The contestants can be anyone, as long as they can hold a tune. Whether established labels like Joey Fatone, Chris Daughtry, Patti LaBelle or Seal. Or comedians like Margaret Cho, Drew Carey, Sherri Shepard or Tommie Chong. Even folks who have never acted nor sang professionally such as boxers (Laila Ali), NBA allstars (Victor Oladipo), doctors (Dr. Drew Pinsky) or politicians (Tina Fey... errr Sarah Palin) have entertained and wowed the masses. And even Tori Spelling stayed masked for five episodes. And most fittingly, Ken Jeong and Joel McHale hold the crackle and banter to hold the series together. The Masked Singer picked a diverse pallet, keeping the mystery alive and the ratings are the proof. Early 2019 saw live+same day 18-49 demographics ranging from 2.2-3.6, astronomical for that respective season. The following season delivered a little lower from 1.4-2.3 (save for a Superbowl-boosted 8.1 entry), still uncharted for a season which experienced massive ratings loss.
After The Masked Singer blazed into Wednesday nights and helped FOX reclaim the trophy for 1st place, the network made the right progression by relocating brasher programming such as Empire and Almost Family (read about it in WORST SCRIPTED SERIES) elsewhere and paving the way for Lego Masters to create yet another family friendly evening getting back to the basics. Nary a curse-word, violent theme or suggested sexuality exists, as all are welcome including the kiddies. The 2010's were a notoriously racy decade for television, and it is a breath of fresh air to see networks still hold value for family-friendly programming. Fellow reality TV singing platforms American Idol and The Voice are just what teens and young adults like as the young starlets bring the drama they know so well. Let them rest on those franchises and keep The Masked Singer's Tree lit with the fundamentals all of America enjoys.