• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 12, 2007

Kevin Reilly's legacy at NBC is far from waning. A reality show he slotted on the fall schedule that premiered this summer delivered the highest-rated, key-demo premiere of a summer series in five years on Tuesday night.

The karaoke-style show "The Singing Bee," where contestants are challenged on whether they actually know the words to pop songs, drew a 5.1 in the 18-to-49 demo (13.3 million viewers) in "live plus same day" ratings.

The series even topped Fox's baseball All-Star game, which finished with an inauspicious 4.1--the lowest 18-49 rating ever--considering the high rights fees the network shells out to carry it. The performance was done 11% from last year.

The Joey Fatone-hosted "Singing Bee" outperformed a slew of summer premieres in the 18-to-49 segment, even going as far back as NBC's "Meet My Folks'" debut in 2002. It surpassed ABC's now regular-season hit "Dancing with the Stars" June 2005 performance, which earned a 4.3. (The older-skewing series did, however, beat "Singing Bee" in viewers with 13.5 million.) It also trounced Fox's popular "So You Think You Can Dance."

NBC would, of course, be ecstatic if "Singing Bee" continues to build as "Stars" did in 2005. Then the network can make it a regular-season staple. Trying to give it as much exposure as possible, Tuesday night's debut re-aired last night and will air again Saturday.

The series was originally scheduled by Reilly, then NBC's entertainment president, for late fall on Friday nights. But NBC moved it up to beat Fox's copycat "Don't Forget the Lyrics" to the air. "Lyrics" debuted last night. Fox has a history of taking the conceits of reality shows announced on other networks and quickly developing and airing its own version first. NBC was determined to avert that.

The half-hour "Singing Bee" built on its "America's Got Talent" lead-in by 31%.