NBC's The Singing Bee - Cheesy, but in a Good Way

I'd seen the hilariously cheesy commercials for NBC's The Singing Bee last week and I made a mental note to myself to not watch the program when it debuted on Tuesday July 10, or at any point afterward.

Yet I happened to get caught up in the drama of America's Got Talent, when one of the contestants attempted to jump over 20 chairs and missed. He wound up falling, flipping over, and then passing out for two minutes. Next thing I knew I was watching the end of the show and before I could change the channel The Singing Bee blasted onto my television.

Let me just say that it had me at hello. The show started with the host Joey Fatone (yes of N'SYNC) introducing himself as the live band, Ray Chew and the Buzz played "I'm So Excited," by The Pointer Sisters. The Spelling Bee's dancers, The Honeybee's, shook it like a Polaroid picture as the audience was up on their feet dancing and singing to the music. It was so corny but so compelling to watch because everyone looked like they were having such a great time, so I continued to watch.

I expected Joey to then introduce the contestants but he jumped down into the audience and ran up to random people with his microphone pointed at them. They then had to sing along to the song correctly to earn a spot on stage and after he found six people the show began.

The premise of the show is simple. The Ray Chew and the Buzz will play a song like Venus, by Bananarama. The professional singers in the band will then sing some of the lyrics, but when they stop singing the band continues to play on and it's the contestants job to finish the line word for word.

What makes it so entertaining is having to hear the bad singing and nervous dancing of the contestants as their turn starts. The overconfidence they display is funny as they sing with all of their hearts "I'm your Venus, I'm your fire, pure desire" or "I'm your Venus, I'm your fire, your desire," only to be shot down in all their glory, by Joey who'll inform them that the actual lyric is "I'm your Venus, I'm your fire, at your desire."