Posted by Emily Exton on 08/04/2011 at 10:49 AM Videos

The Popdust Files: joey fatone, karaoke, karaoke battle usa, nsync

August leads us all to do a lot of questionable things—like wear white pants, read Candace Bushnell novels, earnestly drink daiquiris—particularly when it comes to television. Constant complaints that there’s no quality TV to look forward to reverberates over even the loudest of air conditioners until well past Labor Day. So while we’re waiting for Parks and Recreation or The Good Wife to return, or just need something mindless to take the edge off new Breaking Bad episodes, our remote controls can’t help but stumble across one inane program after the other, usually from all four of the major networks. Former ‘N Sync member Joey Fatone looks to hold on to his wilting pseudo celebrity in 2011, with a role on ABC’s newest summer abomination Karaoke Battle USA. The concept is basically what you’d expect—a cage match fight to the death, set the sounds of Journey, The Weather Girls and Cyndi Lauper?—a search for the best male or female performer from “honky tonk” karaoke bars to “mainstream” success of…Hollywood karaoke stages. Fatone, who does not hold the crown of most forgettable ‘N Sync member—that would go to Chris Kirkpatrick, although Fu Man Skeeto is still around in case you were wondering—has been down this road before, hosting the karaoke meets spelling game show The Singing Bee. And yes a version of this show has already been done before (Say What? Karaoke and Don’t Forget The Lyrics, the latter also hosted by a former late ’90s star looking to cash in on any residual checks) but this time we’ve got Carnie Wilson spewing insightful observations like “I think you could have a career in show business” (as opposed to butchery), former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy getting his makeup done on air and a living, breathing, karaoke phenomenon Brian “The Cowboy” Scott in the house. Karaoke Battle USA premieres August 12 at 9 p.m. on ABC. We’ll be watching—it is August, after all. And Nail Files is on a different night. Check out the preview below.