What Was Puttin’ on the Hits? The 80s Lip-Sync Contest Show

Puttin’ on the Hits was a syndicated television series in which contestants lip-synced to the song of their choice, produced by Chris Bearde’s company and Dick Clark’s company. A Ninth Circuit court memorandum says Clark and Bearde produced it “From September 1984 through October 1988,” and a 1987 Los Angeles Times chronology of Dick Clark Productions dates its debut to 1984. MCA distributed it. That memorandum is an unpublished, non-precedential court document, and this page draws on it for the court’s statement of background facts, not as law. Where the sources disagree, on the run dates and on how the contest was scored, both readings sit side by side in a table near the end.

If you remember ordinary people in costume miming to hit records while a panel judged them, this is the show.

How the Contest Worked

The outline is simple. The Los Angeles Times described the show in October 1986 as “the syndicated television show in which contestants lip-sync to the song of their choice.” The court memorandum calls the performers “amateur performers who would mime to popular recordings.” An MCA advertisement in the trade magazine Broadcasting in January 1984 described “really ordinary folk from everyday life” who mimic and lip-sync hit recordings, re-creating the make-up, the hairstyles and the costumes, and it said “Celebrity judges award big cash prizes.” That is an ad describing its own product, so it tells you what MCA said the show was, not how it performed.

The panel and the room. Yahoo Entertainment’s 2019 retrospective lists guest judges including Helen Reddy, Paul Williams, Stephanie Mills and Marilyn McCoo. A reader’s memory printed on the blog Pop Culture Retrorama in 2020 has contestants lip-syncing “in full costume before a studio audience” and judged by “a panel of celebrities.”

What it was like to be on it, as one 1987 contestant recalled in a 2023 podcast. Mike Sliwa, who says he appeared in 1987, told the STM Daily News podcast in 2023 that “the act was only a minute and a half. You had to narrow down a song to about a minute and a half.” His own act, a group dressed as milkmen and called the Milk Dudes, “did not get out of the first round.” The winners of his episode, he said, were dressed as royalty for a Henry VIII song, and the act included a big turkey that they ate. He also described an event before taping: contestants who wanted to were taken to a restaurant, which he named as Tony Romas, where anyone who wanted could get on stage and do their act. On the structure of the contest he said that “they would compete for cash prizes,” that you won your show and moved on to the next round, and that “at the end of the season, there was a grand champion.” These are one contestant’s recollections, given decades later, and the podcast is the source on this page for the details in this paragraph.

The scoring, as one longtime viewer remembers it. The blog Sincerely, The 80s, in an October 6, 2018 post by a writer who signs as “Double K,” remembers each judge scoring each act in three categories “on a scale of 1-10: originality, appearance, and performance,” and the act with the highest total at the end of each episode winning “a thousand dollars.” The same post remembers the show lasting four seasons and ending with the season four winner taking on the previous three season winners in “a $25,000 winner-take-all contest.” That is one fan’s memory, and no other source here describes the 1 to 10 scale.

The scoring, as the host described it. In 2004 the Las Vegas Sun quoted Allen Fawcett, who it says hosted the program: “Of the overall score, 30 percent was for originality,” and “Winners were chosen for originality, appearance and lip-syncing.” One account has each judge scoring three categories from 1 to 10. The other gives originality a 30 percent weight. The two descriptions differ, and neither source reconciles them; the comparison table near the end puts them next to each other.

The money. The figures that turn up are these. Yahoo Entertainment wrote in 2019 that contestants mimed “for a $25,000 cash grand prize.” Cash Box, the music trade weekly, wrote in its July 23, 1988 cover story on the group Troop that the group’s founders “won a $1,000 prize lip syncing on the nationally televised program Puttin’ On The Hits,” which makes Cash Box the one period source on this page for a $1,000 prize. Broadcasting’s January 1984 ad said “big cash prizes” without a figure. The sources here do not print a full list of prizes for a season.

Who Made It and Who Sold It

The creator and the producers. The Los Angeles Times wrote on October 21, 1986 that both Puttin’ on the Hits and its spin-off, Puttin’ on the Kids, “were created by Chris Bearde,” who wrote for Laugh-In and, in the Times’s words, “serves as co-executive producer with Dick Clark.” Yahoo Entertainment says the show “was executive-produced by Chris Bearde,” that Dick Clark “was also a co-executive producer,” and that Clark’s son, R.A. Clark, “had a producer credit.” Yahoo Entertainment adds that the show “was inspired by regional lip-synching contests created in 1981 by a man named Wm. Randy Wood (who later was a consulting producer for POTH … ),” and in the next sentence says it “was executive-produced by Chris Bearde.” In the same Times piece, R.A. (Rac) Clark, whom it calls the producer of the two shows, described his job: “My main function is to look at the acts, put them in an order in the show and make sure we have the studio set up, and the staff and the crew.”

