Spicks and Specks (TV series)
Spicks and Specks is an Australian music-themed comedic television quiz show. Hosted by Adam Hills and with team leaders Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough, the series originally aired on what was then ABC1 at 8:30pm on Wednesday nights, with the show repeated on Thursdays on ABC2 at 8pm. The previous year's season was repeated every Friday at 2:30pm on ABC1. , repeats of old episodes of the show screen at 7:30pm weeknights on ABC TV Plus. A new series began airing in an hour-long weekly format from 18 April 2021, with the  original hosts. Broadcast history. Original series. The show takes both its name and theme music from the Bee Gees' 1966 song, "Spicks and Specks". The theme music is performed and produced by The Dissociatives, a duo consisting of Silverchair singer Daniel Johns and dance musician Paul Mac, and replaces 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 posed questions to two teams each headed by a permanent team captain, actor/comedian/author Alan Brough and radio  announcer Myf Warhurst. They each have two guest panellists, generally one from the world of music and one from comedy. They vary from week to week, but regular guests included 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. 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. In 2007 during a round 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 a seventh season on 4 May 2011. On 25 May 2011, it was announced the seventh season would be the final season and the show would end on 23 November 2011. 2014 relaunch. ABC Television announced on 28 November 2012, during their 2013 program launch that "Spicks and Specks" would be returning in the new year but without Hills, Warhurst or Brough. However 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. 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 into some minor changes to the show's set, which was redesigned to have a curved outline, and every team member now has a buzzer for themselves instead of a single team buzzer. Also, physical comedy is frequent in the new series, which mostly comes from Dave O'Neil, who has so far been 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, and a Zoom comedian who has a puppet bat. Production . "Spicks and Specks" was first filmed in Gordon Street, Elsternwick, at Studio 31, before being moved to ABC Melbourne's new studios in Southbank. Accolades. The program has won three Logie Awards and numerous nominations. In August 2019, it was announced that the series will return with the original hosts for a four-episode reboot in November 2019 and continuing in 2020. However, the show was delayed until 18 April 2021. Rounds. The show sticks to a simple quiz-show format, with host Hills asking the teams varying music-themed questions. Some rounds are played on an "open-to-all  basis, i.e. both teams can answer the questions, but in most rounds each team gets their own questions to answer – although the other team may answer the question if the first team doesn't know it. Scores are kept, but the prize for the winners is simply personal satisfaction. Many segments are named after, or otherwise reference, well known song titles. Regular segments include: The final round of each program, The Final Countdown", is devoted to a generic musical quiz. This is a beat the buzzer round, and is the only round in which points are deducted for incorrect responses . Named after the song by Europe. Many of these rounds have proven more popular than others. "Substitute" was used consistently throughout the early history of the show appearing in almost every episode (although later in the programs run was sometimes excluded in favour of "Cover Versions" occasionally), whereas some were only used every now and then and others used much less. Some other segments which proved to be popular early in the show's history but have been used less or even abandoned later : "Musician or Serial Killer" and "Bottom 100" were both commonly used early in 2005, but are  rarely later. Some games were also introduced later in the series, and occasionally a game will be temporarily changed in some way (e.g. Musician Or Serial Killer was changed once to ARIA winner or Audience Member on the ARIA special episode). Despite points being awarded for each round, there are no prizes for the winners, except on rare occasions where 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. Specials. A Very Specky Christmas. Since 2005, an  annual hour-long Christmas episode, entitled "A Very Specky Christmas" on the Sunday night before Christmas. All questions are either about Christmas songs, or music from the previous year. While these episodes remain true to the standard format with three members on each team, adaptions are made to allow more guest stars to appear. Additional or notably different games have included: Best Of. As the last episode of each year, "Spicks and Specks" reflects back