User:Daniel Benfield/Name That Tune Video Archive

Name That Tune is a definite classic of the genre, if a bit obscure due to not having a decent revival in way-too-long (the 2001 version...meh; I'll get to that one).

LEGAL STUFF SO I DON'T GET SUED: I'm only linking to these videos, none of which were uploaded by me, for the purposes of research and as a public record. Footage ©1952-59/1970-71/1974-81/1984-85/2001 Ralph Edwards Productions/Sandy Frank Entertainment and associated entities.

Original Series (1952-59)
NBC Radio: December 20, 1952 - April 10, 1953; NBC Primetime: July 6, 1953 - June 14, 1954

CBS Primetime: September 2, 1954 - March 24, 1955/September 27, 1955 - October 19, 1959

The franchise was originally hosted by Red Benson, who was replaced by Bill Cullen when the show moved to CBS. When the network opted to bring the show back after six months, Bill was replaced by George DeWitt, who stayed through the end.

A bit of a shame that of the seven-year lifespan, the only circulating episode is a highlight show from really late in the run.

George DeWitt (1955-59 series)
 * October 4, 1957 (Clips of a young Eddie Hodges competing alongside Major John Glenn Jr.)
 * July 27, 1959 (Highlight/clip show featuring a lot of fun contestants!; has commercials)

The Obscurity (1970-71)
Syndicated: 1970 - 1971 (26 weeks)

The first revival attempt was hosted by Richard Hayes, who had previously done Baby Game for ABC and later did All About Faces for the 1971-72 syndication season. Aside from that, nothing is known about this run and nothing seems to exist.

Shame, too, since this was the first version done by Ralph Edwards Productions.

NBC Tries Again (1974-75/1977)
NBC Daytime: July 29, 1974 - January 3, 1975

20 years after kicking the show off the schedule, Tune returned with a fresh overhaul for the 1970s and Dennis James (himself no stranger to the genre) as host. Unfortunately, Dennis couldn't sing, and in later years he was said to have hated doing the show. Still, it did pave the way for the eventual nighttime series, and from what I've read the final show was an all-celebrity episode.

While this version is intact, very little is around: a brief clip appeared on a "Game Show Hosts" episode of FOX's The Late Show in 1988, and it appears that despite not being fond of the show Dennis did record at least one episode since one was found in his personal collection.

NBC Daytime: January 3 - June 10, 1977

Replaced the network's 13-week flop 50 Grand Slam, also hosted by Tom Kennedy. Compared to the concurrent nighttime show, this one had two games exclusive to this run: Pick-A-Prize, played for various prizes won by naming the tunes; and Build-a-Tune, where the orchestra started a song with minimal instrumentation and gradually added more until the whole group was involved.

This version is also intact, although none seem to be around. Adam Nedeff has a look at this version (with screencaps) here.

The Nighttime Hit (1974-81)
Syndicated, Weekly: September 9, 1974 - September, 1981

One of the more recognizable versions, beloved by many who saw it during its original run (and yours truly, who was born in 1988), with three distinct "eras" over the seven-year tenure. And the art director was Ed Flesh, so what's not to love?

Original format (1974-76)
 * Taped 1974 (Bill Andes? vs. Gina McDonough; taped from KNBC, begins just before final segment {alternate copy})

$100,000 Mystery Tune era (1976-78)
 * September 20, 1976 (Don Norris vs. Velma Wylee? {taped 6/76} {Part 3}; taped from KNBC with a few commercials, no credits or audience game)
 * Taped 6/22/76 (John Fox vs. ?; begins at Golden Medley, ends during credits)


 * Taped 1976 (Tommy Schmucker vs. Teresa Tushie, plus Irma Crotch goes for $100,000!; studio master, begins during intro, video problems during first few seconds or so {alternate copies: Bid-A-Note; most of show, has a more complete intro but missing last three segments})
 * [...Actually, this isn't your normal episode; rather, it's a 36-minute self-parody that was never meant for broadcast (hence the plethora of strong language, sexual references, and just plain weird stuff). It's also, amusingly, notable for being the very last use of the Money Trees.]