The credit line. The ads that MCA ran in Broadcasting carried the same credit with one change of wording over four years. In January 1984: “A Chris Bearde Production in association with the dick clark company, inc.” In March 1988: “A Chris Bearde Production in association with dick clark productions, inc.,” followed by “Distributed by MCATV.”

The seller. Broadcasting reported on January 16, 1984 that the series was “being proposed by MCA-TV for first-run barter syndication next fall,” and that it was “to be produced by Dick Clark and Chris Bearde.” The court memorandum says “MCA distributed the show and was chiefly responsible for promoting the series,” and describes MCA as “a television distribution company that distributes shows to independent television stations.”

The host. The Las Vegas Sun’s 2004 article about Allen Fawcett’s own stage show says that Fawcett hosted the program.

What no dated source settles. Where the show was taped is a question readers ask, and no dated source here settles it, so this page does not answer it.

How Big It Got, by Date

Broadcasting, the weekly trade magazine for the television business, followed the show from before its debut. The table uses only Broadcasting’s own news items, ratings tables and one MCA advertisement, and it gives the issue date for each. Broadcasting sometimes printed the title as “Putting on the Hits,” as in its January 7, 1985 and April 27, 1987 stories. An advertisement can say what a show was offered as; it cannot prove how well the show did, so the March 1988 row below gives an offering and nothing more.

A newspaper put the show’s start in different words. In a May 5, 1987 chronology of Dick Clark Productions, the Los Angeles Times wrote that in 1984 the program “debuts and becomes highest rated new program in syndication.” The Times did not say which ratings it meant.

One more detail from Broadcasting: the promotional announcements. A Broadcasting story of April 27, 1987 was about promotional consideration announcements, which the story calls PCA’s, and the “widely accepted practice” of turning them into full-blown 10-second commercials it calls fee spots, in syndicated first-run game and talk shows. The story says MCA “had as many as six PCA’s in its Putting On The Hits” (the paper’s spelling), three in the middle and three at the end, and “abandoned the practice this season.” Elsewhere in the story it says MCA “voluntarily stopped inserting the 10-second PCA’s during the 1986-87 television season,” according to station executives.

The Lip-Sync Craze and the Lawsuit

Lip-sync contests were a nightclub business before the series reached the air. A Seattle Public Library finding aid describes Lip Sinc International, Incorporated as “a lip-synching competition hosted in Seattle and Houston in the 1980s,” where participants dressed as famous celebrities, sometimes in drag, and impersonated their songs. The court memorandum describes Lip Sinc as “a company that had promoted generally non-televised lip sync contests.”

MCA pushed the same idea at the local level. The court memorandum says the series “was promoted in part by ‘official auditions’ held in local areas where the series was broadcast,” and that “MCA urged licensee stations to hold local lip sync contests to generate interest in the series.” R.A. Clark gave the Times his own explanation for the shows’ popularity in 1986: “In the ’80s, with the advent of music videos, they want to perform.” By August 1985 a Los Angeles Times pop-music review was already using the show’s name as a label for lip-syncing, “suggesting that we were in for an evening of ‘Puttin’ on the Hits’-style lip-syncing.”

In May 1984, the memorandum says, a partner in Lip Sinc proposed to representatives of Clark and MCA that Lip Sinc promote the series. Lip Sinc later appealed from a summary judgment in favor of Dick Clark Productions, MCA Television and Chris Bearde Productions. The court’s memorandum, decided in 1991 in Lip Sinc International, Inc. v. Dick Clark Productions, Inc. (942 F.2d 792), says: “Lip Sinc asserts trademark infringement, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, and bad faith denial of contract claims. We affirm.” It also says: “Although both parties use similar format, rules, and regulations, there is little similarity between a television series and the licensing of lip sync contests in nightclubs.” A library finding aid says the Lip Sinc International binder held material the company “used … as evidence in the case.”

