[SPOILER] Last night, NBC aired the third season finale of The Sing-Off and crowned the winners of the a capella competition. Pentatonix, a five-person ensemble from Arlington, Texas, took home a Sony recording contract and $200,000. Will there be more winners and a fourth season of The Sing-Off or, will the TV series be cancelled instead?
Hosted by Nick Lachey, The Sing-Off began as a short-run series with just four episodes in December of 2009. It did reasonably well (a 2.3 in the 18-49 demographic with 6.9 million viewers) and was cheap to produce so the peacock network brought it back for season two. It returned the following December and was expanded to five episodes. That renewal paid off and the ratings rose 26%, to an average of a 2.9 in the demo with 8.6 million viewers.
NBC decided to take another chance and give The Sing-Off a two-hour timeslot on the fall schedule and 11 episodes. That gamble didn’t pay off and the ratings have been terrible.
The Sing-Off began this season with a disappointing 1.9 rating in the demographic with 5.3 million viewers. The numbers never got any better they dropped as low as a 1.3 rating, less than half of its worst demo rating last season. The show’s consistently been in fourth place in its timeslot and has lost 40% in the demo season-to-season.
The reality competition is the second-highest non-scripted show on the network but, given the state of the rest of NBC’s schedule, that’s not saying much.
Will NBC cancel The Sing Off? If the network were in better shape, of course they would. As things are, I suspect NBC will bring it back for another season but give it either a summer or holiday run, when competition and expectations are far lower.
In retrospect, they probably shouldn’t have messed with the success they’d been having with it.
But, what do you think? Should Sing-Off return for another season or are you done with it?
Image courtesy NBC.
This show is awesome! Please renew it for another season. Great family show and great entertainment.
I don’t watch reality/competition shows, but I have made The Sing-Off the only exception to that rule. I found it last year and have been an avid fan since. I sincerely hope it comes back for a fourth season, no matter the form.
Keep the sing off it is the most upbeat show. It allows young talented people to showcase and develop their skills.
The Sing Off is possibly the best show on TV right now, singoff fans don’t just watch the show but buy the songs on iTunes and go nuts on twitter every week it airs.
PLEASE RENEW THE SING-OFF NBC!!
I’m always amazed that people who hate “singing shows” and “reality talent” shows somehow have plenty of leisure time to drop in negative comments about shows they hate. Why not visit the forums of shows you do like and share that interest with other people on those forums? The best singing shows celebrate music and creativity. The worst ones still expose a new generation to classic hits they may be new to them. Older folks might simply enjoy hearing these old classics again in a new setting. For those who don’t like these music shows, use your remote. Watch Survivor… Read more »
I don’t know about the ratings, but just check out the number of hits this show gets on Youtube. Read the comments and you’ll see just how popular this show is. This is a great show with devoted viewers. NBC just needs to tweek it a little. I agree there were too many episodes and each was too long. Had they kept the double elimination every show, that would have helped. Going against Monday night football doesn’t help either.
Every episode of the Sing Off that I watched (and that would be all of them) it amazes me every time how talented these people are. My thought to why it didn’t get the best ratings is people don’t understand the genre. These artists can take a song that you hear on the radio and make it sound as good if not better with only their voices. I would rather watch this show than have one person on x factor or american idol try to make it. I really hope this show continues, it really made my monday night enjoyable.… Read more »
I hadn’t seen or heard of the two other seasons, but checking them out. This season was by far the best musically and in entertainment value. They probably could have put a little less pressure on it, instead of overproducing the dramatics and expand on the concept without going for 10 episodes of 2h each, + finale, + christmas special.
But hey if you’re squeezing as many hours as you can from one set and production crew, then you’ll dilute the audience a bit, maybe they’re not that surprised.
I like the Sing Off. It’s one show that I can watch with my entire family. The two hour shows were a bit long. I prefer the one hour shows. Either way, if the Sing Off continues, my family will definitely watch it!
I want all these reality talent shows gone.
Hardly qualifies as a “reality talent” show. This is a show for MUSIC lovers, thank you very much. Now try informing yourself before commenting.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the Sing-Off!!!!!! I live in PA and I am heading to CA for the Christmas Special! I really liked the format this year, the shows lasting until 10pm at times was tough when you have had a long day, but overall I thought the fact they were able to appeal to different styles of music and you were able to see more groups develop week to week. I really hope they don’t cancel it! I don’t care if they have to cut the number of episodes, but it truly is one of the better and pure “singing”… Read more »
aww i really wish vocalpoint would have gone farther, there is a lot of good talent on the show
NBC needs to stop trying to promote Amy Whitcomb, she is not that good, and she failed twice, and she has no sense of identity, she trying to change hoping to please everyone… Boring.
Well personally they should cancel all just singing shows. I mean really, what’s the appeal? It hate it how a lot of fox’s schedule is taking up in the fall now along with the winter. We don’t need anymore, CANCEL THEM ALL!!!! Then bring minute to win it back!!
You obviously haven’t watched The Sing-Off. It’s a cappalla for crying out load. DO NOT lump it in with the fox lineup of idiocy. This show is for music lovers. Even more so than The Voice (which tried too hard but was just too gimmicky).
Umm… I think you meant Nick Lachey. Not Drew.
Bonnie Hagan » Thanks for catching that. I was thinking Nick but for some reason typed Drew.