Syndicator Sandy Frank had been distributing the legendary music quiz, Name That Tune, for syndication. Seeing how well it was doing in the ratings, Frank figured, hey, I can make my own show along the same line. Well, not quite.
Face The Music was a mid-season entry that debuted in January 1980, and ran for 2 seasons total. Actor Ron Ely (ex-Tarzan) was tapped to host, having never done a game show before in this capacity. Frank brought over former Tune musical director Tommy Oliver to conduct the band, most of which also came over from Tune, and featured Lisa Donovan as the in house singer. So it was a clone of Tune after all, you think. Nope. The game play was a wee bit different, as you're about to see.
Veteran announcer John Harlan came over from Tune in the fall of '80 to replace Dave Williams for whatever reason. Not that it helped, since Face was cancelled soon after.
Ely's last high-profile gig might've been his most embarrassing, tasked to succeed Bert Parks as the host of the Miss America Pageant. Can you say, one-&-done? Yup.
Rating: B.
2 comments:
I loved Face the Music. There are some episodes that I missed because I had to go to school and work. I hate it that the collectors I do business with don't have the whole series on vhs/dvd. I would buy them if they did, but some are on Youtube, too. I guess they're afraid of getting into trouble with the copyright people, but all they would have to do is use the disclaimer on their channel, or website where they sell VHS/dvd.
There is one episode that I don't know even exists or not or is a Nelson Mandela Effect Experience. It's the episode in which Howard Hughes is the Mystery Face at the end. The song played is "Leavin' On a Jet Plane", and the contestant, a black man in a dark military uniform and holds the rank of "Major", says the face is "Pontius Pilate", but is obviously joking. Everyone starts laughing, and Ron Ely can't seem to stop for awhile. Funniest episode if it did exist!
Thanks!
Nancy King
Thanks for writing in, Nancy.
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