The Singing Bee (American game show)

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The Singing Bee
The Singing Bee title screen.
Created byPhil Gurin
Bob Horowitz
Presented byJoey Fatone
StarringThe Honey Bees
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes19
Production
Executive producersPhil Gurin
Bob Horowitz
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseJuly 10, 2007 –
December 28, 2007

The Singing Bee is an NBC game show. Originally slated to begin with a six episode series during the fall of 2007, it launched early in reaction to FOX's competing Don't Forget the Lyrics![1]. The Singing Bee premiered with a half-hour episode on July 10 at 9:30pm Eastern/8:30pm Central, beating Don't Forget the Lyrics! to the air by one day. The premiere episode was repeated the following night, July 11, 2007, at 8:30pm Eastern/7:30pm Central. It is hosted by Joey Fatone. The house band, The Groove, is led by Ray Chew and features: Deanna Johnston, Paula MacNeill, Wes Quave, Tom Sartori, Storm Lee, Kelli Sae, Jeschelle Magbitang, Carmen Carter, Kara Shaw, Leah Shaffer, Karen Ashe, Christopher "C.J." Emmons, Vann Johnson and Chris "Breeze" Barczynski. The back-up singers are Toni Scruggs and Tanya Diona. Dancing to the band are the house dancers, The Honeybees: Ferly Prado Dunn, Monique Cash, Holly Cruikshank, and Lisa Byrne.

Combining karaoke singing with a spelling bee-style competition, this show features contestants trying to remember the lyrics to popular songs. In each episode, six contestants (four contestants in season two) will be selected from the audience to play a series of games that test their knowledge of song lyrics. If a contestant makes an error, he or she will forfeit her chance to get into the "musical chairs". If a contestant is not in a musical chair when the round is over, he or she is eliminated.

Due to low ratings, and to make room for The Biggest Loser, NBC put The Singing Bee on hiatus for November sweeps. The Singing Bee returned on December 21, 2007 [2], and aired two new episodes each Friday, before being placed on hiatus again. [3]

On April 2, 2008, NBC announced its schedule for the 2008-2009 television season. The Singing Bee was left off this list, and is presumably cancelled. A spinoff of this show debuted on June 29th, 2008. Its title is The Singing Office. It is hosted by Fatone, as well as Mel B[2].

Format

File:SingingBeeSixContestants.jpg
Host Joey Fatone with the first six contestants.(Season 1 Ep1)

As mentioned, at the start of the show, the band plays a song and the host "randomly" gives audience members a chance to sing part of the song. If they sing it correctly, they become one of the contestants on the show. This part of the show is actually staged, and the contestants are preselected.

Round 1

The host would provide the year the song was released, the performer, and the name of the song. A portion of the song is performed, and then the contestant has to attempt to sing the next line of the song. If correct, they advance to the next round, and a new song is introduced, which the next contestant in line must attempt; if not, they have to step back, and the next person in line tries the same song. A song is thrown out if none of the remaining contestants get the lyric correct. The first four people (three people in season two) who get a song lyric correct move on to the second round. Any contestant who hasn't had a chance and loses returns on a future episode.

Round 2

File:SingingBeeFinal.jpg
Screenshot of Round 2.

The contestants who advanced go up in pairs to play a mini-game. The winner of the game advances to the championship round. (Note that these games are the only ones that have aired so far. As more episodes air, more games will likely be played.)

  • "Scrambled Lyrics": While the band is performing, words from the next line are shown scrambled on screen. The contestant is required to sing the line in its correct order. When one contestant is correct and the other is wrong at any point, the one who was correct moves on to the Championship Round.
  • "Karaoke Challenge": While the band is performing, the contestant sees the words to the song in karaoke fashion. As the contestant sings the song, he or she will also see blanks, each representing a word in the song. The player who fills in the most blanks correctly (out of a possible 15) wins and goes on to the Championship Round. This round is similar to FOX's Don't Forget the Lyrics! because the contestant is the lead singer in this round.
  • "Blind Start": The band plays the beginning notes of a song. When the band stops, the contestant must sing the opening line correctly. One of the three contestants is eliminated from the second round.
  • "Playlist": The three contestants are given 6 categories of song which have comical titles. Whichever two contestants have the most points after the 6 songs move on to the next round.
  • "Singing with the Enemy": The band plays part of a popular song. The first contestant must do the next line when the band stops playing. The band then picks up with the line the contestant said and stops. The next contestant continues on with the song. This goes through 3 passes. The two with the highest score move on.

Chorus Showdown

This follows a similar format to the first round, but instead of singing a line, the contestant is required to sing the entire chorus without mistakes from the song performed. If both are correct or incorrect (sometimes after two rounds), then they go to a tiebreaker, where they are given the year and the name of the performer and the first person to buzz in will be given the option of singing or passing. If the singer is correct, they win. If the singer is wrong, the other contestant wins.

The winner moves on to the Final Countdown.

