Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Don’t Forget The Lyrics!’ On Fox, A Revival Of The Game Show Where People Have To Sing Missing Lyrics

Don’t Forget The Lyrics!is the revival of the game show that ran on Fox from 2007-09 (hosted by Wayne Brady) and in syndication from 2010-11 (hosted by Mark McGrath). This new version is hosted by Niecy Nash; she also is a producer and her wife, Jessica Betts is in the band. The rules are pretty much explained in the title: Sing the right missing lyrics to a song, and win thousands of dollars.

DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS!: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Scenes from the new season of Don’t Forget The Lyrics!

The Gist: The rules are straightforward: A contestant takes center stage, and is given nine categories of songs to sing, each with two songs to choose from. The contestant sings along with the chosen song karaoke style, using lyrics on the screen for help. Then a group of blanks show up and the contestant needs to give those lyrics without help. Nash tells them the number of words that are missing.

Nash then asks the contestant if they want to lock in the lyrics, change any or use one of the backups: They can have a “Backup singer” friend come up and help, or they can have any of the correct words in the lyric revealed. They get three words to use whenever they need it. If they lock it in and get the lyrics right, they move up the money ladder, hoping to at least get to the guaranteed $25,000. The money ladder goes to $1 million, where the tenth category is revealed.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Don’t Forget The Lyrics! has a little bit of Name That Tune mixed with a little bit of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Our Take: Because the format of Don’t Forget The Lyrics! is so straightforward, how a particular episode plays out is really dependent on the contestant. In the first episode, Fletch, was entertaining because he knew his lyrics, had a great voice, and kept up the party atmosphere. Of course, sometimes he was too good, not getting challenged by much along the way.

It led to a missing element that we know is part of the game play, but we didn’t see much of in the first episode: The ability to walk away before locking in on a lyric. Fletch was so confident about his lyrics that he locked in before Nash even got a chance to ask. It made us scratch our heads that the element was missing, but it did come up somewhere along the way. That factor should have been explained earlier, though.

Nash is fun as a host, but anyone who’s seen her in interviews and other hosting opportunities knew that she’d be a natural at this; she’s warm, she’s funny off the cuff and openly roots for the contestant to do well, something all good hosts should do. We even love her various blazers and white sneakers, because why shouldn’t she look fashionable and comfortable at the same time? She certainly keeps things moving, and even though she stands relatively in the same place during the game, she still gives the show a sense of dynamic energy.

Sex and Skin: None. It’s a game show, for heaven’s sake.

Parting Shot: The contestant decides whether to go with lyrics or walk away.

Sleeper Star: The band does a great job of doing faithful covers of the songs in each category.

Most Pilot-y Line: The episode is called “I’m About To Shock The World” because that’s what Fletch says during his round, especially when he picks the Country category. People tend to forget that “the world” in this case is “about 2 million viewers, 2 and a half if you count streaming.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Don’t Forget The Lyrics! is fun, even if the money ladder options could be explained a bit more.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.