NBC’s ‘The Sing-Off’ season 4: Nick Lachey returns; Jewel signs on

For those of you who long complained about NBC killing “The Sing-Off” by putting it on against “Dancing with the Stars” two years ago, you are likely thrilled to see the show coming back in its comfortable holiday season position. Not only that, but it is also returning with a familiar roster of people attached.

It was announced today that Nick Lachey would once again serve as the master of ceremonies as he did the first three seasons, which means that him taking on that questionable game show “The Winner Is…” has made no impact at all to his credibility as a host. He’s entertaining enough, and this is an underrated job when it comes to just how difficult it can be to keep a show going and be entertaining simultaneously.

As you know already, Sara Bareilles (pictured) will not be returning to the judging panel this time around in order to focus on music (which saddens us, since she was rather good). However, she will be replaced by Jewel who has some experience in both the reality hosting and judging realm (see Bravo’s short-lived “Platinum Hit”).

The only real remaining task for the show is making sure that they find the right crew of people necessary to make this vocal-group competition worthwhile. The success of Pentatonix, the last winners of the show, on the internet may be a reason why they have been able to bring the competition back this year. While this type of singing may not exactly be mainstream, their success shows that there is still a place for some of the super-interesting / amazing stuff that these people can do without instruments.

What do you think about Jewel as a judge? Sound off below!

Photo: NBC