A.V. Club | Newswire | New celebrity singing show to feature singing celebrities impressing other singing celebrities by singing like other singing celebrities

ws

(Published May 21, 2013)

As the post-Splash reality show hoists its weary body from the pool and towels off, Louie Anderson-style, the question of “What’s next?” looms on the horizon, also Louie Anderson-style. How about some more singing shows? How about some more celebrities? Wait—how about singing celebrities? (Certainly no more diving.) Yes, in a move apparently designed to seize televised singing competitions away from the common people and deliver them into the trembling hands of former soap stars and/or Jon Lovitz, ABC is fast at work on the unnervingly titled Sing Your Face Off. In a nod to its John Woo-esque title, the show’s premise is remarkably convoluted and bizarre: Five celebrity contestants—some of them already singers—will take on the identities of five different iconic singers each week, all in the hopes of impressing a panel of two celebrity judges—one of whom is also a singer. The contestants include former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, SNL alum Jon Lovitz, Toronto Raptors player Landry Fields, Disney Channel cog China Anne McClain, and former soap star Lisa Rinna. Debbie Gibson and another SNL alum, Darrell Hammond, will serve as judges, while Torchwood’s John Barrowman, of all people, will host. The six-episode series is expected to debut this summer.

The identities of the “iconic singers” the singing celebrities will take on have yet to be revealed, though one can imagine the hilarity sure to ensue when Lovitz sings “Ladies’ Night,” or Sebastian Bach is asked to impersonate himself, all for the delight of Debbie Gibson, who will probably be seated in some sort of chair. [via EW]