"Name That Tune"

[byrd62]

Given the success that FremantleMedia has had with Idol, X Factor and ...Got Talent, and if this website's "sources" are to be believed, then it somehow stands to reason that they want to bring back that classic musical guessing game.

http://www.vulture.com/2012/03/name-that-tune-gets-rebooted.html

But we must not forget that one of FremantleMedia's subsidiaries, Australia's Reg Grundy, had his own musical guessing game format going on during the early 1990's called Keynotes.

[Jimmy Owen]

Fremantle was around long before Grundy.

[byrd62]

Fremantle was around long before Grundy.

I edited my post accordingly, if "subsidiaries" counted.

[Matt Ottinger]

Vulture really wishes Fremantle would hurry up and bring back the best damn game show of the eighties: Press Your Luck. Big Money. No Whammies. Hell, yeah.

Guessing he didn't hear.

[Otm Shank]

Well, not to be vague like Vulture...

The Las Vegas Sun reports that the live show at the Imperial Palace was cancelled abruptly. The producer put a positive spin on it, saying that they are focusing on a television pitch:

Adam Steck of SPI Entertainment said he plans to “re-tune” the production to coincide with the possibility the show will return to TV. The mighty FreemantleMedia [sic], which produces “American Idol,” “America’s Got Talent,” “The Price Is Right,” “X Factor” and “Let’s Make a Deal,” holds the production rights to “Name That Tune.”

“We hope to have it back on TV beginning in the summer,” Steck said during a phone conversation today. “That’s the goal. Of course, nothing (as in, a formal deal) is done until it’s done. In the meantime, we hope to take it on the road, to Atlantic City, and see how it works there.”

http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-report/2012/mar/01/name-tune-live-fades-out-imperial-palace/

I would be surprised to see that this summer, unless he is really downplaying the television development he is working on. Also, SPI Entertainment produces stage shows, so I don't know their expertise they have in television production.

I am interested in how this pans out. On a development inquiry last spring, I was told that "Name That Tune" was completely off the table. That must have been around the time that Fremantle snatched up the development rights. This was the first I heard of Fremantle's stake in the show.

[The Ol' Guy]

The game itself is pretty solid, but I do have a question. I've often wondered ...even as recently as last night at work before reading this new topic...if NTT could make a national network or syndicated splash again. The success of NTT and similar shows (heck, I even get a kick out of watching Parks' Yours For A Song) in the 50s and 60s came from the fact that they pulled from "America's playlist" - songs we all heard together through homogenized sources: radio, movies, tv and records. Singing Bee goes down in flames on NBC, does very well with a targeted niche on CMT. Don't Forget The Lyrics? Struggled and failed on two wide-audience national platforms, net and synd. A targeted NTT could do well, providing the producers can milk a profit from the core music fan base it plans to appeal to. I started a previous comment and had to face the fact that I was spouting sour grapes over the fact that the show would not be in any way aimed at my age demo. It would be a show that I would be interested in and rooting for in the aspect that every new game show success would generate interest in more such programs, but I would find myself frustrated as a play-at-home viewer because I know so little of the current music scene. I often kid with friends that a contemporary version of NTT might find a contestant in Bid A Note having to identify an urban hit with one beat. "WHOOMP!" "Name that song!!" Classic rock stations play the same 80 group tested songs over and over - or so it seems. So would a classic rock version of NTT just echo the same songs and constantly repeat itself? I'm interested in the thoughts of you more contemporary than I am. Is there a body of music today that reaches a wide enough audience to make NTT a major hit, as compared to a niche hit, these days?

[dale_grass]

Is there a body of music today that reaches a wide enough audience to make NTT a major hit, as compared to a niche hit, these days?

Off the top of my head, a perfect source for material wouldn't be radio but YouTube.  Trololo, Piano Cat, Chocolate Rain, Peanut Butter Jelly Time, etc.  That set casts a pretty wide net in terms of recognizability.

Another possibility is to use a different genre on each show.  Pair up contestants based on similar musical likes and have their show devoted to what pulls their trigger.  Five days a week, five different flavors: Country/Western, Pop, Alternative Rock, Hip-Hop, and Polka (or something else).

[WarioBarker]

Another possibility is to use a different genre on each show. Pair up contestants based on similar musical likes and have their show devoted to what pulls their trigger. Five days a week, five different flavors: Country/Western, Pop, Alternative Rock, Hip-Hop, and Polka (or something else).

While I like this idea, I see two problems with it:
1) Ratings will fluctuate from day to day, as people will tune out if the day's genre is not to their liking (I, personally, don't like Country/Western).
2) If only five genres are used and they're mapped to specific days of the week, things will get very boring, very quickly.

On Name That Tune, age shouldn't matter (a lesson that other shows need to take to heart) -- if Grandma or Grandpa knows, likes, and is good at naming today's music, pit him/her against a like-minded individual of any 18+ age. I'd also go with special (probably once every two weeks) Potpourri days -- anything and everything for those whose favorite genre is "a lot of them".

Of course, the biggest hurdle with this idea is how to do tournaments...

[TLEberle]

The easy thing to do is what Name That Video did: it was less about naming the song as it was knowing your music, lyrics and so on. Music has balkanized such (and there's therefore so much of it) that being a connoiseur of everything gets hard. The only thing I can think of is that each cable network would have their own version, styled the way they want, and the music genre that they feature.

[WhammyPower]

Given the success that FremantleMedia has had with Idol, X Factor and ...Got Talent, and if this website's "sources" are to be believed, then it somehow stands to reason that they want to bring back that classic musical guessing game.

http://www.vulture.com/2012/03/name-that-tune-gets-rebooted.html

[BrandonFG]

There's a little game I play with the six preset dials on my car's XM console, and that is to name the artist as opposed to the tune, and try to go 6/6 for an imaginary prize. I use the 70s/80s/90s stations, a classic rock, classic R&B, then contemporary R&B.

Honestly, you could have a minigame there with five or so decades channels (60s-2000s), or three decades channels and two genres (say, 70s/80s/90s/Classic Rock/R&B) and change the categories out, a la Tune Topics.

I get that music seems largely forgettable, but there's still a ton of material to work with. Make it a mix where there's actual songs used, but a house band as well, depending on the round being played.

Playing off of Dale's concept, you could do a "Digital Download" and structure it similar to Bid-a-Note, except you're playing seconds of a music clip, instrumental or vocal.

[chad1m]

Playing off of Dale's concept, you could do a "Digital Download" and structure it similar to Bid-a-Note, except you're playing seconds of a music clip, instrumental or vocal.

This is exactly how the Vegas show did it. Bid-a-Note became Bid-a-Second. Read off a clue, start bidding with a maximum of 10 seconds. Once challenged, x seconds of the actual song plays.
/I lost during this round when I played.

[TLEberle]

I get that music seems largely forgettable, but there's still a ton of material to work with. Make it a mix where there's actual songs used, but a house band as well, depending on the round being played.

There was a time about 1999 or 2000 or so, that from hearing just the introductory hook to a song, I could name the title and artist. I like the idea of mini-games being played more than just different ways to name a song. One local radio station would play three songs layered on top of each other, and if you named all three in 10 seconds you'd win the prize on offer. There's got to be any number of different games you could play in that mold.

[clemon79]

Relevant to this discussion.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

One complaint I read about the most recent version with Jim Lange (not counting Name that Video) is that for unknown reasons, it was on 5 days a week, and that it should have been weekly, as there's only so many pre-existing songs the show can license.