Spicks And Specks (TV Series)

''Spicks and Specks'' is an Australian music-themed comedic television quiz show in which the host, Adam Hills, asks two teams, of three people each, varying music-themed questions in different games. Team leaders are Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough. Members of each team vary from episode to episode; one per team generally comes from the world of music and the other from comedy. Scores are kept, but the prize for the winners is simply personal satisfaction. Many games are named after, or otherwise reference, well known song titles.

The series originally aired on what was then ABC1 at 8:30pm on Wednesday nights, with the show repeated on Thursdays on what was then ABC2 at 8pm. The previous year's season was repeated every Friday at 2:30pm on ABC1.

After the show's end in 2011, and an unsuccessful 2014 relaunch featuring new hosts, a new series began airing in an hour-long weekly format from 18 April 2021 with the original hosts.

Format

The show's general style, employing a mix of music and comedy, is similar to the British show '' Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' and fellow Australian TV show '' RocKwiz'', but the question formats and program style (Satirical vs. Family vs. Pub Quiz) are different.

Although there are no prizes for the winners, on rare occasions Hills decides to award some convenient prop for comedic effect – a "Fools' Gold" sandwich very similar (they used strawberry jam as opposed to grape jam) to that eaten by Elvis, for example.

The show takes both its name and theme music from the Bee Gees' 1966 song, ''Spicks and Specks''. The theme music was performed and produced by The Dissociatives, a duo consisting of Silverchair singer Daniel Johns and dance musician Paul Mac, and replaced all the lyrics bar the title refrain with scat singing. In addition, Mac once appeared on the show as a panellist.

The show is hosted by stand-up comedian Adam Hills who poses questions to two three-person teams each headed by a permanent team captain, actor/comedian/author Alan Brough and radio announcer Myf Warhurst.

Games in the show include: ''Substitute'', in which one member from each team sings three well-known tunes, substituting unrelated words from a text provided by Hills, while the other team members have to name the song; ''Cover Versions'' in which one teram's member is chosen to draw pictures (in silence), initially representing an album cover and, in later episodes, song titles, while the other members attempt to name the album/song; ''Musician or Serial Killer'', in which each team member is shown a photograph of a person and is asked to identify whether that person is a musician or a serial killer; and ''The Final Countdown'', always the final game of each program, in which members of both teams compete to be first to attempt to answer general questions on music.

History

Original series (2005–2011)

Guest team members, who varied from week to week, included some regulars: Hamish Blake, Jason Byrne, Frank Woodley, Colin Lane, Ross Noble, James Morrison, Renée Geyer, Ella Hooper, Meshel Laurie, Denise Scott, Antoinette Halloran and Dave O'Neil. With the exception of Dave O'Neil, Blake appeared more often than any other guest panellist, and his comparative lack of musical knowledge was a running gag.

In 2007 during a game called ''Kid's Music Special'', the question "What children's song is contained in the song Down Under?" led to music publisher, Larrikin Music, taking legal action against Men at Work songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert over the main flute riff. After three years of litigation, the lawsuit was settled in favour of Larrikin Music after Down Under was deemed to have used key elements of the Australian children's nursery rhyme Kookaburra.

The show returned for its seventh season on 4 May 2011. On 25 May 2011, the ABC announced the seventh season would be last, with the last program on 23 November 2011.

2014 relaunch (2014)

The ABC announced on 28 November 2012, during its 2013 program launch, that ''Spicks and Specks'' would be returning in the new year but without Hills, Warhurst, or Brough. The re-launch of the series was delayed by the broadcaster until 2014, with the first episode airing on 5 February. The new host was comedian Josh Earl with Adam Richard and Ella Hooper as team captains.

The revival was axed after 20 episodes due to low ratings, with the final six recorded episodes airing over the summer non-ratings period.

2021 relaunch (2021-2022)

Following the success of several themed specials, the ABC announced a new 10-episode series, hosted by Adam Hills and the original team leaders. Much like those specials and the 2014 series, it featured new games along with classic games, with ''Know Your Product'', ''Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma'', ''Substitute'', and ''The Final Countdown'' all appearing in every episode.

The series was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic while "stage four lockdown" was occurring, leading to some minor changes to the show's set, which was redesigned to have a curved outline, and solo buzzers instead of a single team buzzer. Physical comedy was frequently used in the rebooted series, which mostly came from Dave O'Neil, who appeared as a guitarist, a banana, a lost luggage collector, an ice cream van owner, a mobile DJ, the sole owner of Kurt Cobain's MTV Unplugged guitar,, a Zoom comedian who has a puppet bat, a bootleg merchandise seller, and a "Dave-A-Roo" deliveryman.

ABC renewed the series for a second season in 2022, this time with a live audience. The second season premiered on 7 August 2022. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the season's sixth episode was pushed back by a week.

Games

In the majority of games, each team gets its own questions to answer – although the other team members may answer the question if the first team doesn't know it. In the remaining games, both teams can answer the questions.

