Because FOX couldn't stand it, if NBC had the only karaoke show on TV....
courtesy of thefutoncritic.com



I guess it's different in a couple of ways than THE SINGING BEE:

• Here the top prize is $1 million.
• You have to sing more songs to win.
• It's airing multiple nights a week.

Considering there isn't anything on much in the summer, this could be as interesting as NBC's show, but will it be as fun to watch?

If anyone is planning on watching, it's begins airing tonight after So You Think You Can Dance?.

My GOD could they have possibly had a more annoying first contestant?? I found myself singing along (LOUDLY) just to drown her out.

Eh, didn't love this latest singing show as well as The Singing Bee. Definitely not must see TV. Scratch that one off!

Did the contestant remind anyone of the actress Joey Lauren Adams?


I know! The voice was grating after a while.

I dunno, I think despite her horrible voice (and in a way, because of it), this one blew Singing Bee out of the water. Instead of pretty polished "random" professional singers we had an actual gameshow contestant. I could do without the trademark 21st century gameshow standard of dragging every question out 20 times longer than they need to, but in all other ways I'll give it points over that crapfest from last night.

Didn't like this karaoke show either. More manufactured drama than the Singing Bee, and they're not only ripping off the NBC show, but they're borrowing from the other ladder shows like 1 vs 100 and 5th Grader.

If they are going to do any show involving how much you know about music, they need to bring back Name That Tune.

I like this format better than The Singing Bee but this is so much easier with the lifelines and song choices. At first, I thought the contestant was really annoying too especially her voice but then I warmed up to her. Now I think she's adorable.

I didn't like this nearly as much as The Singing Bee. It was just a very typical post-Millionaire game show. One contestant at a time; lifelines; "locking in" answers; a money tree (with a really high "grand prize" that you'd almost have to be crazy to actually go for); creation of "suspense" by taking forever to reveal the answers to the questions; blah di blah. It's pretty worn out by now. The Singing Bee didn't have any of the modern game show conventions; it was just a wacky dance party. I think that's the way to go with this material, which, after all, is silly stuff to begin with, pop song lyrics.

They also made the contestant sing way too much before it got to the part of the song that actually counted in the game. I don't wanna spend half the show's running time hearing bad karaoke!

Wayne Brady was halfway between clean-shaven Good Wayne from Whose Line and goateed Evil Wayne from that basketball movie, which left me confused. I do hope that at some point, he urges on a contestant to risk more money by saying, "Mr. Franklin's lonely!"

The previews gave away whether or not she got the first question of the next game right to anyone who knows who sang "Satisfaction," which, hopefully, is most people.

That's the part of the show that's getting on my nerves, too. She practically had to sing the entire "ABC" song before they got to the line they wanted her to sing on her own.

I didn't see the other singing show so I have nothing to compare to (I did know it existed, just didn't catch it) but I liked this show alright. Most game shows take forever now, so I just dealt with that.

But I don't believe that the contestant was just some random person chosen. For being the first person up on a show that essentially highlights how awful her voice was she was way to polished. She has to be some sort of actress. Her teeth were perfect, her hair was great, her eyebrows were nicely shaped, her makeup was perfect, she was dressed fashionably (thought I didn't really "get" the outfit) most gameshow contestants lack ALL of these traits.

Unlike The Singing Bee, which is fluffy fun but of no substance whatsoever and is completely passable, Don't Forget The Lyrics shows potential. Granted, it is basically Millionaire with questions about song lyrics, but it can be molded into something worth spending time with each week. Some suggestions:

- Fox, for the love of god, stop showing the viewer what will happen when we get back from commercial! Part of the fun is not knowing which lyric will be missing. When the viewer sees the contestant's upcoming response, immediately knows it is the correct answer, and realizes that the next song will be the only one that will be tackled before the next commercial break... well, why waste time watching the show?

- Let's keep things moving. I can't believe it took an entire half-hour show just to get through five songs. Given the number of contestants who have been featured on the promos, they must have like three months worth of episodes in the can already. A lot of time is lost doing the karaoke portion of a question, so any idle chatter or dramatic answer reveals need to go.

