Blankety Blanks (US game show)
Encyclopedia
Blankety Blanks is an American
game show
that aired on ABC
from April 21 to June 27, 1975. This Bob Stewart Production
starred Bill Cullen
as its host with Bob Clayton
announcing.
The chosen player (either the contestant or the celebrity) in control picked a number in order to reveal a clue that would help him or her identify the mystery subject; unlike some celebrity-civilian games of the period, the partner could not assist the contestant or celebrity playing at the moment. A correct answer won the team the designated money amount, but an incorrect answer (or no answer at all) meant the game continued as Cullen pulled another card, allowing another player (possibly the same one from the previous turn) to take a chance.
Play continues until the puzzle is solved, at which point the team who solved the puzzle got a chance to turn the points into money by solving the Blankety Blank in a pun; in this part of the game, the celebrity and the contestant were allowed to work together. Each correct Blankety Blank solve gave the opposing contestant a strike, with three eliminating them from further play.
If a Blankety Blank guess was incorrect, no strikes were given and the amount that was played for is held until that team solves another puzzle.
Contestants stayed on the show until they got three strikes.
Starting with the fourth week, the dollar values ranged from $100–$750 and any money won from solved puzzles went into the team's bank. Solving a Blankety Blank doubled the money won for solving the puzzle. The first team to reach $2,000 won only $2,000.
at 11:30 AM (10:30 Central), opposite the top-rated Hollywood Squares
on NBC
and the soap opera
Love of Life
on CBS
. In an unusual move, when ABC cancelled Blanks, Brady Bunch returned to that timeslot in preparation for its eventual huge success in syndication
later that year.
Cullen himself was quoted in a magazine saying that this show "didn't get a fair shake". Most daytime games of that era normally were given a thirteen-week minimum run to prove themselves; Blanks had such low ratings that ABC pulled it after only ten weeks.
, via a practice known in the trade as "recycling". In addition, the theme used for the show's 1974 pilot was later re-used on an unsold 1977 Stewart pilot, Get Rich Quick. Bob Cobert composed the theme.
as per network practices of the era (ABC, specifically, continued this practice until 1978). Only the pilot (taped February 10 with Gillette and Sales) and Premiere (taped April 4 with Meara and Shatner) are known to exist.
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 ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from April 21 to June 27, 1975. This Bob Stewart Production
Stewart Tele Enterprises
Stewart Tele Enterprises was an American major game show production company formed by Bob Stewart in 1964 originally based in New York City.-History:...
starred Bill Cullen
Bill Cullen
William Lawrence Francis "Bill" Cullen was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades...
as its host with Bob Clayton
Bob Clayton
Bob Clayton was an American television game show announcer and host of several shows...
announcing.
Gameplay
Two celebrity/contestant teams tried to solve puzzles and fill in "Blankety Blanks" on puns (for example, "When Richard Nixon spilled the coffee on Gerald Ford's lap, he said Pardon Me!"). To start, a category along with keywords and a puzzle was revealed. The puzzle had numbers (1-6) that hid six clues (all parts of sentences) to that puzzle. Host Cullen then pulled out from a card from a rotating wheel of 100 situated next to him and placed it into an electronic reader, which chose at random one of the four players and a dollar amount from $100 to $1000 in $10 increments.The chosen player (either the contestant or the celebrity) in control picked a number in order to reveal a clue that would help him or her identify the mystery subject; unlike some celebrity-civilian games of the period, the partner could not assist the contestant or celebrity playing at the moment. A correct answer won the team the designated money amount, but an incorrect answer (or no answer at all) meant the game continued as Cullen pulled another card, allowing another player (possibly the same one from the previous turn) to take a chance.
Play continues until the puzzle is solved, at which point the team who solved the puzzle got a chance to turn the points into money by solving the Blankety Blank in a pun; in this part of the game, the celebrity and the contestant were allowed to work together. Each correct Blankety Blank solve gave the opposing contestant a strike, with three eliminating them from further play.
If a Blankety Blank guess was incorrect, no strikes were given and the amount that was played for is held until that team solves another puzzle.
Contestants stayed on the show until they got three strikes.
Format changes
In the pilot, letters were used instead of numbers in the main-game. Unlike the numbers used in the series, the letters shown were used in the revealed sentence fragment (for example, "Z" may conceal "That crazy lady").Starting with the fourth week, the dollar values ranged from $100–$750 and any money won from solved puzzles went into the team's bank. Solving a Blankety Blank doubled the money won for solving the puzzle. The first team to reach $2,000 won only $2,000.
