Joey and the Bee back as summer flirt turns into autumn love
By Tom Wright
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 7/20/07 – Summer sensation “Singing Bee” has got a buzz and while Joey Fatone may not be following fellow N’Sync member Justin Timberlake into superstardom, but he does have his own TV show now.
Yet Fatone considered the show a stepping-stone to Timberlake town. He tells Hollywood Today “I figured this would be a great opportunity to come out, have fun, just do it and hopefully further my career.” That right after his last dance on “Dancing With the Stars.” We sat down, talked about it. I loved the idea. I was very, very excited about it and wanted to be a part of it. I said, ‘Any way, shape, or form I can help out, you let me know.’ Because they were like, ‘Well, we’re possibly looking for a host.’ And I was like, ‘Perfect.’”
So he parlayed his high-stepping routines on “Dancing with the Stars” into a full-time, Ryan Seacrest-type hosting job on karaoke-style show “Singing Bee,” which swarmed to an audience of 13 million with its first show and 11 million on its second.
NBC co-chairs Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff said the show has been picked up for the fall, about the highest honor a summer show can get.
Fatone said he was thrilled about the reaction to the show. “They obviously liked it. I didn’t suck.”
The series, which tests contestants knowledge of exact song lyrics, was described by producer Robert Horowitz as “a variety show with game elements.” He added Joey “knows all the words to the songs all the time.”
“Right,” shot back Fatone. “I’m terrible at it. I look at the cards, and I’m like, “Is that what the words really are?” “I think that’s what makes it so much fun. Obviously, I have the cards in my hand, and I know the answer. It’s exciting to watch the contestant really, really — either they know it and you see the confidence that they have, or the minute they get the title and the year and they’re like, “Ooh, I don’t know if I really know this.”
Joey noted that there are at least some songs he knows by heart. “Right out of the gate, the first show an N’Sync song in the mix “It was “Bye Bye Bye.” I think I knew the lyrics.”
The “Singing Bee” has millions of songs to pick from, but there are some songs that will not be heard on the show, For instance songs by the Beatles. The Fab Fours rights holders are not allowing their songs to be cleared for the show, the one group everyone knows the lyrics for. By comparison, do you know the lyrics to “Honky Tonk Woman,” the hit from another 60s supergroup The Rolling Stones? Not even Mick Jagger does. He has sung the song in different ways on several live recordings.
The show already has a competitor from Fox, which has argued in the past, to the point of lawsuits, that they had rights to similar shows to those on other networks, claiming the concepts were in the hopper all the time. They will be airing “Don’t Forget the Lyrics.”
“Don’t Forget” was in active development when “Bee” producer Phil Gurin heard Fox was doing a similar show. When he head he said “all it would probably have done to us is make sure we made our show as good as we possibly can. We’ve had ours in development for quite a while, and we’re just very excited about it. And, you know, we’re just worried about the ‘Bee.’” To spend much energy worrying about somebody else doesn’t really -do you any good. What you can control is how well you make your show. And working with NBC, we’ve made a great show.”
Fatone, who also hosted the short-lived show “Fame,” added “We knew that it had potential. We knew that we were all pulling it off well. I did not know it would be this successful as far as the first show is concerned. And really happy to be a part of the Fall season.”
One of Fatone’s first jobs in showbiz, if you will, was to perform as the Wolfman at the Universal City Tours. ‘I remember it was Hot. It was outside, I was in fur, and I was singing and dancing. That’s kind of where I got the love as far as doing stuff like that and wanting to perform in front of people.”
Gurin said of choosing Fatone, “Obviously, he has this great background in music, He’s used to performing in front of a zillion people, and he’s sold a zillion records. That didn’t hurt. But he’s just a great personality and a great guy. The second he walked out of our offices we all looked at each other and said, ‘This is the guy for us.’”
Of the choice to rush the show to air before Fox could air theirs, said “Better to be first in first than not to be.”
Or as the the Bard said, “To Bee or Not to Bee.”