- If the contestant sings the exact words in time with the song, go ahead and rule them correct. This helps address the prior issue and, more importantly, it gives purpose to the karaoke portion of the program (this is probably the one area where The Singing Bee is superior to Don't Forget The Lyrics).

There is enough to like about the show (I especially dig the ability to choose categories and to have two song options) that I will give it another couple of episodes.

More boring than The Singing Bee. Annoying, hideous-sounding singer. Blech.

I thought she looked like a cross between Shiri Appleby and Katie Holmes.

As has been mentioned, the format is pasted together from a number of other similar shows, but I still enjoyed it. Won't tune in everytime it is on, but it is an alright option when home and nothing else is on. As is a problem with a lot of these shows they are either too rapidly edited (Singing Bee) or move at a snails pace (this one). They could afford to pick it up a little.

Now that was a good song based show!


Yes! Yes! Way to much singinging before answering. I don't need or want to hear a whole song practically!

This one has a better host, but a way more convoluted format and contrived drama. Both have an awful lot of dancing and singing, as if dancing really helps people remember lyrics. This one has a lot of work to get to a shorter answer. Even though it's the copier, I hope it improves and sticks around.

But the thing is, the part they don't know is likely to be a bit later in the song. Most people, if they think they know a song, will definitely know the first 2 or 4 lines, so that's no challenge.

I do. She seems perfectly plausible as what she is said to be.

I liked this much better than Singing Bee - but what's pathetic about me is that I'll continue to watch both.

Yes - it's easier. But I think because of the blanks there's less of a chance that a contestant will add a small word - and get tossed out.

Plus - I like the lifelines. Nice way to give people another chance.

I think it's easier and more boring. It's less original, with the lifelines and ladders. And there's more of a potential to get stuck for a long time with a contestant that is truly irritating.

Singing Bee is faster paced and more fun. Don't Forget the Lyrics is more like a traditional game show, only with songs instead of trivia.

IIRC, this one was conceptualized first... the NBC show was the copy they hurried up to beat this show to air. Can anyone confirm or deny?

I liked the contestant, mostly because she made the exact song choice I would have for each category.

I wouldn't have picked Walk Like an Egyptian. I usually make up the lyrics to that song.

She's not a pro actress. If she is, it is very recent.

Oh wow, I think I'm in the minority for both counts here. I think that:
1) This show has more promise than "The Singing Bee."
2) The contestant was cute rather than annoying.

The biggest problem this thing has is not just the manufactured drama, but putting the manufactured drama and the karaoke stuff side-by-side. You just can't go back and forth between fun, happy karaoke singing and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"-style life-and-death drama...it's just awkward. So is building life-and-death drama around whether someone got the words right to a song, for that matter.

Oh, Cat Deeley, you told me to stay tuned for this and I did, and it sucked. Why, Cat, why?

I'm right there with you. I thought she was fun. And I hated The Singing Bee last night. Too many people so I was getting confused as to how it was all supposed to go down. Plus I am the queen of doing other stuff while I watch tv and Singing Bee would lose me but this one I was able to sing along to while I was folding laundry.

This show is more polished and more like a game show to me. Singing Bee was so random and out of nowhere, the guy wins money.

I had read that they were pretty much deleveloped at the same time but NBC had wanted to put theirs on the fall line up. When they found out Fox had theirs on the summer line up, they moved it's position- so it wouldn't look like they were late to the game. I don't know if we can actually pinpoint a "first"- but Fox had it on the summer schedule first.


Maybe not a pro actress- but a struggling actress? Either way I think she was a plant for the show.

I like this better than NBC's show (which I missed Tuesday so I had to catch last night as well). Singing Bee seems very easy with the band singer doing most of the work and the contestant just jumping in at the end. On this one, the contestant is so getting into the karoke that they really need to be on their game to get it. And, they sing more of the song so it gets to the harder parts.

I always enjoy Wayne Brady, and nice to see he got Ricky and the band back together (they were on his talk show) for this show.

I do agree the trumped up drama is a little much, and the preview monkeys need to stop spoiling the songs for us.

I'm picking this show over the other one as my DVR recording for the summer.