Broadcast history
The $10,000 Pyramids success on ABC's daytime schedule since May 6, 1974 prompted the network to order another show from packager Stewart. Blanks replaced reruns of The Brady BunchThe Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
at 11:30 AM (10:30 Central), opposite the top-rated Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Love of Life
Love of Life
Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. In an unusual move, when ABC cancelled Blanks, Brady Bunch returned to that timeslot in preparation for its eventual huge success in syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
later that year.
Cullen himself was quoted in a magazine saying that this show "didn't get a fair shake". Most daytime games of that era normally were given a thirteen-week minimum run to prove themselves; Blanks had such low ratings that ABC pulled it after only ten weeks.
Celebrities
A diverse group of celebrities appeared during the brief run of Blankety Blanks, with only Nipsey Russell and Anne Meara appearing more than once (Anita Gillette and Soupy Sales each appeared twice as well, counting the pilot).- February 10: Anita GilletteAnita GilletteAnita Gillette is an American actress, most notable for her work on Broadway and as a celebrity guest on various game shows....
& Soupy SalesSoupy SalesSoupy Sales was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his...
(unaired pilot) - April 21–25: Anne MearaAnne MearaAnne Meara is an American actress and comedian. She and Jerry Stiller were a prominent 1960s comedy team, appearing as Stiller and Meara, and are the parents of actor/comedian Ben and actress Amy Stiller.- Personal life :...
& William ShatnerWilliam ShatnerWilliam Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
(premiere week) - April 28-May 2: Jo Anne WorleyJo Anne WorleyJo Anne Worley is an American actress. Her work covers television, films, theater, game shows, talk shows, commercials, and cartoons. She is best known for her work on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.-Biography:...
& Clifton DavisClifton DavisClifton Duncan Davis is an American actor, songwriter and minister. He has appeared on the television shows as A World Apart, That's My Mama and Amen... - May 5–9: Jo Ann PflugJo Ann PflugJo Ann Pflug is a former American motion picture and television actress, who retired in the 1990s.Pflug's first major role was as U.S. Army nurse Lt. Maria "Dish" Schneider in 1970's MASH. Other notable roles include the voice of Invisible Girl in the 1967 animated version of Fantastic Four, Lt...
& Tony RandallTony RandallTony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer... - May 12–16: Adrienne BarbeauAdrienne BarbeauAdrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay in the sitcom Maude...
& Larry BlydenLarry BlydenLarry Blyden was an American actor and game show host, best known for his appearances on Broadway and as the host of the game show What's My Line?-Personal life:... - May 19–23: Anita Gillette & Soupy Sales
- May 26–30: Peggy CassPeggy CassMary Margaret “Peggy” Cass was an American actress, comedian, game show panelist, and announcer.A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Cass became interested in acting as a member of the drama club at Cambridge Latin School; however, she attended all of high school without a speaking part...
& Nipsey RussellNipsey RussellJulius "Nipsey" Russell was an American comedian, best known today for his appearances as a guest panelist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, especially Match Game, Password, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth and Pyramid... - June 2–6: Lee MeriwetherLee MeriwetherLee Ann Meriwether is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the 1955 Miss America pageant. She is perhaps best known for her role as Betty Jones, the crime-solving partner in the long-running 1970s crime drama, Barnaby Jones. The role earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations in...
& Jack CarterJack CarterJack Carter may refer to:* Jack Carter, fictional character created by Ted Lewis** from the novels Jack's Return Home, Jack Carter's Law, and Jack Carter and the Mafia Pigeon** from the films Get Carter and Get Carter... - June 9–13: Rita MorenoRita MorenoRita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
& Larry LinvilleLarry LinvilleLawrence Lavon "Larry" Linville was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of obnoxious, pious, self-important and inept surgeon Major Frank Burns in the television series M*A*S*H.-M*A*S*H:... - June 16–20: Loretta SwitLoretta SwitLoretta Swit is an American stage and television actress known for her character roles. Swit is best-known for her portrayal of Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on M*A*S*H.-Early life:...
& Peter LawfordPeter LawfordPeter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting... - June 23–27: Anne Meara & Nipsey Russell (finale week)
Theme
The theme to this show was later used on another Bob Stewart show, Double TalkDouble Talk
Double Talk is an American game show that aired on the ABC network in 1986. Henry Polic II hosted this word game created by Bob Stewart, which contained elements of the previous Stewart-produced game show Shoot For the Stars...
, via a practice known in the trade as "recycling". In addition, the theme used for the show's 1974 pilot was later re-used on an unsold 1977 Stewart pilot, Get Rich Quick. Bob Cobert composed the theme.
Episode status
The series is believed to have been destroyedWiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
as per network practices of the era (ABC, specifically, continued this practice until 1978). Only the pilot (taped February 10 with Gillette and Sales) and Premiere (taped April 4 with Meara and Shatner) are known to exist.