In the true spirit of the network's latest schedule-destroying move, let's see if we can keep all four days of competition confined to one miserly thread.

Once again: NBC: We're Cheap And It's Paid For.

• Watching the first bit.,Estee, 08:27 PM, 12-14-09
• Second half-hour.,Estee, 08:51 PM, 12-14-09
• First elimination.,Estee, 09:00 PM, 12-14-09
• Second hour starts.,Estee, 09:22 PM, 12-14-09
• RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,mom2bjm, 10:35 PM, 12-14-09
• RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,Loree, 11:48 PM, 12-14-09
  • RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,Sagebrush Dan, 10:04 AM, 12-16-09
    • RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,mindy23, 10:21 AM, 12-16-09
• RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,Sagebrush Dan, 11:19 AM, 12-17-09
• RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,nailbone, 04:01 PM, 12-17-09
  • RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,JessicaRN, 01:28 AM, 12-22-09
    • RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,Loree, 09:15 AM, 12-22-09
      • RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,leggs77, 01:21 PM, 12-22-09
        • RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,JessicaRN, 09:11 PM, 12-22-09
          • RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,kidflash212, 10:28 AM, 07-10-16
• RE: The Ratings Death March Sing-Off,susang, 01:39 PM, 12-26-09

Not all the way through, though. Once the nerds come on at 9:30, I'm out of here. But until then...

Judges: who?

Host: nearly 'who?'.

Prize: pitiful. Even for NBC's cheapout phase, this is sad: $100,000 divided between how many potential people? The contract may mean just about nothing -- and everyone had to fly to LA for the auditions, very possibly on their own dollar? How sad can this get? Who wants to bet they're all sleeping in the audience seats between shows?

Opening number: potential near-powerhouse. I'd buy that download with a little more work put into it.

Nota: Good tones, but didn't seem to fit the song or put enough of their own spin on it.

Voices Of Lee: There's too much inherent hilarity in a Christian group encouraging people to take the spirit of their lives as an unwritten book while simultaneously releasing their inhibitions. In fact, there's so much hilarity that someone should have spotted it before they ever reached this point. Elephant in the room...

I just figured out what I truly enjoyed about that opening number (besides having one of my favorite songs in this kind of venue): they performed the whole song. Now we're back to ninety-second AI-svck exerts, and I'm already sick of it. It took five minutes to give me hope and less than a third of that to steal it back...

Face: Not enough power. For a group that wanted to present a wall of sound, they went for porous soundproofing with a hint of bathroom floor tile. They've got to rock harder than that or their group ID is over before it starts.

Noteworthy: (My first thought on seeing them: oh look, it's the all-Mormon cast of Smallville.) I'm not sure if they have the most harmony-to-date or if they're just being dominated by the most powerful lead singer in the first four groups. Best choreography so far. Doing Aretha fits -- barely -- but the irony, it's just getting deeper.

The judges decide, and after a too-extensive Seacrest imitation, Face walks out of the theater while singing that these faces and these places are getting old, so they're going home. Perfect choice of departure tune. Hopefully the others have that much self-awareness in them when their time comes around.

So we've got the format for the opener: four perform, one leaves, repeat. I've got enough time to see two more. And if this show had any common sense pacing at all, I would have seen all eight by now, plus bonus hometown footage. Onward.

Beetlebugs Beelzebubs: Not much singing and a whole lot of overacting. Gotta agree with Judge #1: there were times when they went pitchy and tried to cover it with their movements: hey, what's that over there? Charisma and some talent, but very little consistency.

Maxx Factor: The opening bars had me cringing so deep into my couch, I came within inches of emerging from the bottom. (Things improved a little once they got deeper into the song, but not much -- say, cushion level.) Dancing Queen as barbershop? It's a bad SNL skit in the middle of happening -- but they're a demographic and the judges seem to like them, so we're in trouble again.

And on that acapella note, off to CBS.

*looks around* Anyone watching with you, Estee? You seem pretty lonely here..

I've watched the first half - I did enjoy Noteworthy - I have to give them my vote because I was born where they come from...

Waiting on the 2nd half - the DVR isn't finished recording it..

I have to say I really liked the very first group from PR. And then everything seemed to go downhill for me. The yellow sweater girls hurt my ears. I mean I was sticking my fingers in my ears because it was too screechy.

I channel surf during the commercials of this and keep getting distracted by more interesting things---like watching paint dry. That said, I keep missing the PR group because of that.
And the yellow sweater girls just had to go. My ears are still bleeding.

Must say that Clash of the Choirs was much much better. Mme. LaBelle's ego was pure entertainment in itself.

Gotta agree with the 'who' factor. Have no idea who any of those judges are, but then again, Boyz2Men haven't been around for a while, PussyCat Dolls are not my 'thang', and the other dude with the glasses? Still can't remember his name or what it was he did. But he has some good input.

Nick-wasn't he the one married to Jessica, and his younger bro did the DTWS?? LOL. HE used to be the famous one, now he rides on the coattails of younger bro. Too funny.

Anyway, I digress. Barber Shop Quartets in the over 50 group seem so out of place with the beat-boxing of the other groups, yet they are still around, why? Is it the agism factor, or do the judges really think these ladies can win? I dunno...I do say I didn't see the first epi of this, so I can only talk about last night. Enjoyed the Puerto Rico dudes who did "Stayin' Alive" for their guilty pleasure. Enjoyed everything they did. They're cute, entertaining, and have amazing vocals. They get accappella. Which not a lot of people do. When you take away instruments, you can lose a whole audience, but these guys had a way of making you forget that there were no drums, bass, horns, etc.

Also liked the group that did "Sail Away". And the other one who did the Alicia Keys' song. Sorry, too early to remember the names, and by the time we do, the show will be off the air, anyway.

It's an 'alright' filler for mostly reruns or seasonal shows at this point in the year, so can't complain. I love music and whoever does it right. And when you DVR it, you get to jump through the commercials, and put 2 hours into about 50 minutes!

I finally got to see the PR guys. Wow. I was impressed.

I actually really enjoyed this show, but I'm a fan of a capella music.

The final 3 - Nota, The Beelzebubs, and Voices of Lee - are all so good, I'd be OK with any of them winning. The 'Bubs, however, are my faves based on the silliness factor.

I have to say that I enjoyed the finale tonight. I thought the performances were good and the only one that was really goofy was the song with Nick Lachey.

Glad that Nota won. I believe they needed the win more than the Bubs did.

I don't think any show has dragged out the announcement of who wins as long as Nick did. Some nights I got bored waiting and wasn't even paying attention by the time they announced the group.

I am also glad that Nota won, I actually voted for them. I also hate the way Nick drags out the announcement as well. I think he sounds silly and stupid when he talks like that.

Piggly Wiggly

I got the feeling that Nick was watching a clock and wasn't supposed to talk until the time went off. It was a ridiculous amount of time. I also know that he was reading words that someone else wrote for him, but he is just not a natural at this. Makes you realize that Ryan Seacrest and some of the others are actually good at what they do. I also thought Nick was looking kind of pudgy.

Whatever happened to Nick Lachey?

The finale could have been trimmed by 1/2 hour (or more)

Glad that Nota won

However, the show was "just OK" (with too much filler)