I really liked this show, and since I didn't see the Singing Bee I don't have to compare it to anything. I just really like Wayne Brady in everything he does. I LOL'd when he told the conetstant "We asked for the next 4 words, and you gave us 28" after she kept on singing. I don't care if the first contestant was a plant ( she probably was), the grating voice grew on me. I have only seen one episode of Dawson's Ceek, and it was the one where Katie Holmes was singing in some kind of talent show or beauty pageant and that's exactly how this contestant sounded.

My only gripe was the slowwwww pace of the show and the 15 commercial breaks. 30 min show should equal 3 commercial breaks. I agree, its hard to buil suspense with "is she going to rememberthe lyric or not" before the commercial break, and then show a promo with the contestant on an entirely different song. Duh.

I've decided to give this show a shot after seeing the previews because I thought it looked kind of fun, and after watching the debut last night, I liked it for the most part. The one thing I can do without is the constant commercial breaks and manufactured drama, but I guess that's just their way of building up 'suspense.' My favorite part was when Wayne Brady and the 'Jackson 3' were dancing in the background when the contestant - whose name I'm blanking on - was singing ABC.

Speaking of the contestant, it's a good thing that remembering the lyrics is more important than vocal quality, because yeesh. I will say this about her: it looked like she was having a blast up there. Who knows how long that'll last though.

Feels like it. Here's her myspace page.

ITA about the plodding nature of the show. I was so excited about this show (and Singing Bee), but it just took. too. damn. long. to get to the next song. Hopefully they'll pick up the pace.

I actually liked it. I grew to like the contestant, I always enjoy Wayne Brady and I love that they use China Grove for their theme song. I also liked the song choices they have available. Of course maybe that's why they have so many commercials...to pay for the music rights. On a bitter note, why or why couldn't WKRP get the rights for the songs they originally used when they were on the air?!

I vote for Katie Holmes as well, and not just because they share a first name. But a pre-Cruseian Holmes, back when she still had a personality.

Yes, we now know she goes on at least three more songs (Classic Rock, Rolling Stones, & Country) because of the "next time on ...". I liked the Singing Bee better because it moved more quickly. I can't stand these newer style game shows that take two episodes for one contestant.

Even better (best to a male contestant), "Is Wayne Brady going to have to choke a b****?"



I agree. Singing Bee was fast and fun. This was OK for the karaoke then went into the Death Stall for the reveal. Bleah.

I'll prbably watch both, SB is much more fun than DFtL.

Still way too much singing, but I enjoyed it. And I enjoyed Katie, she was pretty adorable and she did really, really well. So happy for her! Yesterday I was convinced that she was a dead ringer for Claire Forlani, but I could totally see the pre-crazy Katie Holmes resemblance tonight.

One nitpick though, if you're going to put How Do I Live? in the Country category, it should be attributed to Trisha Yearwood, not LeAnn Rimes. LeAnn didn't have a hit on the country charts with her version. She had the pop hit, Trisha had the country hit. (I can't help it, I'm a Trisha fan, so that bugged.)

I thought they could do without singing the song again in order to see if she got the lyric right.

I liked Katie as well. She was cute and after reading that she likes Arrested Development, I love her even more. Nice first contestant, I'm probably going to keep watching this show.

I liked this better than Singing Bee. Does it make it must see TV? No, but something to watch when you're bored at least.

I actually tuned into the first episode, but forgot to turn over tonight to see how the girl did. What did she finally end up with?

She ended up with $350K. And I was able to watch the entire episode in about 10 minutes (too slow paced for me -- I'll pass).

For me, that wasn't as much the issue, though I do know where you're coming from. My problem is that one version of the song definitely has it as "everything real in my life" as opposed to "good." I saw lyrics listed for both versions under both artists online when I was double-checking, so I'm not sure which one is which -- for all I know Leann's does use the version they did. It's not a huge deal, because "good" is used in a version of the song, but it kind of bugged me that they would use a song that could be ambiguous like that instead of something more concrete.

And I hope that made sense...I feel like I'm not explaining it well.

