With the new year approaching, the Winter TV season is finally upon us, and there are lots of new and returning shows about to premiere. Tonight FOX launches the fun new mystery singing competition series, The Masked Singer.

I had stopped watched these singing competition series a while back, but The Masked Singer provides a fun new twist on the genre. If you saw the YouTube clip of Ryan Reynolds dressed as a unicorn signing on a Korean TV show last year, this is the same show, but for U.S. audiences. The series finds 12 celebrities hiding their identities under full-body costumes as they take the stage to sing incognito before a live audience. All told, the 12 celebrity competitors have amassed 65 Grammy nominations, 16 multi-Platinum albums, 16 Emmy nominations, nine Broadway shows, four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and four Super Bowl titles! Each week some of the contestants will participate in head-to-head sing-offs. The studio audience and judges will vote, and at the end of the night, one of the singers will be eliminated and reveal his or her identity. Hosting the series is Nick Cannon, and the judging panel includes Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger.

I really enjoyed tonight’s premiere. As each masked singer is introduced, they give some clues to help you try to identify them. The judges also ask each contestant a question or two and make their own guesses. When the contestants are interviewed, their voices are distorted, but it’s fun to try to figure out who these singers are based on the clues, their mannerisms, their singing voices, etc. It’s obvious that some of the these folks have a lot of experience singing/performing, while others not-so-much. My screeners for the first two episodes were blurred and bleeped during the big reveals, so I am really excited to check out tonight’s episode to learn the identity of one of these celebrities! In tonight’s episode, we meet half of the contestants, and next week we meet the second half.

In tonight’s premiere, “Mask On Face Off”, the first six undercover celebrity singers—peacock, hippo, monster, unicorn, deer and lion—face off against one another in elaborate head-to-toe costumes.

Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording MythBusters Jr..

For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight, including Vikings and Criminal Minds, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 1/2/19 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.