the Lyrics. But while Lyrics has been canceled, Bee is still going strong. Just not on NBC.
For the past two weeks, I've been catching NBC's 
If you thought The Singing Bee was bad, wait till you get a load of this. TLC is premiering it's new show 
Like I said 
This week, two networks premiered game shows that are really similar. NBC launched The Singing Bee while FOX premiered Don't Forget the Lyrics. Which one will last longer? Will both tank? Or maybe both will survive thanks to their lead in: America's Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance, respectively.
Are you ready to sing like a bee? NBC hopes you are as starting on Tuesday, July 10, the network will air 
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(S04E15) 
We are still a couple weeks away from the big finale of Dancing With The Stars (I'm betting on Joey vs. Apolo) but rumors about the next cast of celebrities are already circulating. One of those being mentioned is boxer Oscar De La Hoya.
(S04E11) ABC brought George Lopez back out of mothballs this week, so there was no 8:00 recap show. Instead, Tom and Samantha ran through the performances quickly at the beginning of the show. The best part of that was seeing Ian's reaction to the judge's comments last night. Much like many of the readers here, Ian didn't really understand where they were coming from. 
(S04E07) They opened the show tonight by naming Apolo and Joey as the standouts. I think they have it right on that one. Ian and Laila have the stuff to get themselves back in contention, but as we sit now, Apolo and Joey are a step ahead of everyone else. Two steps in front of a few people. 
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