Puttin' on the Hits
| Puttin' on the Hits | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Reality competition |
| Created by | Wm. Randy Wood |
| Presented by | Allen Fawcett |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 134 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Dick Clark Chris Bearde |
| Location(s) |
Universal City Studios Hollywood, California |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Chris Bearde Productions Dick Clark Productions |
| Distributor | MCA TV |
| Release | |
| Original network | Syndicated |
| Original release | September 22, 1984 – July 2, 1988 |
Puttin' on the Hits is an American syndicated music/variety competition show hosted and written by Allen Fawcett.[1] The show featured amateur acts lip-synching to popular songs. The show aired on weekends from 1984 through 1988.[2]
Description
The show grew out of lip synching contests developed by Wm. "Randy" Wood, who by 1982 had realized that his contests had grown so popular nationally that he needed to stage them on a broader scale. The planning process eventually grew into Puttin' on the Hits. Gong Show creator Chris Bearde and Dick Clark served as executive producers. Clark's son, Richard A. Clark, produced, with Wm. Randy Wood serving as the consulting producer. MCA Television served as distributor. Puttin' on the Hits was taped in Hollywood, California at Universal City Studios.
Contestants would often dress up in costumes and use props to make their act more outrageous. This varied from a seemingly severed head singing "I Ain't Got Nobody" to an Aretha Franklin drag act using couch cushions for breasts. Other acts were more conservative and placed emphasis on performance.
The competition, as it was, was conducted as many other televised performance contests (e.g. Star Search) were. Each act was judged by a panel of celebrity judges based on their appearance, song choice, and lip-sync ability with a total of 90 points being the maximum value an act could score; to achieve that, an act would have to receive 10 points in each of the three categories from all three judges. The act with the highest score at the end of the show won $1,000. They also advanced to the Semi-Finals which is worth $5,000 and after that, the season-ending championship show (dubbed the "Grand Final") worth $25,000 to the winning act.
Puttin' on the Hits has been credited with launching the career of the group Troop, and Jazzmun, a drag performer who can be seen in many contemporary television shows. Kato Kaelin was another notable contestant, appearing during the show's third season performing Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild".
Kids' version
A short-lived spinoff called Puttin' on the Kids hosted by Michael Young also aired briefly in Syndication from 1986 until 1987. Celebrity judges awarded savings bonds to two weekly winners.
See also
References
- ↑
- ↑ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. pg. 970. ISBN 0-345-45542-8