Rewarding its status as the only celebrity reality show in which its contestants typically respect proper PPE procedure, Fox has announced that it’s renewing The Masked Singer for a fourth season on the air. Per The Wrap, the popular singing series/beauty pageant for bad boy lizards with bedroom eyes is expected to debut some time in the fall, although there’s no word yet what said debut might actually end up looking like, given all the odd contortions TV has had to make to stay viable over the last few weeks.
The Fox series is currently burning its way through its third season, which was filmed back before the COVID-19 lockdown went into effect, and which has so far featured the usual cavalcade of C-and-D-list stars in elaborate costumes, and also that time we lost our goddamn minds because Sarah Palin sang “Baby Got Back” in a bear suit. It feels irritatingly optimistic to suggest that the show might be able to get back to regular TV production in early August, in time for a fall premiere, but Fox seems to be gambling that it’ll be able to put something together; after all, all the folks on Celebrity Watch Party are going to have to have something to look at, right?
The Masked Singer remains a very consistent ratings winner on Fox; the show currently pulls something like 10 million viewers per week, drawn in by the ongoing mystery of which Hollywood Squares host has dressed up as a creepy taco for their musical delight. (It was Tom Bergeron, by the way. Our sincere apologies to Jon “Bowzer” Bauman for this obvious slight.)