The Masked Singer

The Masked Singer is weirder, sillier, and stupider than [other singing reality] shows. It may also be more entertaining than them. It’s definitely more inane. ... The Masked Singer’s weakness is its judging panel, who are frequently billed as “detectives,” and who approach their jobs with all the insight and acumen of an America’s Next Top Model contestant trying to decipher the Tyra Mail.

The body horror is agreeable. The singing is real. Some of it is excellent (an unspecified number of competitors are professionally trained); mostly, it is fine. The creatures compete against each other in pairs. ... Cultivating the cutesy creepiness dulls any sense of unease.

What is a given is the surprise element. The costumes are quite elaborate and they, alone, would be worth an episode. ... Ken Jeong seems like the wild card, since no one has associated him with music. (At least Jenny McCarthy’s husband is one of the New Kids on the Block.) He tries to be funny but, often, it’s Scherzinger’s surprised looks that get the laughs.

The whole enterprise is pure dumb diversion, to be honest. Viewed from another perspective, however, The Masked Singer also is a moving editorial cartoon who commentary indicts human tendency to value poise and appearance, the foundation blocks of fame, over actual talent and true ability.

It all started as an admirably bizarre reality series that revelled in its unabashed spectacle and lunacy. But it became, somehow, a bit of a bore.

Whether it’s a reaction to the curated snobbery of prestige television or simply a new low in reality programming and its worship of B-list talent, The Masked Singer kicks off 2019 with such low expectations that everything else--“CSI” reruns, pharmaceutical ads---looks like sophisticated high art in its wake. ... The show’s panelists are the most entertaining aspect of the bizarre spectacle when they shoot high in gradings on the celebrity scale when estimating who’s under the rack of antlers or giant insect head.

The show’s far more boring than it has any right to be ... So far, the American version is too preoccupied with selling the enormity of the the unmaskings that it doesn’t bother to make sure the rest of the show is particularly interesting at all.

The Masked Singer is a deeply stupid enterprise. [18 Jan 2019, p.46]