Blackout (game show)
Encyclopedia
Blackout is an American
game show
that aired on CBS from January 4 to April 1, 1988. The pilot was hosted by former Entertainment Tonight
anchor Robb Weller
, but he was replaced for the series by Bob Goen
(himself a former anchor on Entertainment Tonight). Johnny Gilbert
was announcer for most of the run, with Jay Stewart
(in his final announcing job) taking over for the last two weeks. The show was a Jay Wolpert
production.
If the player was able to guess the word, the team won $100 and the first shot at solving the puzzle. If not, the opponent, who had heard the entire description, guessed. The process alternated back and forth until the puzzle was solved. If neither player identified a word, it was posted on the board but neither team got to guess. If a celebrity accidentally said the word or part of the word itself during the description, the opponents automatically won $100 and a chance to guess. If neither team solved the last word, Goen read a pre-written description of the word and both players had to hit a buzzer to guess. A correct answer won the word, but an incorrect guess gave the opposing player the full description.
A second puzzle was played in the same manner, with celebrities and contestants switching roles of give and guesser. The first team to solve two puzzles won the game and advanced to the Clue Screen bonus round.
If the game ended in a tie, one last word was played. The contestant with more money (or the winner of a coin toss, in case of a tie) was shown a word and chose between giving a description to that word for ten seconds while the other team "blacked out" three seconds of the description. If the partner of the describer got it right, his team won; if he was wrong (or if the describer said the word itself or part of it), the opposing team won. Both teams kept their money.
. Facing both the still-popular Sale of the Century
on NBC (ABC had never programmed in the 10:00 AM slot) and the wrath of angry viewers who believed that CBS had been too hasty in canceling The $25,000 Pyramid, Blackout was unable to find an audience. After 13 weeks and 65 episodes, CBS canceled Blackout and returned The $25,000 Pyramid to its former timeslot; Pyramid aired for an additional 13 weeks, until July 1, 1988, and made way for a previously-planned revival of Family Feud
that debuted on July 4, 1988.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
that aired on CBS from January 4 to April 1, 1988. The pilot was hosted by former Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
anchor Robb Weller
Robb Weller
Robb Weller is an American game show host and television personality and producer .He hosted Entertainment Tonight from 1984 to 1989. He currently appears as the co-anchor of FOX 11 Sunday Morning News with Gina Silva at KTTV in Los Angeles...
, but he was replaced for the series by Bob Goen
Bob Goen
Robert Kuehl "Bob" Goen is an American game show emcee and television personality, best known for his work on Entertainment Tonight between 1993 and 2004...
(himself a former anchor on Entertainment Tonight). Johnny Gilbert
Johnny Gilbert
John L. "Johnny" Gilbert III is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a number of game shows from various eras, dating as far back as the 1950s...
was announcer for most of the run, with Jay Stewart
Jay Stewart
Jay Fix , known professionally as Jay Stewart, was an American television and radio announcer known primarily for his work on game shows. One of his longest-lasting roles was as the announcer on the game show Let's Make a Deal, which he announced throughout the 1960s and 1970s...
(in his final announcing job) taking over for the last two weeks. The show was a Jay Wolpert
Jay Wolpert
Jay Wolpert is an American television producer and screenwriter.His first television appearance came as a contestant on the original version of Jeopardy! in 1969. He competed in the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions that year and won....
production.
Gameplay
Two teams, consisting of one celebrity and one contestant each, competed. A sentence with four blanks was shown to the teams. The first team to play had the celebrity record a 20-second description of the word, while the contestant was not allowed to listen. Once the time was up, the player listened to a playback of the recording. However, the opposing celebrity got a chance to use a plunger called a "blackout button", which effectively acted as a "mute" button, silencing the playback as it was pressed. The celebrity was able to black out up to seven seconds of their opposing team's description (with an additional second given each time the first team's celebrity repeated a key word in their description).If the player was able to guess the word, the team won $100 and the first shot at solving the puzzle. If not, the opponent, who had heard the entire description, guessed. The process alternated back and forth until the puzzle was solved. If neither player identified a word, it was posted on the board but neither team got to guess. If a celebrity accidentally said the word or part of the word itself during the description, the opponents automatically won $100 and a chance to guess. If neither team solved the last word, Goen read a pre-written description of the word and both players had to hit a buzzer to guess. A correct answer won the word, but an incorrect guess gave the opposing player the full description.
A second puzzle was played in the same manner, with celebrities and contestants switching roles of give and guesser. The first team to solve two puzzles won the game and advanced to the Clue Screen bonus round.
If the game ended in a tie, one last word was played. The contestant with more money (or the winner of a coin toss, in case of a tie) was shown a word and chose between giving a description to that word for ten seconds while the other team "blacked out" three seconds of the description. If the partner of the describer got it right, his team won; if he was wrong (or if the describer said the word itself or part of it), the opposing team won. Both teams kept their money.
Clue Screen
In the Clue Screen round, one player faced a video screen while his/her partner faced away from it. The team was given 70 seconds to try to solve five subjects based on clues that were displayed on the screen. The player looked at the screen, and when he/she had determined that there were enough clues to solve, he/she said "Solve it!", at which point the list of clues was frozen and the teammate looked at the clues and guessed. A correct guess earned $250. If five subjects were solved before time ran out, the contestant won $10,000.Broadcast history
Blackout debuted at 10:00 AM on January 4, 1988, replacing the long-running $25,000 PyramidPyramid (game show)
Pyramid is an American television game show which has aired several versions. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted March 26, 1973 and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series...
. Facing both the still-popular Sale of the Century
Sale of the Century (US game show)
Sale of the Century is an American television game show which debuted in the United States on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being the short-lived Letters to Laugh-In and Name Droppers. The series aired until July 13,...
on NBC (ABC had never programmed in the 10:00 AM slot) and the wrath of angry viewers who believed that CBS had been too hasty in canceling The $25,000 Pyramid, Blackout was unable to find an audience. After 13 weeks and 65 episodes, CBS canceled Blackout and returned The $25,000 Pyramid to its former timeslot; Pyramid aired for an additional 13 weeks, until July 1, 1988, and made way for a previously-planned revival of Family Feud
Family Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...
that debuted on July 4, 1988.