Shark Bytes

back when the show was on in the 50s, the contestants had to run about 20 feet and ring a bell for the privelege of naming that tune. I don't think this show jumped until it went on VH1 about 10 years ago. That version ate the hairy banana. But all the other versions of the show were a harmless yet entertaining way to pass a half hour.

Lighten up. The show was for fun. I did the fouth show with Jim Lange who was cordial on and off stage and the staff was relaxed and supportive. Where did they get the ___ contestants? They got the first group from a mass interview and contest in Phoenix in Feb of 1984. Nearly 700 of us auditioned. We did a written test on musical knowledge, did a fake question with a little office hand bell as a prop and then just 40 were invited to Hollywood. I took my wife and two boys and we made a nice vacation of it. The buzzer was slammed right through the podium top by a contest ahead of me in the first or second show. The format did not bother me as a Tom Kennedy series fan it was that the band was close to us and I could only hear the saxaphone and drums and got very little of the melody. I won a 40" gas range, $500 cash (The golden state of Calif. took some of it up front in game show tax) and a phone and some luggage. still have the luggage! Yes, we can name a song in one note based on a good clue that will set your mind to the genre. The show was for fun, not money and was not meant to be Jepoardy set to music. Long live Sandy Frank!

Name That Tune was a great show, that really only JTS when VH1 tried to resurrect it in the late 1990's, with a bonus round that unlike MTV's Remote Control bonus round was unbeatable most of the time, even when they tried to bring back a car as the prize, like in the 1970's version. I'd also have to say that Name That Video was the worst rip-off since The Joker's Wild tried to become "Jeopardy meets Webster's Dictionary" in 1990. 1984 was a great year for game shows back then, as well as the often loose wheels. The $100,000 Name That Tune's wheel was no exception, as the arrow was often replaced, because it would somehow slide in areas where there were no pegs on the wheel, and it often took a while to stop after Jim Lang would spin it on occasion. They used the same motorised wheel as the one on Wheel Of Fortune, which not often had a mind of its own and would spin at 1 and 1/2 seconds per rotation. I liked that concept, though they never replaced the pegs in the spaces that were missing, until the wheel was redecorated by 1985. As for the tunes (or the musical knowledge of contestants), they could've played more 80's songs like Michael Jackson's "Beat It", or chosen more people who recognised those hit songs. There was nothing wrong with knowing them by heart, right? I truly believe if Name That Tune still existed in 1992 (I mean, if Jim Lang's NTT had lasted well into the 1990's), the orchestra would've started playing more rap songs, and those are the ones they'd really have to have avoided playing, otherwise this show would've been cancelled at the peak of Game Show Mania. Fun to think about, but not so much fun to watch Name That Tune if they couldn't play talkative notes. In one episode where a female contestant won $100,000, I remember this was the only time the confetti was over dumped. After the closing credits rolled, the confetti was still falling. I wish they'd shown the footage from that episode where Jim Lang eventually yelled at the person above to stop the confetti machine. That episode had the most confetti I'd ever seen on a game show, The Gong Show's confetti being a close 2'nd. Name That Tune was pretty hilarious, in that the orchestra would play a song they really liked, and minutes later, they'd play it again and again throughout Melody Roulette as a rift. It would've been fun to hear them play "I Shot The Sherriff" when there was an occasional bang, and Jim Lang said, "That was I Shot The Sheriff!", jokingly. BUUURRRRP! The buzzer was the only sound on the 1984-'85 version of Name That Tune that really got to me. They should've changed it later on. Spooky. Tommy Oliver's band even provided an early version of House Of Pain's "Jump Around", thanks to a crazy contestant. After he won the Golden Melody, he had everyone jumping all over the studio! The most fun part was during the early episodes where Tommy Oliver's band had a rapid one-note warm-up during the opening of the show as its theme song, which wasn't really a theme song until 3 weeks later. The speed at which they played the warm-up varied with each episode, but I loved those. Overall, Name That Tune was a great show, and GSN should bring it back.

Melody Roulette was changed so that instead of a player receiving money after getting one tune correct, he or she had to win the entire round. Rule changes are always the kiss of death, my friends.

