Posted in: Fox, Review, Trailer, TV | Tagged: alien, Bee, bleeding cool, cable, competition, contest, deer, fox, hippo, jenny mccarthy, ken jeong, Lion, masked singer, monster, Nick Cannon, peacock, Pineapple, Poodle, Rabbit, raven, robin thicke, singing, streaming, television, the masked singer, tv, unicorn
FOX's "The Masked Singer': The Guilty Pleasure We Didn't Know We Needed [SPOILER REVIEW]
I may not be entirely proud to admit it, but I was intrigued by FOX's The Masked Singer since promos started airing a few months ago. The lavish costumes, questionable singing skills, and mysterious celebrity guests lured me in. After watching the premiere, I am officially hooked.
Luckily, I'm not the only one!
Fellow Bleeding Cool contributor Leigh Kade is joining me in commentating on each episode's shenanigans. We'll hedge our bets on possible celebrities, marvel over the flashy ensembles, critique their voices – we may even criticize the judges (spoiler: we aren't fans of them all).
Join us as we breakdown the permiere and offer up our thoughts…
The Show
- There's 10 elimination shows total – an 11 episode season, with a likely "road to the finale" penultimate episode.
- Each week features a new group of contestants, so we have repeat contenders just yet. Eventually, they'll be divided into two teams.
- Six contestants face off in each episode (for now). They are split into pairs and the studio audience chooses which one of the two deserves to stay on.
- At the end of the episode, the judges pick one person to send home from the bottom three. The other two get to stick around and sing again.
The Contestants
- There are clues everywhere – costumes details, introductory hints, and post-performance teasers.
- Just because they sing, doesn't mean they're all singers – athletes, reality stars, has-beens – who never know if there's an A-Lister or D-Lister behind the mask.
Thankfully, the clues and performances are available for you to watch! Take a look at each video and start mulling over which celeb it could be.
The Clues
And now…The Performances!
The Monster
https://youtu.be/iKHwcuNvrTM
The Peacock
https://youtu.be/Pv_qCDK9xYw
The Unicorn
https://youtu.be/a3ysbYD4JBQ
The Hippo
https://youtu.be/TuI0rAB_G_0
The Deer
https://youtu.be/CuRGR0HN5T0
The Lion
https://youtu.be/hxqA_sxZDgw
Bleeding Cool's real-time thoughts…
Tiffany: They booked the episode with the best vocals – Peacock and Lion. I have a few guesses but am clueless about most of the contestants so far.
I think the Peacock is Cory Feldman. Between the clues, mannerisms, and sequence- totally seems like Corey. But someone on Twitter had their reasons to think it is likely Donny Osmond.
Leigh: I think you might be dead on, I also wouldn't rule out McCulley Culkin or Neal Patrick Harris. But that's just based off of the Michael Jackson connection. But wait, what if it's the… Ghost of Michael Jackson?
Tiffany: LOL If only Celebrity Ghost Stories was still around. I thought of NPH for a sec, but it didn't really sound like his voice. I didn't even think of Culkin! But it could be one of the Hedwigs…
Deer is totally Terry Bradshaw! I'm 99.99% sure of it. I've watched enough Better Late Than Never to know.
Leigh: My wife really wanted it to be Triple H from her rasslin' stories, and Deer moves like a wrestler, but all of his clues say Broncos guy. I'm crap at football, so I think you're right on the money. I would still love to see a pro-wrestler in one of these costumes, though!
Tiffany: I won't be surprised if there is a wrestler in the mix. I could see The Miz jumping at the chance.
I'm afraid Unicorn might Hiedi Montag from The Hills. She made some really crappy music back when she was milking her 15 minutes of fame. Wouldn't be surprised to see her come back for more attention.
Leigh: Unicorn's costume was cool, other than that I have no idea. I would love it if it was someone way out of left field, though, like Rita Moreno. No one would see that coming. I wouldn't be surprised to see Paris Hilton under the mask, though.
Tiffany: Lion has stumped me. I'm trying to think of Hollywood Royalty who wouldn't be able to establish a singing career if she is so skilled at it. She is obviously a trained entertainer. Maybe they are trying to throw us off guard. It is possible that she actually is a popular performer.
Leigh: The clues for Lion had me trying to figure out the whole Hollywood Royalty bit, and I kept tripping over some Kardashian or other, but I doubt that much talent would have managed to be hidden in that group. So, now we need to detective out kids of Hollywood families that can sing that well, and I'm stumped. The only people I can find that fit the bill are Kate Hudson and Rumer Willis, but time will tell!
Tiffany: Sigh, I feared it could be a Kardashian. But none them quite fit.
Kate and Rumer are good guesses! You're right, we need to do some more thinking and digging on that. I feel like gold has to be a big clue too.
Leigh: Can we talk about the costumes, though? I thought the different costumes were the coolest part of the show. I actually found myself getting stressed out at the end, because I couldn't deal with Monster getting cut. I love Monster so freaking much! I could watch a show that was just these characters hanging out. Like The Real World, but just these characters.
Tiffany: I love the costumes! Very intricate and well crafted. We have to look closely at them for more clues. The more form-fitting ones help with guessing. Monster is a tough one to decipher. He's a hoot. Can't place his voice – yet.
Leigh: And the judges need some work. Robin Thicke seems to be having a blast, and Ken Jeong is always fun, but every time Jenny McCarthy opened her mouth I found myself wishing Chelsea Peretti had been up there instead. I think I'm hooked, though; if the judges ever gel I might even love it!
Tiffany: I'm not thrilled with the judges either. It's funny, they're usually the big draw, but in this case, I'm in it for the mysterious contestants. Ken is hilarious. Robin has music credibility. The girls are super disappointing. Chelsea would be cool.
I'm definitely hooked too! Curious to see how the season pans out.
Next week? Bee, Rabbit, Alien, Raven, Pineapple, and Poodle perform!
Yes, you read that right…
https://youtu.be/gemh5cM-7jw
The Masked Singer airs Wednesday nights at 9/8c on FOX.