The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Twentington on February 09, 2011, 04:30:35 PM
-
Which of the many Score Productions game show themes do you like the least? Here are some of my picks.
* Card Sharks '86. The opening has no punch to it at all. The rest of it feels like a decent backing track that they forgot to add a melody to.
* Child's Play. I get they're trying to go with an appropriately child-friendly motif, but sampling "London Bridge Is Falling Down" repeatedly is just unbearably corny.
* Tattletales '82. This one kind of goes both ways for me. Some parts (such as the vibraslap section) are quite good, but there's so little variation in the instrumentation — just trumpets, trumpets, trumpets all the way through. It also seems to have more than one portion where it sounds like it's going to end, but then goes back into the verse yet again before ending.
-
[quote name=\'Twentington\' post=\'256774\' date=\'Feb 9 2011, 04:30 PM\']* Card Sharks '86.[/quote]
Oh, hell to the yes with this. What a piece of crap. The theme to Card Sharks '78 was one of my favorites.
From the zenith to the nadir. Absolute garbage this one. New yes. Improved no No NO!
-
I agree on all three of those. Lackluster in every sense and I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the "London Bridge" riff in "Child's Play". 82 "Tattletales" wasn't very interesting compared to the original, and totally agree on CS. Don't know why they just didn't bring the old theme back!
"Body Language" I thought sounded overly repetitive and just seemed to go nowhere.
-
CS '86 was Kalehoff, not Score.
I'd have to say MG '98. All-Star Blitz is a close second.
-
-Mindreaders...it seems to be a bit underrated here but it just never did much for me. Seems like it was created at the last minute, and it's just a little too much late-70s generic instrumentation for me.
-Agreed on Child's Play
-
[quote name=\'Chief-O\' post=\'256780\' date=\'Feb 9 2011, 05:32 PM\']CS '86 was Kalehoff, not Score.[/quote]
My bad. I still hold it as Kalehoff's worst work.
[quote name=\'Chief-O\' post=\'256780\' date=\'Feb 9 2011, 05:32 PM\']I'd have to say MG '98. All-Star Blitz is a close second.[/quote]
Assuming that you're talking about the "hobba hum" version of the A-SB theme, it was apparently used for just one week. From every episode I've seen online, the only vocals used are the "All-Star Blitz!" chant in the intro, and the rest is just the saxophone and guitar melodies — no "A-How'd you get your mother to get a big bulging groin?", as Kevin Prather so humorously put it.
(And God help me, I really, truly like the "hobba hum" version better.)
-
I liked the Child's Play theme. Yes, it was London Bridge but it had a very imaginative arrangement. It had a full orchestra and an ambitious arrangement, all for a game show that basically went nowhere.
I rather disliked the All New Beat the Clock music; it was basically a one-note tune. Also disliked Tattletales II.
While we're on the subject of E.K., I beg to differ on the CS '86 theme. I thought it was pretty good, far better than his other post-Goodson-rift stuff (MG/HS Hour, Trivia
Trap). I recently listened to his IGAS theme (I assume he composed it) and wasn't impressed by it, either.
-
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'256792\' date=\'Feb 9 2011, 08:54 PM\']I liked the Child's Play theme. Yes, it was London Bridge but it had a very imaginative arrangement. It had a full orchestra and an ambitious arrangement, all for a game show that basically went nowhere.[/quote]
Well...the unused theme for that show had that, yes. The actual show just had that godawful loop. I don't understand why they thought it was better.
-
One more addition: TTTT'80. Too generic.
-
[quote name=\'Twentington\' post=\'256801\' date=\'Feb 9 2011, 10:17 PM\']One more addition: TTTT'80. Too generic.[/quote]
I respectfully disagree. I thought it was an amusing little, if overly disco-fied, ditty
-
[quote name=\'J.R.\' post=\'256810\' date=\'Feb 9 2011, 09:53 PM\']I respectfully disagree. I thought it was an amusing little, if overly disco-fied, ditty[/quote]
I think my issue with it is that it just didn't fit a panel show. Granted, virtually nothing about that set fit a panel show, so at least they were consistent, but as much as I like chase lights, that many of them just don't belong on TTTT. :)
-
[quote name=\'Twentington\' post=\'256774\' date=\'Feb 9 2011, 01:30 PM\']* Card Sharks '86. The opening has no punch to it at all. The rest of it feels like a decent backing track that they forgot to add a melody to.[/quote] I think the melody is just fine, and the punch is certainly there.
