The show that "captivated America" is back! In case you were so captivated you forgot, or are Canadian, we're talking about The Sing-Off. This show is very much NBC's little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead because when it is good, it is very, very good, and when it is bad it is horrid. But, this year it's better than last year (although there's no old lady barbershop quartet) and, despite what they tell you, the stakes are pretty much the same, no higher or lower. It's kind of the America's Best Dance Crew of singing.
Let's dig in. While I will absolutely concede that all these groups are talented and I love them for doing something with their lives and having dreams, I am not going to go all Nicole Scherzinger on this show (blindly complimentary). Sometimes acapella groups/show choirs drive me nuts. But it's all fun and delightful, especially Nick Lachey phoning it in as host.
The first group is Eleventh Hour, a group of high school students who says they're "sort of like the Breakfast Club." I don't see the "artsy" one using her dandruff flakes as snow or anything, but I'll just go with it because they're all over-achievers and I'll believe what they tell me. Eleventh Hour dispels a Glee myth that kids in show choir are wildly unpopular, as they perform in front of their supportive, cheering high school. They're singing "Baby," and my biggest problem with it is the fake-acting at the very beginning. I'm just glad they didn't try to "tell a story" or keep that going in any way. The judges aren't too mean to them because they're in high school. Doesn't Nicole seem like she's a little sedated? She's filling that Paula Abdul-shaped hole in our hearts.
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