Season 4: Kathie Lee Johnson's year; set redone a bit, Money Trees removed from format (1977-78)
 * September 1977 (Season Premiere/"Mystery Tune Losers" Tournament, Day 1: John Fox/Joe Pintel?/Bill Carroway? {taped 6/77}; begins just before Kathie Lee is introduced, Melody Roulette and Bid-A-Note missing, ends during credits)
 * [Prize for the Tournament winner is $100,000.]


 * Taped 1977 (Jack Singer vs. Debbie Prazelton?, with Tom getting Melody Roulette off to a great start! {Part 3, Part 4}; has inactive timecode {alternate copy of some portions, shown by David Letterman in a 1992 interview with Kathie Lee, in much higher quality with no timecode})


 * February 23, 1978 (Richie Strovella? vs. Joan Lacomb? {taped 1977}, plus Karen Rockman goes for $100,000!)

The overhaul; players' full names now displayed on-camera (1978-81)
 * September 27, 1978 (#172: Mike Meza vs. Jeanne Antrim, with Tom getting Melody Roulette off to a really good start! {taped 7/12/78}; taped from KABC with commercials, including ones for The Gong Show and Match Game PM! {alternate copy, no commercials or some prize plugs})
 * [One promo is for the film No Longer Alone (released 10/6/78), "coming soon", and the note of Dodgers/Red highlights in the news plug pins down the date. Tom notes that tonight's winner will return in five weeks to play in the Tournament.]
 * November 1, 1978 (#177/$100,000 Tournament, Semifinals #1: Jim Boone/Jeanne Antrim/Leigh Bogart {taped 7/14/78}; some prize plugs missing)
 * [Tom notes that Leigh won a car in Melody Roulette on her first appearance.]
 * November 15, 1978 (#179/$100,000 Tournament, Finals: Jeanne Antrim vs. Denise Tucker {taped 7/14/78}; first second or so missing, brief video glitch during Melody Roulette, car plug missing)
 * [One YouTube comment notes that this aired between November 1-6 on this station due to the promo for the movie airing on Election Night. For the sake of consistency, I've opted to continue the dating from the Mike/Jeanne show.]


 * January 31?, 1979 (Tony Serro vs. Ruby Petersen {starting a new $100,000 Tournament qualifying period}, with a bit of unfair judging in Melody Roulette and several pretty obvious edits during Part 2; taped from WABC with commercials, ends during credits {alternate copy, no commercials})
 * [ABC promo at the start is for the debut of Makin' It, followed by What's Happening!! and the special Heroes of Rock 'N' Roll, all airing tonight (1/31/79). The next one is for a sale ending January 27, and a later one is for some "Winter bargain" coupons in the February 11 papers, itself followed by a WABC news brief noting that wholesale prices went up 1.3% in January.]
 * [Also, this is kind of a weird episode: unlike any of the other 1978-79 shows in this section, the Golden Medley Showdown timer is a large-number Eggcrate style with no border, plus the Rounds 1-2 player displays are held over rather than using red numbers. I suspect this might have been taped before #171, but I have no real proof of that.]


 * Early 1979 ($100,000 Tournament, Finals: Margaret Robertson vs. Suzi Hinton?; pretty low audio, jittery video with tracking lines until about the 3:50 mark, ends during fee plugs)
 * [Has the standard Golden Medley Showdown setup for Season 5.]

Uncertain placement (Season 5 or 6)
 * 1979 (WXYZ promo with someone winning a car in Melody Roulette!)