* Child's Play. I get they're trying to go with an appropriately child-friendly motif, but sampling "London Bridge Is Falling Down" repeatedly is just unbearably corny.
But you remember the hook, which is more than could be said for many themes from 2000 forward.
* Tattletales '82.
No argument here. It has all the excitement of winning a showcase full of avocado-colored kitchen appliances.
-
-Mindreaders...it seems to be a bit underrated here but it just never did much for me. Seems like it was created at the last minute, and it's just a little too much late-70s generic instrumentation for me.
Well, it was originally used (in a more "stripped-down" form) as a commercial cue on Celebrity Charades, if that's any indication.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")
-
The reason why I don't care for 80 TTTT is that it just represented too jarring a shift after the nine years of comfortable familiarity with the 70s theme. Going with a new version of the old theme like they did in 1990 would have been better IMO and "sold" the revamped version to long time fans better IMO.
-
[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' post=\'256819\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 02:08 AM\']
-Mindreaders...it seems to be a bit underrated here but it just never did much for me. Seems like it was created at the last minute, and it's just a little too much late-70s generic instrumentation for me.
Well, it was originally used (in a more "stripped-down" form) as a commercial cue on Celebrity Charades, if that's any indication.
[/quote]
Ah. That I did not know, but it makes sense.
I've said before that since Eubanks's CS was one of the first shows I remember watching, I'm partial to a lot of things there, including the theme song. Even though I always thought it sounded like a police series of the era, I thought it was fine. Like Travis said, at least it has a melody I can hum.
-
[quote name=\'Eric Paddon\' post=\'256820\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 02:47 AM\']Going with a new version of the old theme like they did in 1990 would have been better IMO and "sold" the revamped version to long time fans better IMO.[/quote]Or maybe, just maybe, they wanted to attract a different audience. If your favorite show was to change the theme song tomorrow, would you quit watching? I doubt it. The market simply wasn't there for TTTT.
-
[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'256823\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 12:44 AM\']Or maybe, just maybe, they wanted to attract a different audience.[/quote]
If that's the case, then they probably should have taken a second look at their market research, because I think that would have represented the first and only suggestion that there's any sort of intersection between "'70s disco kids" and "twenty-plus-year-old-panel-show fans."
-
[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'256823\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 03:44 AM\'][quote name=\'Eric Paddon\' post=\'256820\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 02:47 AM\']Going with a new version of the old theme like they did in 1990 would have been better IMO and "sold" the revamped version to long time fans better IMO.[/quote]Or maybe, just maybe, they wanted to attract a different audience. If your favorite show was to change the theme song tomorrow, would you quit watching? I doubt it. The market simply wasn't there for TTTT.
[/quote]
I liked the TTTT80 theme, but they could've just as easily done a discofied instrumental of the Garry Moore theme. No one's saying they would've stopped watching, but it could've established a little more familiarity.
-
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'256826\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 04:15 AM\'][quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'256823\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 03:44 AM\'][quote name=\'Eric Paddon\' post=\'256820\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 02:47 AM\']Going with a new version of the old theme like they did in 1990 would have been better IMO and "sold" the revamped version to long time fans better IMO.[/quote]Or maybe, just maybe, they wanted to attract a different audience. If your favorite show was to change the theme song tomorrow, would you quit watching? I doubt it. The market simply wasn't there for TTTT.
[/quote]
I liked the TTTT80 theme, but they could've just as easily done a discofied instrumental of the Garry Moore theme. No one's saying they would've stopped watching, but it could've established a little more familiarity.
[/quote]
Did Score Productions compose the theme to "The Better Sex"? If so, that's my pick.
-
"Perfect Match". Sounded like it belonged on a really bad Stark/Layton show from the 1950s. How much sauerkraut did the band eat before recording it?
