[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.
If you build it, we will come. It was a great “actually singing” show. The ratings will be there if 1. The groups continue to be as great as past seasons and 2. Don’t put up against stuff like the final of Dancing With the Stars!
I love the Sing-Off! Season 3 was by far the best season. The sound was better the format was better, the judges were better. The show’s rating problem had a lot to do with its competition. The 1st show of the season was up against Aston Kucher’s debut on “Two and A Half Men”/ “The Big Bang Theory” and the 1st Episode of “Dancing With The Stars”. Of course ratings suffered! They need to move the show to the 10pm slot on Thursday or the family friendly 8pm slot on Tuesday or Wednesday. If the groups are as good as… Read more »
We LOVE this show. Keep it going.
I had no idea that it was on and happened upon it at the end of Season 2 and was forever HOOKED. Please bring it back! I find myself looking forward to watching these amazingly talented young men and women every week. I love witnessing each group grow into who they are at the end of the season. It’s incredible to me. I also love the judges – they are competent and fair and I enjoy and respect their comments. It is a show that is rich, colorful and hopeful…more of what we need today – so much better than… Read more »
Yes, Tammy! Couldn’t have said it better myself!!
I do not feel the question should be IF BUT WHEN. 🙂 <3
I think it should stay
We absolutely love The Sing-Off! Please keep it around! We are looking forward to another season–the music is amazing! However, I do think the earlier seasons were better than the last one, because the earlier ones were more about the music–and not so sensationalized. Hearing the groups sing their hearts out is wonderful!
Please, please bring the show back. It is my favorite out of all the reality shows. I like it better than A.I., DWTS, The Voice, America’s got talent…. I like it almost as much as So you think you can dance, which is my favorite. I love “The Sing Off” and can’t wait for it to come back on again.
Love the show….the judges know their stuff and can give the contestants some really good critiques, unlike A.I., where all you hearthe judges say is how much they liked the performance or how much they hated it without saying WHY and no advice on how to fix it!
I never really saw the show and I really don’t care
Poor guy
LOVE THAT SHOW…WAITING ANXIOUSLY FOR IT TO RETURN….
I love the Sing-Off, it should stay. Today we always have knock offs of American Idol, this is actually unique.
I agree with you, Emma.
I certain hope The Singoff will return. Every time there is a decient show comes along it gets removed for some innocuous show.
It’s too bad when that happens.
I really want it to come back. I didn’t know it was on at all. But now that I know about it, there is the possibily that it won’t even return. Lord say it aint so.
The Sing Off should remain in my estimation. It is totally enjoyable, we as the public viewing audience see more talent in their time slot than in a week of “standard shows”. I realize not everyone loves music the way I do, but quality performances are missing for our viewing audiences today and I believe we as people are enriched by programing such as TSO. Please,
reconsider and keep the show on for another year or 10!!!
The Sing-Off is fun, exciting, diverse, and shows off the best musical and vocal talent of any other reality competition out there in t.v. land! It’s also one of the only prime time spots left that a family can watch together and enjoy. NBC should put more money into making the Sing-Off a household name for every family in America. Everyone I know was pumped up about the show having more air time. I would never have thought ratings were lower in season 3. I also heard that because they couldn’t watch it live, tons of viewers out there recorded… Read more »