If watching celebrities duel on the Tonight Show was not enough, Lip Sync Battle is now on Spike.

The show is hosted by LL Cool J. I suppose his experience hosting various music awards shows warrants him to host this display of musical talent.

Chrissy Teigen, a former model, is also a commentator for the show. She mostly acts as a pretty face for reality shows’ sake. However, some of her comments are humorous.

The first episode featured Jimmy Fallon, of course, squaring off against Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson was most likely chosen for his charisma.

Both Fallon and Johnson did a good job with their songs, though Fallon was more consistent with his lip movements. However, Johnson’s rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” was very humorous, and his dance moves in the Bee Jees’ “Stayin’ Alive” were well executed.

Johnson won by the greater amount of applause he received from the audience. The second episode featured John Legend versus Common.

Common went with contrast by lip-syncing Jackson Five and then Lionel Richie. Legend also went with contrast, lip-syncing “Slow Motion” by Juvenile, a hip-hop song, and then MC Hammer.

Both performances were funny and entertaining. I thought John Legend did a better job with his lip movements and he also had well coordinated dance moves.

Unfortunately for him, Common’s dance moves were just too good, not to mention a fantastic Lionel Richie get-up.

Common won by greater applause. Legend’s wife, Chrissy Teigen, the commentator, also did not help her husband’s cause. She made fun of his moves and seemed to hurt his chances of winning.

The format was set up well. The first song for each performer was done in their normal street clothes, as would be done on the Tonight Show. The second songs were larger productions with costumes and back-up dancers.

The spacing of the show also allowed for plenty of “trash talk” between opponents and comments for LL Cool J and Teigen.

The show should continue to be successful as long as they can bring in charming celebrities, which they should never run out of.

3.5/5