Don't Forget the Lyrics Review

As a classic game show fan, I don't often find good gameshows in this day and age. Gameshows of the 1950's-1980's were what they were all about - Hosts that took their job seriously, contestants who were excited but not obnoxious, exciting games that challenged the minds of the players as well as the audience - all of which are hard to find now a days.

Most of the good shows of recent years have been sadly cut way too short. Greed, The Weakest Link, The Rich List ... none of which were given the chance they deserved, while shows that are pretty much a three ring circus, such as Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100 incredulously do well. I watch each new show in hopes of a glimpse of something from the past. I found a little bit of a surprise with Fox's new series "Don't Forget The Lyrics".

I must admit, I wasn't expecting much upon hearing the premise and that Wayne Brady, recently of stand-up and improv fame, would be the host. I'm glad to say I was pleasantly surprised. Turns out that Brady is a stand up host, remaining serious for most of the game. The audience is mercifully quiet when necessary, and vocal when appropriate. And there was a nice balance of fun and challenge.

It works like this: A contestant is pre-selected and comes out from the back (unlike the Gawd awful similarily-concepted NBC show The Spelling Bee, where 5 obnoxious contestants are pulled "randomly" from the audience). They then reveal a board of varying monetary amounts, going all the way up to $1,000,000, and categories of song genres. Each round, you select a music category, and you pick one of two songs to sing. They will give you the lyrics to sing along with for some of it, when suddenly, they pull the lyrics and music from underneath them. All you know is how many words are in the phrase. You then have to choose whether or not you think the lyrics you sang are correct. If you think so, you lock in those lyrics. If you have doubts, you have 3 helps; 1 is a back up singer, who can help you with the lyrics; another is when they can give you any two sets of lyrics of your choosing; lastly, they will give you three choices of lyrics, one of which are correct, the rest are not.

I had a blast singing along with the contestant, the live band, and yes, even host Wayne Brady. I felt like I was having a grand Karoke contest, but with high stakes. I realize this show may not amuse all viewers, but this one was highly entertained.