NBC’s ‘The Sing-Off’ season 5 to be two-hour special; Patrick Stump replaces Ben Folds

Well, how about this for a strange decision made by NBC?

Rather than give “The Sing-Off” a delightful short run during the holiday season, the network has confirmed that this is instead going to be a two-hour special that airs come Wednesday, December 17. Shawn Stockman and Jewel are going to return as judges, while Patrick Stump, lead singer of Fall Out Boy, will replace Ben Folds. This is no slam to Stump, who we do genuinely like, but we’re somewhat bummed about losing Ben. He may be the smartest, most constructive judge that exists on any reality singing show.

Reportedly, this one-off will feature six vocal groups looking to win a cash prize, and Nick Lachey will preside over the evening of entertainment yet again as host.

Ultimately, we imagine that a little bit of “Sing-Off” is better than no “Sing-Off” at all, but why not just given the show a good seven or so episodes? It cannot cost that much money to make, and the ratings are not necessarily terrible. The only time that the show really overexerted itself was a few years ago, which is when they aired an extended run during the fall season, and the ratings completely tanked out. Ironically, though, that is also the season that introduced us to Pentatonix, the brilliant vocal group who have become YouTube superstars ever since winning that season.

We’ll have some further news when it comes to the show before it airs, so be sure to keep coming back for a little more when it comes to that. Hopefully, we’ll find out more about the singers soon, as well.

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