on all the highlights, lowlights and memorable guests throughout the year. 100th episode. On 30 May 2007, "Spicks and Specks" celebrated its 100th episode. Instead  of the show being divided into rounds, teams were asked 100 questions – one from each of the previous 99 episodes, and one new question, "What is the last question on our 100th episode?" which was correctly answered: "What is the last question on our 100th episode." by Antoinette Halloran. Alan Brough's team was victorious although it did come down to the very last question. Behind the scenes. This was the first episode of "Spicks and Specks" where the game is not played at all. Instead, this behind the scenes special hosted by regular contestant Hamish Blake took a tour  through the studios and dressing rooms of the ABC studios in Elsternwick and conducting interviews with show personnel. Production studio. The show was filmed at ABC Studios in Elsternwick, Victoria, which are rented by ABV-2 With ABC Studios in Ripponlea getting ready to shut down, new home is now at ABC Melbourne studios in Southbank, Victoria. With the move from Ripponlea also comes a move from ABC as the broadcast provider. It is recorded in front of a live audience of 500 people. 200th episode. On 9 September 2009, "Spicks and Specks" celebrated its 200th episode. The show had a  number of members from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra behind the hosts, who performed the show's many musical questions including the theme song "Spicks and Specks" by the Bee Gees. The episode also included returning guests Ella Hooper, Hamish Blake, Paul Grabowsky and Meshel Laurie. The questions covered 200 years of music from 1809 to 2009. Final episode of original series. A one-hour special, called "The Finale", was the final episode of the original series of "Spicks and Specks" and went to air on 23 November 2011. There was a change to the list of guests: various guests rotated  during different rounds of the show. All of the credited guest appearances on the show were Ella Hooper, Geoffrey Rush, Scott Edgar, Dave O'Neil, Rhonda Burchmore, Adam Richard, Darren Hayes, Brian Cadd, Brian Mannix, Felicity Ward, Amanda Keller, Jimeoin, Tommy Dean, Shane Bourne, Dan Sultan, Richard Gill, Antoinette Halloran, Denise Scott, Peter Helliar, Barry Morgan, Megan Washington, Damian Callinan, Hamish Blake and Andy Lee (who were in New York at the time of filming for their "Hamish and Andy's Gap Year"). Other specials. Special episodes have been compiled for various seasonal or arbitrary themes, including: In each case, questions  are written, and some games are changed slightly or new games invented, to suit the theme. The Europa Special ended with a performance of Aha's song "Take On Me" by musical comedy act The Bad Father. 2018 one-off reunion. On 27 August 2018, it was announced that the show would return for a one-off hour-long special as part of the ABC's "Ausmusic" month. Confirmed as panellists were award-winning rapper Adam Briggs, singer/songwriter Ricki-Lee Coulter and comedians Frank Woodley and Denise Scott, plus a line-up of famous guests to lend their musical  talents and knowledge. The one-hour special aired on 4 November, with a repeat airing on ABC Comedy on 10 November. Guests included Adalita, Vika and Linda Bull, Troy Cassar-Daley, Kate Ceberano, Murray Cook, Paul Dempsey, Antoinette Halloran, Guido Hatzis, Kram, Angie Hart, Kate Miller-Heidke, Lindsay McDougall, Luke McGregor, Russell Morris, Montaigne, Pseudo Echo, Josh Pyke, Ruel, Eskimo Joe's Kav Temperley, Tripod, Cal Wilson, Ross Wilson. The show was dedicated to long time regular guest Richard Gill, who had died a week before the special went to air. It ranked #1 nationally with 1.36 million viewers. 2019–2020  specials. In August 2019, it was announced that the show with the original lineup would return for a one-off special in November 2019, followed by a short three-episode reboot airing in 2020. The episodes will feature original host Adam Hills and team captains Alan Brough and Myf Warhurst, with each episode focusing on a specific generation of music. Four specials were broadcast; the Ausmusic special, the 90s special, the 2000s special and the 2010s special. As music from the 2010s was not looked on the original Spicks and Specks show, Adam Hills said it was his favourite to  film. Related games. In 2008, the "Spicks and Specks Board Game" was released by Imagination Games. It was followed by "Up To Our Eras" in 2010, and an "Ausmusic Edition" in 2019. In 2011 Spicks and Specks Quiz, an app for iPhones, was released. Users are given two play options, Quick Play or Quiz Challenge, with various games taken from the show. There are a number of top-up Quiz Packs to extend the game. On its initial release, the name of the app was automatically censored by Apple to 'S****s and Specks' because of the derogatory use of the  word 'spick' in the US to describe a person of Hispanic heritage.