The show jumped when it became "The New $100,000 Name That Tune," with Jim Lange as host. There are a number of reasons why it jumped: 1) The band was often tone-deaf (perhaps to make the game tougher?); 2) the prize for "Tune Topics" was always a VCR (this was back when they were expensive); 3) for "Melody Roulette," someone got the idea of spinning the wheel only once to determine the stakes of the entire round, rather than spinning it once for each tune; 4) in the "Golden Medley" (bonus round), players who named the required seven tunes in 30 seconds moved on to a monthly "Tournament of Champions," but it was never announced when the tournament would occur; and 5) the "$100,000" consisted of $10,000 in cash and $90,000 of prizes, and it took over two minutes to describe the prizes -- which they did EVERY DAY! (The reruns edit out the prize promos [at least they did on CBN Cable, forerunner to Fox Family and ABC Family; I quit watching the show before CBN sold the Family Channel to Fox.])

Name That Tune rocked! I thought it was absolutely hilarious watching grown men with platforms and butterfly collared shirts humming tunes out loud. As an added bonus, how about the seriousness they had when they said, "I can name that tune in *blank* notes..." Classic! Long live Name That Tune and, my favorite contestant, Trout Fish (yes, that was his name!)

JTS when they brought it back in 84-85 w/Jim Lange...it was OK, but definitely couldn't compare to the 70s version w/Tom Kennedy where you could win a car in Melody Roulette, not to mention Kathie Lee and her "la-las" in the Sing-a-Tune round, and the $100,000 Mystery Tune where a former champ would spend 30 secs in the iso-booth trying to identify a song chosen at random for that big cash payoff. Also, to the above poster, the NTT bandleader wasn't Milton DeLugg, at least on the 70s version...that honor belonged to Bob Alberti (74-76), Tommy Oliver (76-79, who later served in the same capacity on both the 84 NTT revival and the 80-81 musical quizzer "Face the Music"), and Stan Worth (79-81), along w/a second band, Dan Sawyer and the Sound Machine, who came aboard in 1978 along w/Kathie Lee's vocalist replacements, Monica Page and Steve March (son of Mel Torme[!] and stepson of $64K Question host Hal March, whom he was adopted by)

This show as GREAT! I guess being a "school band geek" had much to do with it for me. I don't think they needed Kathie Lee Johnson (or ANY singer for that matter). She'd always have to Hum over the Title Words of the song anyway!! Ex: "Hmmm Hmmm Hmm Hmm Hmmm Hmm Hmm Hmmmmm, But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red." I think she might have used some "La La's" as well. Great show. Great band (Milton DeLugg's band, I believe).

The show last aired in 1985, although reruns did air on USA and then FAM until 1996. And I think someone's got Jim Lange confused w/Tom Kennedy...the latter (who did the 70s version) is probably the best known of all the show's hosts, and it was Lange who replaced him for the 84-85 revival, so that's probably who the guy who said "the guy who replaced him" was referring to.

I never quite understood this show. How in the hell could all those strange contestants they had could figure out all those songs in 7 notes or less. Nobody in their right mind would have ever heard of any of the songs they used in that guessing game, except for perhaps an elderly virtuoso or an equally elderly composer. I'm musically illiterate, & maybe for that reason, I'm not entitled to comment on this show. I couldn't relate to the show as it just seemed to be staged & fixed, all at the same time. Jim Lange had a presence; however, that presence seemed better suited for "The Dating Game". Since this a subjective forum, "Name That Tune" jumped the shark right at the onset!

Am I tone deaf? I could NEVER name that tune. Where did those notes come from by that band? OH----it was the clue!!! Why wasn't the show called "clue" then?

To poster above... The reason you say... I can name that tune in one note is because they give a "clue" as to what the song is... Let me give you an example (and I'll use small words so you're sure to understand)... This song, written in 1947, is about a lady with green shoes. If you know the song from the clue, you don't need many notes. You're just a dum-dum.

Jumped, on day one. My family say's I am a musical genius but I can't name a tune on one note! The format of this show just plain sucked. The band who had to play the tunes probably felt like losers when they had to be able to play so many parts of songs. I don't know where they found such giddy shit-faced contestants, I wanted to throw a pie in their mug, on average of every episode. "I can name that tune in two notes!" Other daffy bastard says, "ok, name that tune." Then she misses it, thank you for canceling this nauseating crap.

I don't know the name of the guy who replaced him, but he sucked.

This show was great. It aired in every decade, but never quizzed you on music after the 1930s. And when it did, you couldn't recognize what the hell they were playing. Best game was Bid-A-Note. That should have been the whole show. I can name that tune in 1 note. Classic!