Season 6: dancers removed from top of set; Golden Medley Showdown timer becomes smaller, now matching the rest of the set (1979-80)
 * September 13, 1979 (Season Premiere: Michael Collins vs. Julie Helm; has commercials {alternate copy, fast-forwards through commercials})
 * January 3-9, 1980 (Cathy vs. David Dickstein {taped 1979}; taped from KABC, with commercials)
 * [Melody Roulette still has Double-Double-Car. One promo is for a Money Market Certificate effective January 3-9, while another is for the Friday 3:30 Movie of The Omega Man.]


 * Early 1980 (WXYZ promo)

Season 7: Tom's hair goes white; Melody Roulette goes from Double-Double-Car to Prize-Prize-Double (1980-81)
 * Taped 1980 (Master copy of a promo for #243)
 * Taped 1980 (#243: Ken vs. Sylvia; studio master with slate! {alternate copy... thing})
 * December 13, 1980 (Promo for the electronic home game)


 * 1981 (Danny vs. Bartha; begins during third spin of Melody Roulette, ends during credits)

Jim Lange (1984-85)
Syndicated, Daily: September 10, 1984 - September, 1985 (195 episodes)

A decent revival, although they evidently couldn't figure out how they wanted to do Melody Roulette and things get a bit complicated as a result (seriously, they had at least six variants!). Still pretty good, though.

The show started out very strong, so much so that after the first 13 weeks it was announced as a firm "go" for Season 2 and Lange turned down various offers. After February sweeps, the ratings dropped (presumably due to Jeopardy!) and stations moved Tune to post-Midnight slots...and then the show got canned.

Repeats aired on USA from January 2, 1989-September 13, 1991, followed by The Family Channel from June 7, 1993-March 29, 1996.

Melody Roulette (known) variants
 * Three Double spaces and "pie slice"-shaped spaces (at least the Pilot Week; all other known versions have one Double).
 * Small wheel with four $100 and one each of $200/$300/$400/$500, spun up to seven times.
 * Normal wheel, same values but spun up to five times (most episodes, including the Super Championship).
 * Normal wheel, same values but spun up to seven times.
 * Normal wheel with two each of $250/$500/$750/$1,000, spun once with up to five tunes played.
 * Normal wheel, same values and spun once but with up to seven tunes played.

Pilot Week (all have the first Melody Roulette noted above)
 * 1984 (Pilot #1: Diana Davis vs. Alfred Bogdalioff; FAM repeat from late 1993, begins with the tail end of a Boggle promo)
 * 1984 (Pilot #? {2 or 5}: Donna vs. Ken {last names said, but not displayed})
 * 1984 (Pilot #3: Connie Arnold vs. Ross Curran)
 * 1984 (Pilot #4: Dee O'Connor vs. Duane Krause)

Normal Melody Roulette wheel, spun up to five times (top value of $500 + Double)

Super Championship (first ten aired shows)
 * September 10, 1984 (Premiere/"Super Championship", Day 1: Margaret Robinson vs. Eric Kaplan)
 * September 1984 ("Super Championship", Day ?: Carol Campbell vs. Nick Avtonomoff {alternate copy})
 * September 1984 ("Super Championship", Day ?: Jeanne Antrim vs. Joe Coffey; ends after Bid-A-Note)
 * September 19, 1984 ("Super Championship", Semifinals #1: Elena Cervantes/Karen Rockman/Jack?)
 * September 20, 1984 ("Super Championship", Semifinals #2: Joe Coffey? vs. Eric Kaplan; begins after Jim's entrance)
 * September 21, 1984 ("Super Championship", Finals: Elena Cervantes vs. Eric Kaplan)

Post-Super Championship
 * 1984? (Sandy vs. Wash?; begins at Bid-A-Note, ends at finish of Golden Medley)
 * 1984? (Linda Walter vs. Rowland Harris; FAM repeat, no open, ends during credits)


 * 1984 (Shirley vs. Lee Page; begins as Jim calls down Lee)


