"Sing-Off" Finale: Winner to Be Decided Tonight on NBC

Voices of Lee performs Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" in last Wednesday's show.

The voting finished yesterday in the finals of NBC's a cappella singing competition "The Sing-Off," and the results will be announced tonight, Monday December 21st in a live show (after endless commercials, of course). The show airs at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

There are three finalists: Voices of Lee from Tennessee's Lee University; Nota from Puerto Rico; and Tufts University's The Beelzebubs (which I've written about before). See the official "Sing-Off" site above for an overview, videos of the performances, and more details.

To see specific performances: Nota singing Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer," Voices of Lee performing Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror," and The Beelzebubs doing Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."

Tonight's finals will also feature a cappella performances from some heavy hitters: Natasha Bedingfield, Bobby McFerrin, Boyz II Men (the group that judge Shawn Stockman is a member of), and Smokey Robinson.

Voting took place from the end of last Wednesday's show until 9 a.m. yesterday morning, with viewers able to vote by phone or online, with up to 10 entries per e-mail address. So tonight's winner will probably be the group that conducted the best get-out-the-vote campaign. Good luck to all competitors!

ABC and NBC Present Fall TV Lineups

Although this blog is mostly about music and podcasting, I like to give a nod to significant news in TV land sometimes... after all, TV shows now have their own podcasts, too.

As you may know, this is "upfront" week in TV, when the big networks pitch their lineups for upcoming season to advertisers in hopes of getting them to pony up big bucks in prepaid advertising.

Here's the gist on what NBC and ABC are up to:

• "Scrubs" has been renewed for another season
  
• ABC will add a "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff starring Kate Walsh, tentatively titled "Private Practice"
  
• "Friday Night Lights" is back for another season, but is moving from Wednesday to (appropriately enough) Friday
  
• "Crossing Jordan" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" have been canceled
  
• ABC is adding five new dramas, including "Pushing Daisies" (about a man who can bring people to life from the dead--and send them back again) and "Dirty Sexy Money" (a lawyer takes over his father's job as personal attorney to a rich family)
  
• NBC is introducing a new version of "The Bionic Woman," a series from the '70s (Wednesdays at 9pm)
  
• ABC is introducing "Caveman," a sitcom based on the popular Geico TV commercials about cavemen living in modern society (maybe next season we'll see a show starring Geico's Cockney-talking gecko?)
  

Last but certainly not least, NBC will ride the "Heroes" horse again with a spinoff called "Heroes: Origins," which will feature a novel gimmick: viewers will be able to vote on their favorite new character, who will become a regular.

Later this week we'll see upfront presentations from CBS, Fox, and the CW network.