Celebrity Duets

Celebrity Duets is an American reality television show, of the progressive game-show type, which combined celebrities of different backgrounds with professional singers in a weekly elimination competition.

History
The show was a take-off of the Australian series program It Takes Two and its predecessor, the BBC's Just the Two of Us; however, unlike the British and Australian shows, the celebrities sang with different partners each week. Indeed, Celebrity Duets was meant to be transmitted in the UK first, under the title Star Duets. But the BBC bought the format before Simon Cowell got to produce it on ITV. There was even court action, which the BBC won. Thus, Star Duets never came into production.

Transmissions
The show debuted on Fox, with a 2-hour premiere installment on August 29, 2006. It then moved to its normal Thursday timeslot the following week, and stayed there until its season finale on September 29, 2006.

Associated personnel
Simon Cowell of American Idol and The X Factor fame created the program, and Wayne Brady of Whose Line Is It Anyway? fame, himself a singer and the former host of a variety show on ABC, hosted the show. The judges were renowned composer and producer David Foster, rock and roll pioneer Little Richard, and singer Marie Osmond.

Duet partners

 * Michael Bolton
 * Boyz II Men
 * Chaka Khan
 * Jesse McCartney
 * Clint Black
 * Smokey Robinson
 * Dionne Warwick
 * Gladys Knight
 * Brian McKnight
 * Patti LaBelle
 * Kenny Loggins
 * Richard Marx
 * Randy Travis
 * Belinda Carlisle
 * Peter Frampton
 * Taylor Dayne
 * Aaron Neville
 * Lee Ann Womack
 * James Ingram
 * Wynonna Judd
 * Michelle Williams
 * Jeffrey Osborne
 * Anita Pointer
 * Toby Keith
 * Dennis DeYoung, formerly of Styx
 * Deniece Williams
 * Dee Snider, of Twisted Sister
 * Al Jarreau
 * Sebastian Bach, formerly of Skid Row
 * Bonnie Tyler

Duet partners by contestant

 * Alfonso Ribeiro - Michelle Williams, James Ingram, Jeffrey Osborne, Deniece Williams, Chaka Khan, Jon Secada, Gladys Knight
 * Lucy Lawless - Michael Bolton, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Loggins, Dionne Warwick, Richard Marx, Bonnie Tyler
 * Hal Sparks - Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Wynonna Judd, Dennis DeYoung, Dee Snider, Sebastian Bach
 * Jai Rodriguez - Gladys Knight, Michelle Williams, Brian McKnight, Taylor Dayne, Patti LaBelle
 * Cheech Marin - Peter Frampton, Randy Travis, Clint Black, Aaron Neville, Al Jarreau
 * Carly Patterson - James Ingram, Lee Ann Womack, Anita Pointer, Jesse McCartney
 * Lea Thompson - Randy Travis, Michael Bolton, Belinda Carlisle
 * Chris Jericho - Lee Ann Womack, Peter Frampton

Judges

 * David Foster
 * Little Richard
 * Marie Osmond

Host

 * Wayne Brady

Ratings
For the season, the series averaged 3.8 million viewers, making it the lowest-rated Fox series of the entire season, and indeed one of the lowest-rated programs on any network for the season that year. This ratings failure precluded any production of a second season.

International versions

 * Currently airing franchise
 * Franchise no longer in production