 * September-October 1984 (Annie Ericson vs. Michael Lagmay, the "Please Help Me I'm Falling" episode)
 * September-October 1984 (Carol Bawer vs. Hap Trout, with a funny Golden Medley {Part 3})
 * October 1984 (Semifinals: Rick Domanski vs. Hap Trout)
 * October 1984 ($100,000 Finals: Michael Lagmay vs. Hap Trout)


 * 1984 ($100,000 Finals: Richard Allegra/Carol Klein/Marty Perdeck)


 * 1984 (Semifinals: Myra/Steve/TAMMY WARNER/Les Gould, with a shameful moment in the Golden Medley Showdown; FAM repeat {alternate copy})
 * 1984 ($100,000 Finals: Les Gould vs. Stan Mysliwiec; no credits)


 * 1984 (Semifinals: Don Hendricks/Claudia Ferguson/Scott Rose; low audio)
 * 1984 ($100,000 Finals: Scott Rose vs. Kirk Moore; has commercials, begins at Melody Roulette)

Small Melody Roulette wheel, spun up to seven times (top value of $500 + Double)
 * 1984 (Lori Egan vs. Dan Mish; begins just before Jim calls for Dan)
 * [Probably taped shortly after the Pilot Week, since the Golden Medley timer is overlaid numbers rather than the prop.]


 * 1984 (Kathleen Farren vs. Tommy Simmons)
 * 1984 ($100,000 Finals: Elaine Nezworski vs. Tommy Simmons)
 * [Has the "one-spin, five-tune" Melody Roulette.]

Normal Melody Roulette wheel, spun up to seven times (top value of $500 + Double)
 * 1985 (Anita LaGrassa vs. Mark Williams; taped from WABC with most commercials, ends shortly after end-of-show car plug)

One-spin Melody Roulette, with up to five tunes (top value of $1,000 + Double)
 * 1984 (Valerie Skolnick vs. Bob Cooper; begins just before Jim's intro)
 * 1984 (Jayne Weiss vs. Don Henricks, with the Home Viewer Sweepstakes played)


 * 1984 ($100,000 Finals: Pat Chialtas vs. Art McDonald, with Sandy Frank appearing to congratulate the winner {possibly the last taped episode?}; FAM repeat)

One-spin Melody Roulette, with up to seven tunes (top value of $1,000 + Double)
 * November 1984 (Yvette Davis vs. Vinnie Richichi)
 * November 12, 1984 (Susan Goldman vs. Jack Kelly {back due to a "musical error"})
 * 1984 (Shirley Wooten vs. Dr. Wes Forbes)
 * 1984 (Jeanne Patrick vs. Tim Nelson; USA repeat from 9/27/89)

Name That Video (2001)
''VH1, Daily: March 12 - May 11? [June 18?], 2001 (50 episodes)''

Hosted by Karyn Bryant with an emphasis on, well, music videos...albeit with a very cheap set and a bt; can't argue with a cable show offering a car, though, since that's not something you see every day. Oh, and since the show's now about music videos the Golden Medley is called the "Championship Round"...but I'm using Golden Medley anyway. :P

I'm not sure why this version only got ten weeks, but for whatever reason VH1 aired a marathon of the show on June 22, 2002. Still, in any case it's not really a good revamp, but where else am I gonna put it?


 * March 20, 2001 (?/Jessica/Steve Odabashian, with a pretty notable Golden Medley; 3/21/01 repeat, begins shortly before Bid-A-Vid)
 * [Closing voiceover promotes the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony/concert tonight (3/21/01). Since first-run episodes aired at 11:00 PM and were reshown the next day at Noon and 7:30 PM, I'm reasonably sure the date above is right.]


 * Spring 2001 (Stephen Pitalo plays the Golden Medley)
 * Spring 2001 (Noah plays the Golden Medley; guesses bleeped out by the uploader because hey, who wants to actually know the answers?)
 * Spring 2001 (Intro and Golden Medley, with Sandi Hemmerlein)