Name That Tune first unscripted US network show made in Ireland

When the new season of US television’s revival of classic musical game show Name That Tune premieres on Fox next Tuesday, it will mark the first time that an unscripted peak-time American network show was made in Ireland.

Produced by Fox Alternative Entertainment (FAE), Dublin-headquartered BiggerStage and Prestige Entertainment, Name That Tune’s second season wrapped at RDS Simmonscourt in February, with the contestants, host Jane Krakowski and band leader Randy Jackson flown in for recordings that took place in front of an Irish audience.

The collaboration between BiggerStage and FAE – the in-house Fox studio behind “shiny floor” hit The Masked Singer – is part of a nascent television industry trend that sees unscripted programmes produced in countries other than the ones in which they are broadcast.

The first season of Fox’s Name That Tune revival was filmed in Sydney, Australia, in late 2020 before BiggerStage lured it to Dublin, where a crew of more than 300 worked on it at the RDS.

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Additional recording took place in Dublin’s Font Hill Studios, while Irish companies to participate in the production included Emmy award-winning lighting designers High Res and post-production company Screen Scene.

Potential

BiggerStage chief executive and founder Pat Kiely, who is the former managing director of Virgin Media Television, said Name That Tune demonstrated the “terrific” foreign direct investment potential of this area of television production, which is not incentivised by any tax credit, unlike film, television drama, animation and, soon, gaming.

“There is no reason why Ireland could not become a world leader for top class entertainment TV and become a great base for production hubs to benefit the entire industry,” Mr Kiely said.

“However, we are competing against many other markets who see the same potential. So we need to move quickly and make sure Ireland demonstrates its capabilities as well as its appetite for this area of growth potential.”

Mr Kiely last year met Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Leo Varadkar and spoke to Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath about the possibility of extending the Section 481 tax scheme to unscripted formats.

He said BiggerStage, which previously worked with FAE in 2021 on Virgin Media Television entertainment series The Big Deal, would use its Name That Tune experience to “make the case” for incentivising unscripted television.

1950s heritage

Created by orchestra conductor Harry Salter and his wife Roberta Semple Salter, Name That Tune first began as a US radio programme in 1952 before migrating to television a year later.

The format, which tests contestants’ music knowledge as they battle through a series of challenges for cash and prizes, has had several successful iterations over the decades and spawned many international versions.

In the UK, Tom O’Connor and Lionel Blair were among the hosts of the version that aired on ITV, where the format most recently surfaced in 2021 as one-off regular and celebrity editions of Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow series.

BiggerStage’s Sean O’Riordan and Shane Byrne served as executive producer and showrunner respectively on the new 10-part US series, which includes five celebrity editions featuring star players such as Mel B, Kelly Osbourne, Jennie Garth and Shaggy.