-
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'256792\' date=\'Feb 9 2011, 07:54 PM\']I liked the Child's Play theme. Yes, it was London Bridge but it had a very imaginative arrangement. It had a full orchestra and an ambitious arrangement, all for a game show that basically went nowhere.
I rather disliked the All New Beat the Clock music; it was basically a one-note tune. Also disliked Tattletales II.
While we're on the subject of E.K., I beg to differ on the CS '86 theme. I thought it was pretty good, far better than his other post-Goodson-rift stuff (MG/HS Hour, Trivia
Trap). I recently listened to his IGAS theme (I assume he composed it) and wasn't impressed by it, either.[/quote]
Chris, do you mean the IGAS theme used on Cullen's version, which was later used on Second Chance? I assume you don't mean the Steve Allen version, which was composed by Steve Allen himself. The "Second Chance" theme definitely didn't work for IGAS, it's just too bold, but far better suited for more lively shows like Second Chance. As for the Steve Allen version, that was fine. The theme music lyrics are about a party (not used on the show but the lyrics are fairly well known), and IGAS did have a party-like atmosphere.
As for All New Beat the Clock, which version do you mean? I thought the Monty Hall version theme was very catchy, and probably the best thing about that version (it went downhill once it was an All Star format) The most recent version that aired, yeah it was a bit generic but it did convey the essence of a fast ticking clock.
Nobody mentioned the TTD 90 theme or TJW 90 theme. TTD 90 was DEFINITELY out of place... someone said it sounded like something from Barney and Friends and I agree. TJW 90s theme would've been FAR better if it didn't repeat OVER AND OVER AND OVER. It sounds like something that didn't get finished, so they made it like a "mix" theme.
MG 98s theme wasn't a bad theme at all, IMO... just that die hard fans of MG (like me) would've prefered a modern day version of the classic 70s theme. (MG 90 IMO did a very good job with that)
The Louie Anderson era FF music... I thought it was okay but can't hold a candle to the original. Years ago at GSC9 we talked with Kevin Belinkoff and he said one of the things still being worked on at the time was the theme music. They weren't sure whether to go with a remix of the classic theme or a soundalike, and you can hear some elements of the original theme in the Louie Anderson version.
Donny Osmond Pyramid- What theme? Whatever was the theme for Donny Osmond's Pyramid, it was certainly not humable (sp?) nor memorable.
-
TTD90 was Henry Mancini, not Score.
Donnymid was someone else too, but not Score.
-
[quote name=\'Fostergray82 @ Feb 10\' date=\' 2011 9:59 AM\']Donnymid was someone else too, but not Score.[/quote] IIRC John Blaylock and Barry Coffing were the people behind it.
-
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'256835\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 07:59 AM\']Donnymid was someone else too, but not Score.[/quote]Barry Coffing unt John Blaylock.
-
[quote name=\'Modor\' post=\'256823\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 03:44 AM\'][quote name=\'Eric Paddon\' post=\'256820\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 02:47 AM\']Going with a new version of the old theme like they did in 1990 would have been better IMO and "sold" the revamped version to long time fans better IMO.[/quote]Or maybe, just maybe, they wanted to attract a different audience. If your favorite show was to change the theme song tomorrow, would you quit watching?
[/quote]
Hey, you're talking to someone who stopped watching WOF when "Big Wheels" was ditched! :)
-
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'256822\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 03:41 AM\']I've said before that since Eubanks's CS was one of the first shows I remember watching, I'm partial to a lot of things there, including the theme song. Even though I always thought it sounded like a police series of the era, I thought it was fine. Like Travis said, at least it has a melody I can hum.[/quote]
There were three distinct mixes to the "Card Sharks" theme from Kalehoff - the one that's been circulating among crazed theme collectors for years is actually the first one, used for just a couple of months on the show. Kalehoff later introduced a remix with more powerful horns and drums, and a few weeks later, those additional effects were scaled down somewhat in the theme version that was used for most of the series, including the entire Bill Rafferty syndicated run. That theme sounded pretty good in the studio, you could actually hear some subtleties that got buried by applause on-air like stray bass trombone notes.
