While today may be the first day of spring, NBC is already offering music fans an early Christmas gift, bringing back a cappella competish show “The Sing-Off” as a holiday strip.
Program’s first two seasons in 2009 and 2010 ran as holiday strips over four to five nights and featured a cappella groups battling for a hefty cash prize and a Sony Music recording contract. Second season performed well for the Peacock, drawing around 8.5 million viewers each episode.
In 2011, however, Peacock retooled the show and ran 11 episodes from September to November. Ratings were considerably lower with this iteration of the skein, and NBC did not return “Sing-Off” to its lineup in 2012.
Show judges Ben Folds, Sara Bareilles, Shawn Stockman and host Nick Lachey tried to harness the power of social media last year to revive the program, tweeting #SaveTheSingOff to their followers.
“To all of the loyal fans of ‘The Sing-Off’ who asked us to bring the show back — we heard you loud and clear!” said Paul Telegdy, head of alternative at NBC. “No other singing competition so genuinely showcases the unique talents and creative camaraderie of the best a cappella singers in the country…The distinctive sounds and boundless spirit of these groups make the perfect soundtrack for the holidays.”
No word yet whether the original slate of judges and Lachey will return for the program’s fourth season. NBC intends to name judges and a host at a later date.
“The Sing-Off” is produced by One Three Media with Outlaw Entertainment and Sony Pictures TV. Mark Burnett, Deb Newmyer and Sam Weisman are exec producers.
Season four of “The Sing-Off” is currently casting.
