NATPE 2010: Twentieth Brings ‘Don't Forget the Lyrics!' To Syndication

Show will launch this fall

By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/25/2010 12:17:05 PM

NATPE 2010: Complete Coverage from B&C

Twentieth Television is bringing one-time Fox network program Don't Forget the Lyrics! to syndication.

The show will launch on the Fox-owned TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Washington, D.C. It also will air on MyNetwork TV in primetime, paired with Twentieth's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader on Tuesday nights. Twentieth is following the same financing model with Don't Forget the Lyrics! that it used with Fifth Grader, airing the show on multiple platforms: broadcast syndication, network prime and on cable. Don't Forget the Lyrics! will have a run on Viacom-owned VH1. (Fifth Grader airs on CMT.)

Don't Forget the Lyrics will replace NBC Universal's Deal or No Deal on MyNetwork TV. While NBCU has made no official comment, industry observers expect Deal to end its syndicated run after this season.

"The concurrent broadcast and cable runs of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader ushered in a groundbreaking syndication model for the business that we are thrilled to duplicate with a second hit Fox game show, Don't Forget the Lyrics!," said Greg Meidel, president of Twentieth Television and MyNetwork TV in a statement. Twentieth announced the new offering as the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) conference kicked off in Las Vegas.

The new version of Don't Forget the Lyrics!, produced by RDF USA and Apploff Entertainment, will be hosted by Mark McGrath, former lead singer of Sugar Ray and host of Warner Bros.' Extra. It premiered on the Fox network in July 2007.