New on TV: Hit Me Baby 1 More Time

I suppose the price we pay for the lack of new unscripted shows this fall is the glut of them making up new summer programming. The downward trend in such shows that debut this week continues with this NBC offering, where has-been musical acts try to recapture the magic. Five acts face off, doing one of their own songs and a recent song (or, more accurately, parts of each). The audience votes, and the winner goes on to some sort of final.

Tonight's acts: Loverboy, CeCe Peniston, A Flock of Seagulls, Arrested Development, and Tiffany. It's been slim pickings, though I think the women have a slight edge going into the clubhouse turn (Loverboy is singing Julio Iglesias's "Hero" as I type this, putting it into some sort of power ballad context that might have worked if this were 1984).

The host is some guy named Vernon Kay, who I have never heard of. The IMDB suggests that he's some sort of professional TV host/presenter, and he's got the smarmy personality to be successful - if annoying - in that role.

CeCe Peniston is singing some sort of Faith Hill song now. Not my cup of tea, but probably not bad if you like divas.

Anyway, this show is only running like 3 or 4 episodes, which is probably just about right. Next week promises the return of Vanilla Ice, which will hopefully be good for laughs, given that the show is pretty much a failure as musical entertainment.

PS - A Flock of Seagulls is singing some Ryan Cabrera song. Honestly, I don't think they've performed together, or maybe even individually, since their last song slid off of Billboard. Painful.