Well, there’s one singing competition that won’t be back next season. The Sing-Off has been cancelled after three seasons on the NBC.
Hosted by Nick Lachey, this TV series seeks to find the most-talented a capella singing group in America. Judges have included Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman, Nicole Scherzinger, and Sara Bareilles. The judges decide who advances to the finale and the final winners are determined by viewer votes. The champs take home a Sony recording contract and $200,000.
The Sing-Off began in December 2009 as a short-run series with just four episodes. It did reasonably well — averaging a 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 6.9 million viewers — so the peacock network brought it back for season two.
It returned in December 2010, expanded to five episodes, and the ratings rose 26% — to an average of a 2.9 in the demo with 8.6 million viewers.
 Loading ... |
NBC decided to take another chance and give The Sing-Off a two-hour timeslot on the fall schedule with 11 episodes. That gamble didn’t pay off and the ratings were much lower. By the end of the season, The Sing-Off averaged a 1.5 in the demo with 4.56 million.
On our NBC Ratings Report Card, which measures the relative demo performance of TV shows on the network, The Sing-Off has an “C-” grade. The network has now cancelled the show.
NBC could have brought it back for another limited run, perhaps over the summer or in December but were likely hesitant to flood their schedule with yet another singing/talent competition. America’s Got Talent has been very successful for them over the summer months and NBC plans to run two cycles of The Voice next season. There just wasn’t a place on the schedule for The Sing-Off any longer.
What do you think? Do you think NBC should have kept The Sing-Off, perhaps run it in December? Are you sorry to hear that it’s been cancelled and won’;t be back for a fourth season?
What a disappointment. Thanks for showing us the Oregon ducks team, street corner symphony(my fave) and committed. Street and committed were the best of the hole series. Last season wasn’t as good! I was looking forward to a redemptive season.
Stupid, stupid NBC. If they did better with a shorter season, why didn’t they fall back to that genre? In true NBC form they’ve killed something good. Another reason for us not to watch that network, which is one we’ve clung to until recently. As said before, let’s hope someone else will pick this show up.
I loved the Sing-Off!! It was the BEST singing competition show. All the others start sounding the same after awhile.
The Sing-Off was acapela with all kinds of genres competing. It was AMAZING to listen too!!
I really wish The Sing-Off was still running…
I guess all I get to do now is watch the re-runs…
Can’t believe that they cancelled the show. It was the one of the only two shows (the other being “The Voice”) which really show talent and real vocal “chops”.
NBC is crazy. It was truly a family oriented show that brought generations together and a true Christmas spirit kick-off.
Bring it back, NBC!
I am extremely dissapointd the sing off will not be back – I am 66 and loved it as do my 13, 12, and 11 year old grandchildren. We would talk about the incredible talent on it and have the “generation gap” really closed. It was a show my wife and I looked forward to watching AND hearing it.
I think cancelling the show is crazy! My entire family would sit and watch all the while rooting for our favorites. Why do all the reality shows get to stay and the family shows go? Needless to say we are very disappointed! Shame on you!
I am heartbroken! So much crap and “popularity” contests, instead of TALENT, shows on TV and a REAL TALENT show is cancelled….isn’t that the way it goes. I have over 200 channels to choose from and still struggle to find anything of real value to watch and a fantastic experience was cancelled! I even broke a commitment to NOT watch the NBC networks in order to see this extraordinary show.
I loved the show! I was worried when S3 was announced to be a much longer format. I thought the 4/5 show format was perfect. I hate reality tv but this show was great in the original format of a short run series. There were times during S3 that the show seemed to drag because the great groups were in the one half with Plantatonix and the other half of the competition wasn’t as strong.
This is sad, the other reality contest shows are getting worse and worse, with mega-egos ruining the shows. Sing Off has acapella teams of people singing together beautifully, such a joy to watch and see how much sound they can create without instruments. Hope it comes back somehow, maybe even an online show? Nick Lachey was a great host. BRING IT BACK! At least we can view some of the acts on youtube, from their performances from the past shows.
This is the only talent show that my husband and I really enjoyed, and never missed! So sorry that it was cancelled!
I love this show! I went on internet to see when it would be back on and now I’m extremely disappointed. The contestants demonstrated hard work and dedication to their craft without the aid of instruments or digital sound tricks. By far The Sing-off was the best vocal talent show on the air. I hope one of the cable networks picks it up.
I definitely am disappointed it was cancelled. Would loved to have seen it come back even if only in December again. By far the most entertaining and unique vocal show on tv. The others just don’t have the talent these contestants possessed. And I’ll have to disagree with the previous comment – pentatonix hands down was the group that should have won. I don’t feel ‘they’ defaulted to the ‘next best thing’. Afro Blue just didn’t have the fresh and unique approach to a cappella that PTX garnered. Don’t get me wrong though, Afro blue was phenomenal. I’m a jazz… Read more »
Loved the show. Wish they would not have cancelled it 🙁
This was my favourite show to watch while home for the holidays! As a singer, it is the only singing talent show I actually enjoy watching. Even for only a limited run, it is still a great show to watch and listen to.
I loved this show! I looked forward to it every holiday season since the first one. I agree that the lengthened season wasn’t as good, but it also felt like the choices weren’t as good. Afro Blue should have won the thing, but it felt like because their genre wasn’t pop, they deferred to the next best thing.
I will miss watching it this season!