| Hosts | |
| Kevin O'Connell (1986) Clint Holmes (1989) | |
| Announcer | |
| Marc Summers (1986) Charlie O'Donnell (1989) | |
| Broadcast | |
    | |
| Packager | |
| Reg Grundy Productions | |
1986: "It's Keynotes! Our champions are (insert champion players names), and playing against them the challenging team of (insert challenger's names)! And now, here's your host, Kevin O'Connell!"
1989: "It's Keynotes! The captain of our championship team, Richard Kline! And the captain of our challenging team, Gloria Loring! And now, here's our music master, Clint Holmes!"
Keynotes was an attempt to bring a popular Australian game to America. Players have to identify a song by the first nine notes played, similar to the Bid A Note round in Name That Tune.
Gameplay[]
Two teams of three players competed in a song-based game. In the 1986 O'Connell pilot, one team was colored red and were the champions, and the other was colored blue and were the challengers. In the 1989 Holmes pilot, however, neither team was color-coded and they each had a celebrity captain.
Main Game[]
To start, the teams were shown a game board with nine numbered boxes; behind those boxes were "Keynotes" for a Mystery Puzzle Song. In 1986, only two Keynotes (the first & last) were given for free at the start. In 1989, three Keynotes (the first, middle and last) were given, with the seventh note added in Round 2, and the third added in Round 3. In any case, however, the remaining notes had to be earned by the players themselves.
Two players (one from each team) came up to a central podium to play a face-off song for control of the puzzle song. A song would play, and the players involved had to pick the right word that ended the verse playing in the song by pressing a button in 1986, and by pulling out a strip from the podium in 1989. The first player to pick the correct word won control of the puzzle song, but an incorrect word gave the opposing player control of the puzzle song if that player chose the right word.
In 1986, one player would select a card with one of the remaining numbers on it; the host would show the number, and then the three words attached to that number were revealed, following which the song would play, and if neither player picked the right word, that square temporarily went blank. In 1989, only the player with the correct word would pick from one of the remaining Keynotes, plus one for each time neither player picked the right word.
When controlling the puzzle song, the Keynote(s) behind the chosen number was/were revealed (plus any blanks along the way), and then the team in control followed the bouncing ball (which gave the rhythm of the missing notes). If they couldn't come up with the right song, another face-off was played with two different players. The first team to solve the puzzle song won $500, and the first team to solve two puzzles won the game, a total of $1,000 and advanced to the bonus round.
Bonus Round: Jackpot Puzzle Song[]
In this round, one more puzzle song was shown to the winning team. Their job was to reveal as many of the hidden Keynotes as possible against the clock. They did that by completing verses of songs by guessing the correct word to each. The more Keynotes they revealed, the easier it would be to solve that puzzle song. Afterwards, the revealed notes were played via the bouncing ball, and if the winning team could solve this puzzle song, they won a major cash prize.
In the 1986 O'Connell pilot, the winning team had 25 seconds to reveal as many of the nine hidden Keynotes as possible. They did that by completing verses of songs by guessing the correct word to each. Players alternated turns picking off numbers by stopping a randomizer and guessing words. To guess a word, one player on the winning team had to stop the clock by pressing a button. A correct guess revealed a Keynote, but an incorrect guess caused that square to go blank. When the time was up or when all the boxes were chosen, the revealed notes were played via the bouncing ball, and a successful solve won $9,000.
In the 1989 Holmes pilot, two Keynotes (the first & last) were given for free, and then the winning team had 20 seconds (with the clock counting down in tenths) to earn as many of the remaining seven as possible. On a player's turn (s)he was given a choice of three words as usual. When a song was played, the clock started. As soon as the controlling player knew the right word, he/she pulled out the appropriate strip, which stopped the clock (though the music would keep playing), and a correct choice earned a Keynote. When the time was up, seven songs were played, or when they missed twice, the team chose envelopes to reveal the Keynotes in addition to the two given at the start. A successful solve won the team a jackpot that started at $5,000 and increased by $2,500 per day until won; otherwise, they received $100 for each correct word.
Gallery[]
Tickets[]
.jpg "Keynotes (October 27-28, 1989).jpg (144 KB)")
Set Pics[]
Trivia[]
At least two of the contestants in the Kevin O'Connell pilot have been/would become contestants in series game shows. One of them was Rochelle Anapolsky who was a contestant on daytime syndicated Match Game. (She's the one who went wild when winning the Super Match.) The other was Rod Britt, who appeared on the UK and Australian versions of the show.
In the Holmes pilot, the famous Reg Grundy fanfare did not play at the end.
International Versions[]
Even though this didn't sell in America, this show made its way "across the pond" in England from 1989 to 1992 with Alistair Divall as the host. There were some differences between this and the American pilot. One instance was that each of the three tunes had a set amount attached to them - the first tune was worth £30, the second, £60, and the last, £120, for a grand total of £210 (in the first series, it went £50/£100/£200, for a total of £350), the team with the most money then played the bonus game, this time with a 30-second timer instead of 25, and correctly identifying the song doubled the money (for a possible grand total of £420 (£700 in Series 1)). Also, not only were the first and last notes of the 9-note tune given for free, but so was the middle note, and in Round 3, the seventh note would be given for free as well. Also, in the lyric game, each word was marked with a different color (either red, green, or yellow). The team colors were green for the champions, and yellow for the challengers. Finally, winning five games won a £500 bonus (for a possible grand total of £2,600 (£4,000 in Series 1)).
In the same year the British version was cancelled, Australia revived the show as a summer replacement show for Sale of the Century with Richard Wilkins at the helm. There weren't many differences between this and the UK show, other than the values going $300/$600/$1,200 (total $2,100) (in other words, the UK version's values multiplied by 10), and the color choices were red/blue/yellow, as well as only Notes 1, 5, and 9 being given for free in the main game. Although the challenging team color was still blue, the championship team color in this version was pink. Also, winning the bonus round won double their main game winnings (up to $4,200) in the form of a gift certificate from Chandlers (an electronics store). Winning five games would result in a team retiring (they also won a trip to Vanuatu). The maximum possible winnings for a team in the Australian version (excluding the value of the trip) was $31,500, There was an Ashes Special featuring contestants from the UK and Australia.
Inventor[]
Based on the show of the same name from Australia.
Studios[]
CBS Television City, Hollywood, CA (1986 Pilots)
ABC Television Center, Hollywood, CA (1989 Pilots)
Links[]
Keynotes at The Game Show Pilot Light
YouTube Videos[]
Kevin O'Connell Pilot #3 (In Full)
Opening & Closing to 1986 Pilot #3
Clint Holmes Pilot #1