Fox's new singing competition with goofy masks is the biggest unscripted TV show debut in 7 years
- Fox's "The Masked Singer" scored over 9 million viewers in its premiere on Wednesday, the biggest ratings debut for an unscripted series in seven years.
- The singing competition finds six celebrities singing while disguised in outlandish masks, and four panelists must guess who they are.
- The premiere was also the biggest unscripted telecast on any broadcast network in two seasons.
The new celebrity singing competition, "The Masked Singer," premiered this week to huge ratings and is a big win so far for Fox.
The show, in which celebrities sing while hiding behind outlandish masks, scored the biggest ratings debut for an unscripted series on Wednesday since 2011's "The X-Factor" premiere with 9.36 million viewers, according to Deadline. It's also the biggest unscripted telecast on any broadcast network in two seasons.
The show is hosted by Nick Cannon and includes panelists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke, who attempt to guess the identity of six celebrity singers.
During the premiere, the first of the celebrities was unmasked to be Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, who wore a hippo mask.
The show's biggest competition on Wednesday was a repeat episode of "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS with 6.91 million viewers, according to Deadline.
"The Masked Singer" followed the season two premiere of Gordon Ramsay's "24 Hours to Hell and Back," which pulled in 4 million viewers, according to Deadline.
NBC and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's new competition show, "The Titan Games," premiered on Thursday to solid numbers, but not as big as "The Masked Singer. It reeled in 6.5 million viewers, according to The Wrap. "America's Got Talent: The Champions" premieres January 7.