Puttin' on the Hits

In 1985, I started a humble talent agency, and I went down with a talented singer named Chris Hamilton to audition for the show. The auditions were held at Tony Roma's restaurant in Universal Studios in Hollywood, California. I was also able to meet Allen Fawcett who was the host and Allen was incredibly gracious.

We really need musical shows in these difficult times now.

They really unite us as a country and lift up the finest in our souls.

Today, we have shows like The Voice, America's Got Talent and American Idol.

Entertainers have to suffer so much rejection so they have to become very tough, and strong, deeply inside.

If you can't say anything nice....

Well, okay, maybe two minor observations (and I hope it will be more than 10 lines this time):

(1) The only good part of this program was two title cards following the closing credits, the first one showing the copyright notice at the top of the screen along with that "This program is protected under copyright laws of the United States...." warning at the bottom and a miniature MCA logo sandwiched in between, cutting to a static MCA/Universal Television logo title card 4 seconds later while that classic Universal Television/Revue Productions music jingle ("Daaaah, da-da-da-da, dit-diddle-it, dit-diddle-it, dit") - written by Electronic Pop music pioneer Esquivel along with Stanley Wilson - was heard during all that; the MCA/Universal title card "tumbled off" the screen once the music ended (this was the same Universal Television music jingle heard after the closing credits of "The Munsters," but a rare, longer version was used for this program); and

(2) Because of astronomical music royalties, this sorry time-waster should hopefully *never* see a DVD release.

Enough said!

The thing I remember most about "puttin' on the hits", was how excited Alan fawcett became when reading the contestants scores. Reguardless of how poor the performance , or how low the score; Alan always had his "pearly white", cheese eating grin in full effect. What saved the show,however, were the celebrity guests. Ranging from the lovely Linda blair, to the 70's icon, Greg allman. Each, usually could be counted on to deliver a comment that made the show "almost Watchable".. The show was ahead of its time, in that, it was a reality program. Even before the term had had coined, "puttin on the hits", was turning out it weekly dose of reality fodder. A precursor to the modern reality television show.