"Singing Bee" clicks for Peacock

Good for NBC. "The Singing Bee" got off to a strong start on Tuesday, drawing more than 13.1 million people (most of them probably jonesing for an "American Idol" fix) and an impressive 5.0 rating/14 share in the key adults 18-49 demo, per prelim Nielsens and Variety's ratings guru Rick Kissell. The look of the fill-in-the-lyrics competish show struck me a variation on the "Deal or No Deal" melody -- goofy-upbeat host (Joey Fatone), girls in shimmery micro-miniskirts, etc....but hey, more people showed up for "Bee" than they did for Fox's telecast of the All-Star game (which pulled in about 12 million viewers, per Fox). "Bee" ranks as primetime's top telecast in adults 18-49 in six weeks, and NBC's best reality show debut, summer or otherwise, since "Average Joe" in November 2003, according to NBC.