"The Masked Singer" Made Masks Hot Before They Were Cool

A couple of years ago after a particularly trying day pulling long hours on another showamp160Plestis wanted a respite so he called home and suggested to his wife and daughter that they all go out for dinner The family went to a favorite Thai restaurant in their Studio City neighborhood where Plestis positioned himself away from the TV which was tuned to a Korean network quotThe last thing I wanted to do was watch more TVquot he told MediaVillage during an exclusive interview quotBut my daughter said 39You have to look at that39 No one was eating Everyone was watching a black leather kangaroo singing a US pop song and you could figure out right away what it was It was so strange This was a focus group because no one was eatingquotShortly thereafter the executive producer who brought America39s Got Talent to NBC and knows a sustainable hit when he sees one did what everyone does with a question He Googled it After learning The Masked Singer originated in South Korea Plestis called his agent quotI would like to say it took forever to get the rights but it was actually pretty quickquot he said quotI called up Rob Wade Fox39s President Alternative Entertainment and Specials and over the weekend I finished up everything and went in and presented to him I told him 39You will love it Or say amp8216What the hell39 and kick me out of your office39 Rob saw the brilliance of itquotThe premise of The Masked Singer is simple A panel listens to masked singers a term loosely applied to some and tries to figure out who they are based on the person39s voice as well as hints woven into the contestants39 intros and the costumes themselves While the premise can be stripped down to these basics the show is quotall about spectacle larger than lifequot Plestis said quotIt was something fresh for TV It wasn39t a derivative formatquotNaturally this season by dint of the pandemic is different from the others Previously the studio audience voted off singers Now the home audience does so Speaking of which if the screaming crowds of people working themselves into a frenzy screaming quotTake it offquot look familiar they should They39re from seasons past In part anywayquotIn these COVID times it really pushes us to be as creative as we canquot Plestis said quotThat is a virtual audience It is an animated audience of live shots that we use and closeups are from previous seasons We wanted to give everybody the perspective of watching a current and live showquotIn another move to ensure that safety comes first commentators Robin Thicke Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger are seated farther apart That isn39t a problem given their strong chemistry which can bridge any gap It39s a quality that tracks back to the beginning of it all quotWe needed to make sure they got along like a family at Thanksgivingquot Plestis explained quotWe wanted them to argue but still love each other when the dinner was donequotEach has their own superpowerquot he continued quotRobin is the man with the ear of gold He can listen to the voice and figure it out He loved this idea He used to play with his son and they would listen to cartoons and figure out who the voice was Jenny is our pop culture guru she reads everything and knows everything about pop culture Then you have Ken who is comedy beyond belief and someone who wants to do well but keeps missing the mark a little bit Nicole is a phenomenal singer in her own right and she knows everybody She39ll say 39It can39t be that person I just had dinner with them the other night39quot Ken Nicole Jenny and Robin are pictured above left to right with host Nick Cannon at centerquotI was an outside of the box choicequot Jeong told MediaVillage in a separate interview quotTo this day I don39t take that for granted and I have now shared the stage with Robin Thicke and Nicole Scherzinger who are incredible recording artists They are absolutely amazing in terms of their musicality It is just a chemistry thing I suppose I think we just got incredibly lucky Somehow we all fit and it39s hard to describe whyquotJeong knew about the South Korean hit earlyquotMy mom who is Korean although she lives in America watches a lot of Korean televisionquot he explained quotShe had told me about The Masked Singer so I had the benefit of seeing some of the Korean episodes and that gave me some insight even before I signed on Being one of the panelists understanding the tone is important You don39t take yourself seriously but you do take the game seriouslyquotThe costumes are also taken seriously It takes a lot of work to make a jellyfish or a space alien or a happy banana The outlandish getups are the result of design and artistry with clues crafted into costumesquotIn my eyes it is being unique and imaginative something very intriguing with the details we put into every costumequot said costume designer Marina Toybina quotIt is costume before casting I have this amazing creative freedom from the network to come up with innovative ideas though I do get certain notes about repetition of colors I might have to tweak We look at the broader scalequotPlestis knew from the moment he saw those elaborate costumes on the TV in the Thai restaurant that this concept was adaptable and promisingAs our conversation came to a close he considered what might have happened had his family gone to a different restaurant that evening quotIf I had wanted Indian food or Italian foodquot he said quotI would not be where I am todayquotThe Masked Singer is telecast on Fox Wednesdays at 8 pmClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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"The Masked Singer" Made Masks Hot Before They Were Cool

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Jacqueline Cutler

We Are the Outliers - By Jack Myers

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"The Masked Singer" Made Masks Hot Before They Were Cool

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