Word. I was taking a "wait & see" approach with this show since I thought last night was just so-so, but tonight's double singing just about put me over the edge. It's a 30 minute show with too many commercials - we don't need to hear the song karaoked AGAIN.

Too bad - I love this concept, but the execution just stinks. I still think it's better than that hot mess Singing Bee, though.

That's about $300k more than I'd get on this show.

Man, talk about ramping up the difficultly on the higher levels of the songs. 10 words?!? Wow. You really really gotta know your stuff here.

I'm definitely sticking around for this show.

Not to worry, you explained it perfectly, I do know exactly what you mean. My sister was confused about that line as well. I'm pretty sure Trisha's version has "good" first and the line does change to "real" later in the song. I'm guessing Leann's version is probably the same, so it's actually a good challenge. But there was a line earlier in the song that was different and caught me off guard (Trisha's has "one" night, not "a" night), but it wasn't for the money so wouldn't have mattered in that case.

I honestly hadn't thought about all the trouble different versions of a song could cause and in this case, they further muddied the issue by putting the song in the wrong category.

I have to say though, was really impressed with how Katie nailed 867-5309. Even she looked surprised she knew it!

Man, if they were only musical theater songs, with categories like The 30s, Sondheim, From the Movies, Hammerstein, Patter, Diegetic... that I could do!

Ooh, a Broadway/Movie Musicals category would be fun!

Anybody know what they do for the $1M song? I was wondering that last night as she kept getting closer. I missed the beginning of the first ep, so not sure if they said.

Ok, in a really weird bit of coincidence, Leann's version of How Do I Live? just came on the radio and the "good in my life" was first, with "real" coming later, so that was correct. However, like Trisha, she says "get through one night with you", not the "a night" that was up on the screen. Nice going, lyrics guys. In a show where literally ever word counts, you'd think they would get all the lyrics right.

I thought there would be a second contestant tonight. I can't believe they stretched Katie's appearance out to two full shows. Fast forwarding is definitely a necessity for this show.

I liked her adlib of Katie's got $350,000 when she had no idea for the Satisfaction lyrics. I hope she gets a giant ant farm/microscope or whatever it was she was going to with the money.

I don't know about this show. I really like the format and how you are able to choose from all of the different types of songs, and the "lifelines" make it more like a game show. But I find the execution really tedious. I think Katie only sung four songs during the entire show last night, and The Singing Bee whipped through more than twice that much in one episode with multiple contestants. The contestants sing much longer snippets of the songs on this show, and I also don't get why they had to sing the snippet again at one point to reveal the answer. And the stretched out reveal of the answer, sections of words at a time instead of all at once? Come on. I'm tuning in at least one more time to see what it's like with a less annoying contestant.

That makes sense now. I knew there was a "real" in there somewhere!

Not seeing the first contestant's resemblance to Katie Holmes. However, she could be a dead ringer for Rena Sofer. And given that Ms. Sofer's mere presence represents the death knell for TV shows -- Melrose Place, Just Shoot Me, 24 -- her doppelganger probably means this show is dead in the water. Oh and her duet with the neighbor rivaled the final performance by Jamie and Mario on Superstar USA. Now, THAT was a great show!

I must give her credit, though. She knew that she didn't know the Rolling Stones and she waited until the end before picking it. I wonder, though, with the way the lifelines work, if she would have been better to pick it first and get it out of the way. It's the same way in the 5th grader game show. I am definitely tackling 5th grade first and working my way to first grade.

The Million Dollar Question, they could go so many ways. Pick a Rap or Hip-hop song and watch them die. Obscure hits from the 80's could work (The verses to Don't worry, be happy, Can't touch this, Black or White would be evil). TV theme songs (Cheers, Family Ties, Flintstones anyone). My personal favourite would be the second (or third) verse to Amazing Grace. So simple, so difficult.

What are the lifelines again? I only remember the multiple choice option.

I think I'd leave the ones I didn't know to the end since unlike "5th Grader", there's no save so I'd guarantee myself some money before I take on the hard ones.

Oh, I would definately lose if it was a rap/hip-hop song or even if it was a Jason Mraz song. Way too many jumbled up words to remember.

Edited to fix: lose not loose