Airdate(s): |
September 1974-1981, January
3- June 10, 1977 |
Network(s):
|
1974-1981: Weekly Syndication,
1977: NBC Daytime |
Announcer(s):
|
John Harlan |
Produced
By:
|
Ralph Edwards Productions |
From Hollywood, the music capital of the world, this is (The $100,000) Name That Tune!
Tom was the master of the music for seven superb years of the classic musical quiz.
1974-1976 Nighttime version rules
Two contestants, male & female, are chosen from a pool of contestants pre-tested on their musical knowledge.
ROUND ONE: The contestants stand across the stage from a large ship bell and the band starts playing tunes. When a contestant knows the tune s/he runs across the stage to "ring the bell and name that tune!" Best of five tunes wins the round and ten points.
Very early in the run this was replaced by The Money Trees. The contestants
each had racks with dollar bills of varying denominations spinning around,
and each contestant plucked bills while their opponent tried to identify
tunes. The contestant who removes the most money at the end of the round
wins 10 points (or the contestants each received five points for a tie.)
After the second season, the Money Trees disappeared for two reasons: #1, Tom didn't like the inherently greedy nature of the game, and #2, a number of contestants cut up their hands on the gold clips that held the bills in place.
ROUND TWO: Melody Roulette is played with a wheel with dollar values ranging from $20 up to $500. For each tune, Tom spins the wheel and the contestants compete for whatever value comes up. Each contestant also had a designated $200 space on the wheel, and if the wheel landed on one of those two spaces, the appropriate contestant received $200 straight up, in addition to playing the next tune for $200. Most tunes named after five tunes, or the first contestant to three tunes, wins the round and 10 points. Again, the contestants get five points apiece for a tie.
ROUND THREE: Bid-a-Note is what every casual fan will remember about the show. Tom reads a clue pertaining to the identity of a song. The contestants then bid on how little help orchestra leader Bob Alberti, playing the piano, will have to give them (I can name that tune in five notes.) After a contestant bids one note, or after their opponent tells them to name that tune, Bob plays as much as the contestant bid. A correct guess wins the tune for the bidder. A wrong guess gives the tune to the challenger. First contestant to win three tunes wins 20 points.
Top scorer in terms of points (if the game is tied a final tune is played and the contestants ring in to answer) plays for $15,000 in cash & prizes in the Golden Medley.
In the Golden Medley, the contestant has 30 seconds. The orchestra then gets to playing, and the contestant hits the lockout button to stop the clock and names that tune. Guessing correctly wins $500 worth of prizes. A wrong guess ends the game. The contestant is allowed to pass on any tune and come back to it if time is left. If the contestant guesses seven tunes before time elapses, s/he wins $15,000 in cash and prizes.
While not actually a game element, during the first two seasons, Tom would strike up the band and lead the audience in sing-alongs between rounds. If the show was going well, Tom would even cut a rug with a lucky audience member.
1976-1979 Nighttime version rules
In 1976 the show was officially renamed "The $100,000 Name That Tune" and the show got a glitzy overhaul, including a new set, a new orchestra led by Tommy Oliver, and a new format. During the next three years, "Name That Tune" was at its best.
ROUND ONE: A revamped version of
Melody Roulette is played. This version uses two wheels. The inner wheel has dollar
amounts ranging from $100-$1,000, the outer wheel is empty except for two Doubles and a Car space. Tom spins the wheels and the contestants
compete for whatever value comes up. The orchestra plays five tunes, and Tom
spins the wheel for a new value before each. Contestants keep everything
they win, but the top scorer after five tunes (or the first contestant to
get three tunes) wins 10 points. If there's a tie, both contestants get 5
points.
ROUND TWO: Sing-a-Tune enlists the aid of "La-La Lady" Kathy Lee Johnson, now Gifford. Kathy Lee sings the chorus of five tunes, singing la-la. when she gets to the tune's title, and the contestants write their guesses for the titles. Whoever correctly guesses the most titles wins 10 points (or five apiece for a tie), plus a bonus prize package.
ROUND THREE: Bid-a-Note, played the same as before for a bonus prize package and 20 points. Top score after all threes (or a tiebreaker) goes on to play Golden Medley.
Golden Medley is played the same as before, with a new wrinkle added: If the contestant can go 7-for-7 and win the $15,000 top prize, they come back the following week, with no risk involved, to go for a $100,000 cash bonus.
For the $100,000 Mystery Tune, the contestant goes into the Gold Room
backstage where a safe is waiting. When the security guard opens the
safe, the contestant goes through the rotating rack of manila envelopes
and selects one. When the time comes, the security guard escorts the
contestant onstage, After the contestant is placed into an isolation
booth, the guard opens the manila envelope and hands a pianist the sheet
music for the song, and hands Tom a sealed business-size envelope. The
pianist then plays the song for 20 seconds after which the contestant in
the booth (which has been wired so that she can only hear Tom and the
piano) gives their guess as to the song’s title and then exits the
booth.
Tom then opens the envelope and reads the background information and
copyright for the song, plays an audio recording of the contestant’s
guess, and announces the song’s title. If the contestant was correct,
s/he wins $10,000 a year for the next decade.
If time permitted, Tom and Kathy Lee would play the Home Viewer Telephone Game. A viewer selected at random from somewhere in the continental United States would be called, and Kathy Lee would get on the phone and sing him or her a tune. If the home viewer could name that tune, s/he would win a new car.