Puttin’ on the Kids

The show had a spin-off for children. The Los Angeles Times of October 21, 1986 called Puttin’ on the Kids a “new Saturday-morning spin-off” and said it was designed to compete with Saturday-morning network cartoons. Children from five to 13 years old competed for two U.S. Savings Bonds, one for $500 and one for $250, which went to each week’s winner and runner-up. In Los Angeles, the Times said, the kids’ version and the original aired locally at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., respectively, on KTLA Channel 5. MCA had advertised a first-run series by that name in Broadcasting on March 31, 1986. No source here gives an end date for the kids’ version.

Who Came Out of It

Troop. Cash Box wrote in July 1988 that the group “formed four years ago after founding members Reggie Warren and Rodney Benford won a $1,000 prize lip syncing on the nationally televised program Puttin’ On The Hits.” The members “scrambled to form a group to capitalize on their success, contacting friends from Pasadena High School,” and the group “won a long series of talent shows in the Southern California area.” Cash Box says Atlantic signed them after attending just two concerts. A biography on the music store Qobuz, with no author shown, tells it as a teen group that won $1000 on the show “by dancing and lip-synching to New Edition’s ‘Cool It Now,'” and says the Pasadena quintet’s 1988 debut single, “Mamacita,” reached number two on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles chart. That chart position comes from the store biography.

A Madonna impersonator. The San Diego Reader wrote in 2008: “Of several Madonna impersonators to compete in the four years Puttin’ on the Hits aired, Vlasis was the only one to win first place.” The Reader means Denise Bella Vlasis, whom it described in 2008 as a Madonna impersonator, author and casting agent.

How It Ended

The sources here give figures and dates, and they stop short of a stated reason. On September 29, 1987, the Los Angeles Times reported on Dick Clark Productions’ year-end results. Its sentence about the slowdown reads:

Part of the slowdown was due to declining revenue from its “Puttin’ on the Hits” program, fewer television movies and specials, higher taxes and the industrywide decline in advertising revenue.

The same article gives the chief financial officer’s remark this way:

Chief financial officer Ken Ferguson said that “Puttin’ On the Hits” was hurt by the overall decline in advertising sales.

In March 1988 an MCA TV ad offered 134 half-hours of the show, as the table above shows. The court memorandum dates production “From September 1984 through October 1988.” It gives October 1988 as the last month of production and does not say when the last episode aired. The sources here do not say why production stopped.

Where the Record Disagrees

These are the two places where the sources print different versions. The table does not rule on either one, though this page follows the court record for the run dates.

The Bottom Line

Puttin’ on the Hits was a syndicated lip-sync contest produced by Chris Bearde’s company and Dick Clark’s company and distributed by MCA. The court record dates production from September 1984 to October 1988. Broadcasting’s reports had it cleared on 100 stations in April 1984 ahead of its start, on 118 stations in November 1984, and at 114 and 115 markets in two 1987 weeks. Most of the detail on scoring and prizes comes from viewer and contestant memories. The Los Angeles Times tied part of a 1987 slowdown at Dick Clark Productions to declining revenue from the show, and no source here says why production stopped.

Most of what circulates about this show is memory, so every station count, prize and date above was traced to a dated source or left out.

FAQ

What was Puttin’ on the Hits?
It was a syndicated television series in which contestants lip-synced to the song of their choice, in the Los Angeles Times’s words in 1986. The Ninth Circuit memorandum says Clark and Bearde produced it, and that MCA distributed it.

When was Puttin’ on the Hits on TV?
The Ninth Circuit memorandum says it was produced “From September 1984 through October 1988.” The Los Angeles Times dates its debut to 1984, while the Las Vegas Sun prints “1985-88.” In April 1984 Broadcasting reported that the majority of stations were placing the first run on Saturdays in early fringe and access periods. In Los Angeles in 1986 it aired at 10:30 a.m. on KTLA Channel 5, according to the Times.

How much did the winners of Puttin’ on the Hits get?
The sources give different figures, and no source gives a full list of prizes. Cash Box reported in 1988 that Troop’s founders “won a $1,000 prize.” Yahoo Entertainment wrote that contestants mimed “for a $25,000 cash grand prize.” One viewer remembers $1,000 for the best act of each episode and a $25,000 winner-take-all contest at the end. The children’s version, Puttin’ on the Kids, gave U.S. Savings Bonds of $500 and $250 to each week’s winner and runner-up, according to the Times.

For more of what was on television in the decade, start with our 80s TV shows guide, or browse the great 80s game shows.