Airdate(s): |
September 1974-1981January 3- June 10, 1977 |
Network(s):
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1974-78: Weekly Syndication
(Prime-time) 1977: NBC Daytime 1978-81: Twice-a-Week Syndication (Prime-time) |
Announcer(s):
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John Harlan |
Produced
By:
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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.
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1974-1976: Seasons 1 & 2 Nighttime version rules |
Two contestants, male & female, are
chosen from a pool of contestants pre-tested on their musical knowledge and
compete against each other in three rounds.
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 100 bills spinning around; each contestant plucked bills while their opponent tried to identify a single tune. The contestant with the most money remaining on their tree received (or the contestants each received five points for a tie.)
ROUND TWO: Melody Roulette is played with a wheel with dollar values ranging from $20 up to $1000. 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 viewer 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.
Screen capture obtained from the now defunct Page O'Clips website.
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.
At the end of the show, Tom would go into
the audience called "The Name That Tune Special," in which audience members
had a chance to name a tune for $50.
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PRESS RELEASES & TV GUIDE ADS, 1974-76 |
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"Tom Kennedy, host of Name That Tune" |
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"Tom Kennedy, host of Name That Tune" |
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A shot of Tom from the first season. |
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A neat photo probably done before the set was built. This photo was featured in the book "The Final Four of Everything." |
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"THIS IS A WINNER'S DANCE OF TOM KENNEDY, STAR OF NAME THAT TUNE, EVER SAW ONE!" (Episode 35) |
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"GRANNY NAMES THOSE TUNES" (Episode 40) |
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"BIG WINNER" (Episode 46) |
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"BIG WINNER" (Episode 51) |
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"BIG WINNER" (Episode 65) |
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"PAROLEE MISSES TUNE" (Episode 77) |
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1976 - Season 3 Nighttime version rules |
"In this safe is a mystery tune worth $100,000. Tonight, one of our contestants could qualify for television's biggest prize...$100,000!"
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 two years, "Name That Tune" was at its best.
For Round One, the contestants again tackled the Money Trees.
In Round Two, the contestants played a revamped version of Melody Roulette.
This version uses two wheels. The inner wheel has dollar amounts ranging
from $50-$1,000, the outer wheel is empty except for two “Double” cards.
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 Three is Bid-a-Note for 20 points.
The winner moved on to Golden Medley. If the contestant can go 7-for-7 and win the $15,000 top prize in the Golden Medley, they come back the following week, with no risk involved, to go for a $100,000 cash bonus.
For the $100,000 Mystery Tune, a sealed envelope is randomly pulled from a series of them contained in a safe. The contestant (standing in an isolation booth for the entire show) listens to a pianist play the tune for 20 seconds.
After the 20 seconds has elapsed, the pianist stops playing and the contestant has 10 seconds to give a single guess to the correct name of the tune. Tom then allows the contestant to come out of the booth, and he reads the background information and any appropriate writing and performing credits for the tune. From there, he announces the title. If the title is an exact match for the contestant's answer, s/he wins $10,000 a year for the next ten years.
And if they failed, no problem. During these two seasons of "Name That Tune" at least one Guaranteed Payoff Tournament was held, with contestants competing for a grand prize of $100,000 without having to guess a Mystery Tune at the end.
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1977 Daytime version |
"In this safe is a mystery tune. Today, one of our contestants could qualify to name that tune for $25,000 in cash!!!"
In what seemed like a total shoe-in for a daytime hit, NBC added a five-day-a-week version of the nighttime sensation to their A.M. line-up. Surprisingly, it didn't last.
ROUND ONE: This round was called Pick-a-Prize. The contestants were shown an array of fabulous prizes onstage, and listened to a tune. The contestants used their lock-out buttons to ring in and name that tune. Doing so allowed the contestant to take home a prize of their choice. From there, the contestants alternated listening to tunes and trying to name them for the prizes of their choice. The first player to name three tunes won the round and 10 points (so the idea was that ringing in on that first tune would give the contestant an advantage through the entire round).
ROUND TWO: 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. 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.)
The daytime version used other games during its run: 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 offered $250 in prizes for each tune. Seven-for-seven was worth $2,500 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.
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1977 DAYTIME VERSION PUBLICITY PHOTOS & TV GUIDE ADS |
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TOM KENNEDY "Name That Tune" NBC Promotional Department |
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A general publicity shot. |
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1977 - Season 4 Nighttime version rules |
Most
people would say that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. For season four of
the hit show, though, Ralph Edwards Productions kept putting new life into
their hit with a new set, new on-air personnel, new twists to the game, and
a new way for viewers at home to get involved.
Round One: Melody Roulette, with
yet another new wrinkle. The outer wheel now had a "CAR" space in addition
to the double cards.
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 for $15,000 in cash & prizes.
The presentation of the Mystery Tune segment took suspense-building as far as possible, even borrowing elements from the controversial quiz shows of the 1950s.
The contestant now sits in
the Gold Room backstage with a safe. When security guard Jeff Attis 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.
If that's not good build-up for a prize of $10,000 a year for ten years, nothing is.
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.
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1976-78 PRESS RELEASES & TV GUIDE ADS |
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"JOYOUS LEAP!" (Episode 99) This joyous leap was featured in a montage of "Name That Tune" clips featured in a 2002 retrospective on "The Today Show." |
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"TENSE MOMENT" (Episode 101) |
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1978-81 Nighttime version |
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The press release announcing all the big changes for the 1978 season: |
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In 1978, 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. (The first few episodes of the 1978-79 season even had disco dancers performing in a special area hovering over the set!)
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 Burress 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 wins the game and another prize package.
After six episodes played in this fashion, the six winners return to
play, three at a time, over two episodes. Every ninth episode would be a
tournament final; the winner of each tournament wins $10,000 a year for
the next ten years.
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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 in my home state,
reporting for WOWK in Huntington, WV.
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 delivers the most energetic
performance of his career on this series, and why not? He's surrounded
by a live band and an energetic studio audience, feeding off their
energy as he spends 30 minutes listening
to music that he loves, and handing out a thick stack of cash
and car keys for correct answers. (On one episode in the trading
circuit, it's hard to figure out if the contestant or Tom is happier
when Tom announces, "Here are the keys to your brand-new car!")
Tom, executive producer Ralph Edwards, Executive in Charge of
Production Bruce Belland, and producer Ray Horl.
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 piece's history and copyright. And it's clear from
the way he can't help swaying back & forth during the songs or air-guitaring
the theme in later seasons that this is a music lover hosting a music
game. Tom found his nirvana with "Name That Tune," and it shows.
Tom became part of a show that imbued itself into American pop culture, and even American vocabulary ("I can name that tune in one note" is still an always-dependable sarcastic quip). He also proved an indispensable part of the series, such a superb emcee and so memorable here that years after the show ended its run, he re-appeared as himself, playing 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 memorable job. Tom also appeared on numerous talk shows during the 90s, and although he had a large body of work to his credit after all those years, he was almost always there to talk about his seven memorable years on "Name That Tune."
I can name this show, and its host in one word...CLASSIC.
Tom's biggest hit, and fondest
memories (2.81 MB, 7 min)