[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'256840\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 12:43 PM\'][quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'256835\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 07:59 AM\']Donnymid was someone else too, but not Score.[/quote]Barry Coffing unt John Blaylock.
[/quote]
The Coffing-Blaylock team also came up with a tolerable theme for the 1998 episodes of "The Newlywed Game", which was the last season that Bob Eubanks hosted. Sadly, the partnership ended with Blaylock's death in 2004.
[quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'256830\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 08:55 AM\']Chris, do you mean the IGAS theme used on Cullen's version, which was later used on Second Chance? I assume you don't mean the Steve Allen version, which was composed by Steve Allen himself. The "Second Chance" theme definitely didn't work for IGAS, it's just too bold, but far better suited for more lively shows like Second Chance. As for the Steve Allen version, that was fine. The theme music lyrics are about a party (not used on the show but the lyrics are fairly well known), and IGAS did have a party-like atmosphere.[/quote]
Edd Kalehoff composed the closing theme for the 1972 IGAS, while the opening theme was "This Could Be the Start of Something", arranged and performed by Kalehoff, which was also used as part of the Norman Paris opening theme when Allen hosted the last three years on CBS.
-
[quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'256830\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 07:55 AM\']As for All New Beat the Clock, which version do you mean? I thought the Monty Hall version theme was very catchy, and probably the best thing about that version (it went downhill once it was an All Star format)[/quote]
I liked BTC '79- wasn't that theme done live in-show? I know that I hear different subtleties and variations for each episode I've seen, and I hear a lot of the instruments used in the theme in the in-stunt music.
The Louie Anderson era FF music... I thought it was okay but can't hold a candle to the original. Years ago at GSC9 we talked with Kevin Belinkoff and he said one of the things still being worked on at the time was the theme music. They weren't sure whether to go with a remix of the classic theme or a soundalike, and you can hear some elements of the original theme in the Louie Anderson version.
I didn't like Louie's theme through the Karn years, and I liked the O Hurley mix of that theme. Once I went back and listened to Feud '99 a couple years ago, I liked Louie's theme more.
Child's Play isn't one that I cared for too much either. I thought Card Sharks 86 was functional, but it's when you I compare it to CS 78 that makes it looks like utter crap.
-
[quote name=\'Twentington\' post=\'256801\' date=\'Feb 10 2011, 12:17 AM\']One more addition: TTTT'80. Too generic.[/quote]
Indeed. For a show like TTTT that was from 1969-1978 known for it's theme, and even bring it back for the 90s version, it was strange not to just reuse the old theme or a mix of it. Obviously they didn't want it associated with the success of the previous version as they were trying to sell it as a completely new one. I think the Ward theme could have very easily been used for a cue on TPIR if it was edited a bit differently, but very lackluster for a main theme.
Agree with Child's Play and CS86.
Another thing about CS86, they should have updated the old theme and used the poem intros. I always found it weird when Mark Goodson would come on set, he would have a Card Sharks poem. It never really made sense to me until i saw the Perry run.
M
-
Chris, do you mean the IGAS theme used on Cullen's version, which was later used on Second Chance?
The 1972 syndicated version composed by Edd Kalehoff.
As for All New Beat the Clock, which version do you mean?
There was only one version with that title which ran on CBS in 1979 - 1980. Arthur B. Rubinstein was the musical director.
-
The TTTT 80 theme to me sounded like something that could've been an alternate theme to PW+
-
Chris, do you mean the IGAS theme used on Cullen's version, which was later used on Second Chance?[/quote]
The 1972 syndicated version composed by Edd Kalehoff.
Steve Allen wrote the opening music. It's one of many songs he wrote. I like it personally. Do you just not like the treatment Edd K gave it?
As for All New Beat the Clock, which version do you mean?
There was only one version with that title which ran on CBS in 1979 - 1980. Arthur B. Rubinstein was the musical director.
Again, I personally liked it.
-
Steve Allen wrote the opening music. It's one of many songs he wrote. I like it personally. Do you just not like the treatment Edd K gave it?
Edd composed the closing theme. That's the one I don't like.