1977 Daytime version
ROUND ONE: Melody Roulette, played the same as the nighttime version but with the potential payoffs scaled back to accommodate a five-days-a-week daytime budget. There was no "CAR" space on the outer wheel, and the cash values were halved, for a top dollar value of $1,000 per tune. Winner of the round receives ten points (or five apiece for a tie.)
ROUND TWO: The daytime version used two different games for this part of the show: Cassette Roulette, where Tom removed cassettes from a revolving drum, and contestants played to the best of five tunes; and Build-a-Note, where one instrument in the show's orchestra played a tune and other instruments gradually joined in, and contestants again played to the best of five tunes. Each game was worth 10 points, or five for a tie.
ROUND THREE: Bid-a-Note, the same as the nighttime show.
The daytime version's Golden Medley was worth $10,000 in cash and prizes, and if the contestant pulled it off, s/he returned the following day to identify a Mystery Tune for $25,000 in cash.
Also, on both the daytime and nighttime versions, to ensure there would be enough time for the
Mystery Tune, all the front games were amended to best of three, instead
of best of five.
1979-1981 Nighttime version
In 1979, Name That Tune made another huge format overhaul. Some major changes were in the game's format; other changes, primarily in the show's presentation, seemed to be geared toward bringing the show into the new decade. The show's new theme music combined the sounds of big band and rock music, while the set itself was a hybrid game show/disco motif.
To begin with, the show began airing twice a week in most markets, with a new tournament format driving the entire season of games.
The show now turned to a number of sources for the tunes contestants had to guess throughout the show. New bandleader Stan Worth along with Name That Tune orchestra played mainly standards and show tunes. A rock band, Dan Younger & The Sound System, was added to play contemporary hit music. Monica Francine Paige was the vocalist for the orchestra's tunes, while Steve March (biological son of Mel Torme and stepson of "$64,000 Question" emcee Hal March, making him the perfect candidate for a musical game show) sang tunes with The Sound System.
Tom evidently liked the addition of rock music to the show, by the way. On a couple of the episodes on the trading circuit, he can be seen "air-guitaring" the show's theme on his way to the stage!
ROUND ONE: Melody Roulette was essentially the same, except the outer wheel changed in later episodes from a CAR space and two DOUBLE spaces to two PRIZE spaces and one DOUBLE space. Winning the round was worth ten points.
ROUND TWO: A slightly modified version of Bid-a-Note, with contestants now selecting the tunes to be played by number. Winning this round was worth 10 points plus a prize package.
ROUND THREE:
The third round was Golden Medley Showdown, with both contestants
competing to name as many tunes as possible before time elapsed. Winning
this round was worth 20 points. Top score after three rounds or a
tiebreaker won the game, another prize package, and a spot in one of
three tournaments played in each season. The winner of each tournament
won $100,000 in cash.
April 6, 2002 version (Surprise!)
Nostalgia for the 1970s is the in-thing during this decade, and the Today Show spent a week in 2002 celebrating the greatest game shows of the 70s. (Funny the attitudes networks have toward game shows anymore...they're good enough for our blooper specials and our nostalgia programming, but keep them off our regular daytime schedules at any cost.)
Tom received the invitation to reminisce about "Name That Tune" and as a bonus, after an interview conducted by Al Roker, Tom headed back to his old job, emceeing a game between the show's on-air personnel on the street outside Rockefeller Plaza.
To the surprise of--well, not me---Tom still looked like he belonged up
there, emceeing a nice friendly game with the team of Katie Couric and
Ann Richards vs. Al Roker and Matt Lauer. The women were the clear
favorites in this game, particularly because Katie had been yelling the
answers throughout the montage of game clips from the 70s version.
But during Round One, Pick-a-Tune (so named because Tom had picked the tunes to be played for this round), cracks in Katie's dangerous facade began to reveal themselves. The men dominated, to everybody's surprise, and finished the round leading 3 to 1.
Matt and Al showed themselves to be a formidable duo, which privately gave me a thrill because I was rooting for them the whole time. After all, Al was a former game show host who had been nothing but pleasant to me during our brief handshake encounter, while Matt got his start in broadcasting less than three miles from my apartment, covering the news for WOWK-TV in Huntington.
Round Two would offer a chance for Ann and Katie to rally on the journey toward the grand prize...hey, there's a lone pianist onstage, that must mean it's time for Bid-a-Note!
Just like on the classic series,
Tom read the clues and the contestants bid on how many notes they
needed. Unlike the original series, the contestants were allowed to go
as low as ZERO notes, which Katie Couric actually did successfully at
one point in the game.
Katie's miracle performance seemed to be for naught, though, as the men continued to dominate and won the game 5-2, winning a fabulous prize package: a Today Show backpack and a supply of Eskimo Pies!
Well, what can I say? During the show’s first five
seasons, this series had the perfect format, and all the needed
ingredients for a solid half-hour of classic television. The $100,000
Mystery Tune was a heart-pounder (I mean, did you read that description
of how it was done?)
Tom was the superb emcee, playing the role of the Santa Claus emcee, who only wants to be there so he can give away all of that money and all those prizes. (The excitement in his voice when he hands out the cash in Melody Roulette is a good example of what I mean.) He plays up the Mystery Tune for all it's worth, too. In the one episode I have he does a very blatant clearing of the throat before reading the information about the Mystery Tune. Tom was such a superb emcee here, he was asked to play the host of “Name That Tune on an episode of the sitcom Cybil. They could have randomly hired any actor to play a game show host, but when they want Tom Kennedy himself to do the role, you know he’s performed a job well done.
I can name this show, and its host in one word...CLASSIC.
Tom's biggest hit, and fondest
memories (2.81 MB, 7 min)
Name That Tune Bonus Photo Gallery