Singing Bee vs Don't Forget the Lyrics [Merged Threads]

[2Epcot]

'Singing Bee' Buzzes onto NBC

Original Zap2it: Friday, June 22, 2007 / Updated by 2Epcot, July 10, 2007


The battle of the televised karaoke competitions has been joined, with NBC currently leading FOX in the race to get its show on the air.

During June 20ths "Last Comic Standing," NBC ran a promo for its show, "The Singing Bee," which features contestants singing along with well-known tunes, then continuing after the music stops and a prompter with the lyrics goes blank. Success presumably leads to a prize of some sort.

The show premieres Tuesday, July 10, following "America's Got Talent," the promo said. Not at all coincidentally, that's one day before FOX puts its own, similarly constructed show, "Don't Forget the Lyrics!," on the air.

In "Don't Forget the Lyrics!," contestants will, per a FOX press release, "sing alongside the studio band as the lyrics are projected on screen - but suddenly the music will stop and the words will disappear. Will the contestants belt out the correct missing lyric, or freeze under pressure?"

If they successfully complete 10 songs, they walk away with a $1 million prize. Wayne Brady will host.

Joey Fatone was quickly added as host, that's because the show initially wasn't scheduled to premiere until the fall, where it was set to be part of a Friday-night rotation with returning game show "1 vs. 100." Now, though, the network wants to beat FOX's show onto the air.

The two networks have played this one-upping game in the past, notably with a pair of boxing reality shows in the 2004-05 season. After NBC made a splashy announcement of its show, "The Contender," FOX countered with a series of its own, "The Next Great Champ."

FOX got "Champ" on the air first in the fall of '04, but no one watched and the series was shunted off to Fox Sports Net to finish its run. "The Contender" debuted in early 2005 and suffered meager ratings as well, though ESPN picked it up for a second season last summer.

[Chrisx2]

OK, I watched both of these and I think I like Singing Bee better. Don't Forget the Lyrics just drags things out way too long. Last night's contestant sang an entire verse, chorus and part of the second verse of ABC by the Jackson 5 before the 4 missing words came up. I love Wayne Brady but can't stand game shows that take FOREVER to play.

[MMouse6937]

I watched the Singing Bee last night (it was a replay of the first show) and I LOVED it. I love Joey Fatone anyways, but I thought it was cool. I was standing up in my house with my little Pinto dog singing and dancing along.

[DisneyJunkie]

I haven't seen Singing Bee, yet, but if its the same as Don't Forget the Lyrics, a person would be better of applying for DFTL because Singing Bee only awards $50,000 while DFTL awards $1,000,000. But I do agree that it's ridiculous how long everything is stretched out on DFTL. They could have had 2 or 3 players competing, instead the idiot girls "hems and haws" her way through the most simple of songs (probably at the producers' prompting) when she knows full well she's got it correct. I think at one point, the show was back from commercial break a total of 1.5 minutes before it cut to another one.

[GreenBeetle]

OK, I watched both of these and I think I like Singing Bee better. Don't Forget the Lyrics just drags things out way too long. Last night's contestant sang an entire verse, chorus and part of the second verse of ABC by the Jackson 5 before the 4 missing words came up. I love Wayne Brady but can't stand game shows that take FOREVER to play.

I totally agree. I watched both also and Singing Bee moved things along quicker. Lots of fun.

[JanetMegan]

I haven't watched DFTL yet (have both on the DVR) but I watched Singing Bee last night and liked it. I like a cute 30 min show that's basically about nothing to watch while I eat dinner It fit the bill!

[SBETigg]

OK, I watched both of these and I think I like Singing Bee better. Don't Forget the Lyrics just drags things out way too long. Last night's contestant sang an entire verse, chorus and part of the second verse of ABC by the Jackson 5 before the 4 missing words came up. I love Wayne Brady but can't stand game shows that take FOREVER to play.

I watched both, too, and I much prefer Don't Forget the Lyrics over Singing Bee. The Singing Bee seemed too jumbled and and pointless to me. I liked the game structure of the Wayne Brady show much better. It made more sense to me. Not every contestant will last as long as the first one did, and she was pretty obnoxious.

[January-2007]

We don't get many channels, just NBC, PBS, CW, and a couple local ones... Therefore I didn't know there was another show just like the Singing Bee. That's just silly. I watched at least the first half or so of the premiere of the Singing Bee and it was just so irritating and pointless that I had to turn it off.

It's going to be a part of a Friday night rotation with 1 vs. 100? I actually like that show, it's probably the only game show that we actually like..

[DisneyJunkie]

Has anyone else caught this show on Fox? I was looking forward to it based on the previews. I haven't yet caught The Singing Bee, but I can't imagine it would be any more drug-out and boring as this show. Good grief, it seems like they're taking a commercial break after every 1.5 minutes of show, and their dramatic pauses as they wait for the right answer are just ridiculous. In a show where they could easily have numerous people playing, they have one person, and they get to a certain point and you have to wait unti the next night to see if they got anywhere. I also noticed that in every show so far, Wayne Brady has worn the exact same outfit. I guess they taped about 15 shows in a row in one sitting and will be playing them out the next few weeks.

[SBETigg]

I've watched both, and the Singing Bee has a much faster pace and offers slightly more excitement with competition between numerous contestants instead of sticking with one, but both are along the same lines. At first watch, I thought I preferred the Wayne Brady show over the Singing Bee, but after watching both again- I don't like either, but the Singing Bee was more watchable. I probably won't be watching either one again, unless it's just on in the background while I'm working.