The Final Countdown

Ray Chew introduces this concluding round by announcing in song: "It's the Final Countdown!" (based on a song called "The Final Countdown" by hard rock band Europe.) Up to 7 songs are performed in a similar manner to the first round, but the contestant knows nothing about the song, (artist, title, year) and thus must use the lyrics in order to win the big money. For each song lyric that is sung correctly, the player wins $5,000. If the player gets five right, then they win $50,000. However, if they sing a lyric incorrectly, a strike is given. If three strikes are given at any point, the game is over, but the contestant still wins whatever money was accumulated up to that point. Beginning in the second season, the winning contestant also defends as champion title to face three more challengers.

Changes for One-Hour Shows

The above format is the standard for a 30-minute episode of the show.

In a one-hour show, several changes are made:

  • There are two qualifying games.
    • In each game, six players (only 5 for season 2) are picked from the audience to play Round 1, however, the first three to complete a lyric (only 5 for season 2) advance.
    • The three players then compete in a Round 2 game. Play continues, including a tie-breaker if needed, until one player remains. In season 2, three rounds are played until three contestants are eliminated.
  • The two survivors of the qualifying games play the Chorus Showdown, the last player standing plays The Final Countdown.
  • Beginning on August 21st, in between some breaks, host Fatone goes into the audience to give an audience member a chance at $500. A question about a song is asked, and if the player gets it right, he/she wins the money. On December 28th, two audience members were challenged to the same lyrics. The contestant who will wait is given headphones so that they cannot hear the other contestant until the song is completed. If both contestants are correct, both win $500. If only one is correct, that contestant wins $1,000.

Ratings

The first episode premiered with 13.1 million viewers. It was the biggest summer premiere since ABC's premiere of Dancing with the Stars[4]. The performance of the show in its first airing led to NBC switching around the fall schedule to give it a permanent timeslot on Tuesday nights between The Biggest Loser and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Just before the start of the season, NBC moved the show from after The Biggest Loser to before.

The debut episode finished second for the week of July 9-15, 2007, by an extremely close margin. The number one program, the 2007 MLB All-Star Game, beat "Bee" with an 8.4 rating, to the game show's 8.1[5]

On October 30, 2007, The Singing Bee hit an all-time low in the ratings with a 1.7 rating.

On December 28, 2007, The Singing Bee scored a 3.7/7 rating, and came in second place behind Ghost Whisperer, before going on hiatus.

Distribution

  • In Italy a pilot episode of the format (called Chi fermerà la musica) was aired on Rai Uno in December 2007, presented by Pupo; new episodes have been broadcasted since February 2008.
  • In Morocco, 2M TV has already their own version of The Singing Bee since 2005 called Fasila. But since september 2007 they changed the rules into the rules of the American version and it's called now Fasila/The Singing Bee.
  • In Iceland, production is already underway on eight hour long episodes of the show for Skjár einn. The show is expected to premiere early in 2008.
  • In Greece, Alpha TV premiered their version of The Singing Bee called Θα πείς κι ένα τραγούδι(You'll sing a song) in fall 2007. The network has made an initial order of 30 half-hour episodes. It airs every Sunday night at 9:00pm.
  • In Belgium, a local version of the show will air on vtm. The network has ordered eight episodes that last one hour each.
  • In Argentina, Canal 13 plan to premiere the Argentine version of the show in January of 2008.
  • In Portugal, SIC premiered on 18 May 2008 the local version called "Chamar a Música", hosted by Herman José. The first episode scored very well (13%rating/31.5%share - 1.300.000). The second and third episode kept the numbers (11%rating/30.0%share - 1.100.000).
  • In Brazil, SBT will air the show. The initial order comprises 52 half-hour episodes.
  • In Colombia, Caracol TV has picked up the rights to The Singing Bee and airs a local version soon called Dígalo cantando since late 2007.
  • In Sweden, TV3 has picked up the rights to The Singing Bee.[7] The Swedish version was launched in January 2008.
  • In Denmark, TV3 has picked up the rights to The Singing Bee and airs a local version called Magi i luften (Magic in the air). It premiered on February 9, 2008 and features the Danish host Robert Hansen.
  • In The Netherlands, RTL 4 will air a local version of the show. The show launched on December 31st 2007.
  • In Norway, a local version will be produced for TV3 in 2008.
  • In Finland, a local version will be produced for MTV3 in 2008.
  • In Hungary, a local version of the show will air on TV2.

References

  1. ^ Karaoke Wars: NBC Rushes 'Singing Bee' - Show moved up to beat FOX's 'Lyrics' to air. Retrieved on 24 June 2007.
  2. ^ NBC.com -The Singing Bee
  3. ^ "NBC TO WRAP 'JOURNEYMAN,' REVIVE 'BEE' IN DECEMBER". 2007-11-29. Retrieved 2007-11-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ 'Bee' soars on NBC, 13.1 million viewers. Retrieved on 11 July 2007.
  5. ^ [1]Zap2It.com ratings sheet, 7/9-7/15/07
  6. ^ Channel Nine smash hit new series The Singing Bee. Retrieved on July 14, 2007.
  7. ^ [http://www.worldscreen.com/newscurrent.php?filename=zeal090407.htm World Screen - Home
  8. ^ C21Media:

Template:The Singing Bee

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