Original series (2005–2011)

Games begun in the original series included:

*Know Your Product, in which each team captain chooses one of four given topics. There are three questions from the topic that either team can answer. The questions are usually ordered by points allocated and the number of answers needed (i.e., the first question is worth one point and requires one answer, the second question is worth two points and requires two answers, and the final question is worth three points and requires three answers). This game is played first in every episode. In special episodes the topic is the show's theme which has five questions of which the fourth and fifth questions have four and five answers respectively. The game is named after the song by The Saints.
* Substitute, in which one member from each team sings three well-known tunes, substituting words from a text provided by Hills. This is usually a technical manual or some kind of text that is humorous given the context (texts used have included ''Datsun 180B Service Manual'', ''2004 Australian Government Tax Pack,'' ''A Guide to Yabbie Farming'' and ''Be Bold with Bananas''). The other members of that team then guess the songs. This game is loosely based on One Song to the Tune of Another from the BBC Radio 4 panel game '' I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' and Adam Hills's own minor hit with ''Working Class Anthem'', in which he sang the lyrics of the Australian National Anthem to the tune of Jimmy Barnes's "Working Class Man". The game is named after the song by The Who.
*Cover Versions in which one team member is chosen to draw pictures (in silence), in initial episodes representing album covers and in later episodes representing song titles. The other team members attempt to name the album/song. The drawings are not allowed to contain words or numbers. Music used during this game is Axel F.
*Samplemania/Videomania, in which five or six songs/music video clips are edited into one 30-second clip. Players must identify the different songs/videos in the clip after they have all been played, and are not allowed to take notes.
* Turning Japanese in which the lyrics of well-known song are translated into Japanese using an online web translator and then translated back into English using the same translator. Contestants must name the title of the original song. The game is named after the song by The Vapors
*Please Please Tell Me Now Hills presents part of a music video clip, and the teams must answer questions about the video. The game is named after a line in '' Is There Something I Should Know?'' by Duran Duran
* Musician or Serial Killer, in which each team is shown a photograph of a person and is asked to say whether that person is a musician or a serial killer. Early episodes tasked individual panelists with identification, resulting in six rounds of this game.
* Sir Mix'n'Matchalot, in which each team has to match three famous people with three obscure facts about them. The game title is a play on rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot.
*Bottom 100 in which Hills provides each team with a choice of two awful songs and asks the team members to say which was rated worse by a given group or list. The title of this game is a play on the Triple J Hottest 100.
* You Can Buy Me Love (titled ''Can Buy Me Love'' in the 2021 reboot) in which Adam reads out three celebrity-themed items that have been found on eBay (e.g., a tour jacket, keychain with artist/band name). Some of these items are the usual merchandise, whereas others are down-right weird. The teams are then asked to place each item in order from cheapest to the most expensive. The game is named after the song ''Can't Buy Me Love'' by The Beatles.
*Common People in which the teams identify the commonality between three musicians/musical personalities or songs/albums. The game is named after the song ''Love of the Common People'' by Paul Young.
* Malvern Stars on 45 in which a single team member rides a bicycle which powers a record player. The rotation speed of each record is governed by the team member's pedalling speed. The pedaller must continue until the other team members name as many songs as possible in the time limit. The game is named after the bicycle manufacturer ''Malvern Star'' and the band ''Stars on 45''. In the 2021 reboot, a mobile DJ manages the record player.
*Mondegreens, in which teams are given a short piece of text that vaguely sounds like real lyrics or a set of lyrics. Teams must then identify the real lyrics.
*Looking for Clues, in which teams have to name a band from a cryptic clue given by Hills. The game is named after the song by Robert Palmer.
*Look What They've Done... (to my song, ma) (occasionally called Name That Tune) in which song clips have been changed and the players must identify the tracks. Most commonly, a guest artist or group is used to play the tracks in a different style from the original, however the songs have also been played backwards, which later became its own game (''Step Back In Time''), through headphones played to maximum volume, through ringtones, over the top of each other, or on a malfunctioning radio. The game is named after the song '' What Have They Done to My Song Ma'' by Melanie Safka.
* Something's Missing, in which the teams are shown album covers with an item or word blanked out, and must identify the missing item. The game is named after the song ''Something's Missing (In My Life)'' by Paul Jabara and Donna Summer.
* One out of Three Ain't Bad, in which teams are given a relatively obscure musical story and are presented with three possible endings. Teams must select the true ending to the story. The game is named after the song ''Two Out of Three Ain't Bad'' by Meat Loaf.
* Word Up, in which teams must identify the lyrics of a song from five random words. The game is named after the song by Cameo.
* You're The Voices, in which a member of each team must stand next to the opposite team and sing a song from a book (by singing only la la la). The first team to get its member's song correct wins a point. The game is named after the song by John Farnham.
* All Shook Up, in which each team is shown a series of anagrams of musicians' names (e.g. "Bomb Early" – "Bob Marley"), and team members have to unscramble them. If nobody guesses an anagram immediately, Hills gives a clue. The game is named after the song by Elvis Presley.
* Two Little Words, in which one member of each team is blind-folded by wearing "Spicks Specs" and the others are given the name of a musician or band. The blind-folded member must name the musician or band from one-word clues given by the other two team members. The game is named after the song Three Little Words by The Rhythm Boys. Music used during this game is Green Onions.
* Counting the Beat, in which one member of each team plays songs on a keyboard while the others try to name the song. Keyboardists are given a list of numbers corresponding to the order in which they should play the notes, but are given no indication of the rhythm. The game was introduced in 2008 and is named after the song by The Swingers. In the 2021 reboot, the game is played on a giant keyboard played by feet.
* I'll Jumble For Ya, in which one team member is given thirty seconds to correctly match nine song titles divided in half and mixed up on a magnetic board. The game is named after the song ''I'll Tumble 4 Ya'' by Culture Club.
* Step Back in Time, in which songs are played backwards and must be identified by the teams. The game is named after the song by Kylie Minogue.
* What's The Story?, in which a team receives three stories about an opposing team member. Team members must decide whether each story is either true, half true, or untrue. The game is named after the album ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'' by Oasis

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