Don't Forget the Lyrics! (or Lyrics for short) is an American singing game show created by Jeff Apploff, produced by RDF USA and hosted by comedian and former Whose Line is it Anyway? panelist Wayne Brady in which contestants compete to win one million dollars by correctly recalling song lyrics from a variety of genres.
The series premiered in the USA on FOX on 11 July, 2007. There are three seasons of the show to date.
Don't Forget the Lyrics! premiered in South Africa on DStv's M-Net Series channel on Friday 14 November 2008, at 22h00.
Season 4 premiered on M-Net Series on Friday 4 June 2010, at 22h30. New episodes air weekly. There are 13 episodes in the fourth season.
Season 4 Repeats
Saturdays: 04h30, 10h30, 16h30
Synopsis
"Cause this is thriller, thriller night ..."
Can you sing the next verse? We all think we know the words to the world's most popular songs, but when there's a million dollars at stake, will contestants be able to keep singing when the music stops?
Or will they be at a loss for words?
Wayne Brady hosts the new game show Don't Forget the Lyrics!.
On Don't Forget the Lyrics! contestants choose songs from different genres, decades and musical artists. Then they take centre stage to sing alongside the studio band as the lyrics are projected on screen - but suddenly the music stops and the words disappear.
Will the contestants belt out the correct missing lyric, or freeze under pressure?
After each correct response, contestants must decide to "Stay & Play" or "Take the Money & Run."
If they sing 9 songs correctly, they are presented with a No. 1 hit and one final missing lyric for the top prize of $1 million. It's that simple: 10 songs, 10 missing lyrics, 1 million dollars.
Gameplay
The structure of the show is similar to Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Lyrics's "cousin" game show.
Contestants are given nine categories (such as "pop", "Rolling Stones", or "divas"). Contestants pick one of the categories. They are then given a choice of two different songs. The contestant chooses one of the songs and are told how many many missing words they will have to provide.
The band starts to play the song and the lyrics are displayed on large monitors in front of the contestant, who sings karaoke style. At some point, the lyrics are shown as blank spaces and the music stops. The contestant then fills in those blank spaces.
They can then decide to "lock in" the lyrics, choose one of the "backups", which are similar to lifelines, or choose to walk away with the money they have won so far.
The filled in lyrics start as yellow and turn blue when locked in and turn green if correct and red if incorrect (although correct words still turn green).
If the contestant locks in incorrect lyrics before hitting the $25,000 mark, all money earned so far is lost.
After passing the $25,000 mark, the contestant is guaranteed that amount; incorrect lyrics between the $50,000 and the $500,000 songs will knock the contestant out of the game with $25,000.
After nine correct answers, contestants can choose to go for the "Million Dollar Song".
Million Dollar Song
Identical to 5th Grader's Million Dollar Question, the contestant that makes it to this level must decide whether or not to either attempt the song or play it safe and take the $500,000.
There is no other information on the song revealed to the player other than that the song is a #1 hit from one of the nine categories featured in their game.
Also revealed is that if the player does go on, the $25,000 guarantee is immediately increased to $100,000. Any remaining backups are out of play at this point, and the other info is only revealed if the player decides to go for it.
After the contestant sings, they can change it if they want but they have the option to lock in something or walk away. If the lyrics to the Million Dollar Song are incorrect or the contestant opts to walk away by not locking in the lyric, the contestant leaves with $100,000.
If correct, the contestant wins $1,000,000.
Backups
There are 3 helps, or "backups" that the contestant can use for assistance (this concept is similar to the "3 lifelines" concept from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?).
"Backup Singer" (analogous to the "Phone a Friend" lifeline on Millionaire) allows one of the contestant's two friends or family members the opportunity to help them by singing along with the contestant.
Afterwards, the contestant is given the choice of sticking with their lyric or going with their backup singer's lyric if it is different.
"2 Words" allows the contestant to choose any two of the missing words after they have answered but before the answer is locked in, and they will be told what those words are.
When the player uses the "2 Words" backup and selects a word that is incorrect, it will automatically be corrected.
"3 Lines" gives the contestant a choice of 3 possible answers, of which one is the correct response. If the choices have common words within them, the lyric will have the common words automatically turned green. Each backup may only be used once, right up to the $500,000 song.
Song Values
Song 1: $2,500
Song 2: $5,000
Song 3: $10,000
Song 4: $25,000
Song 5: $50,000
Song 6: $100,000
Song 7: $200,000
Song 8: $350,000
Song 9: $500,000
Song 10: $1,000,000