Blockbusters

1980

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1
7.2| 0h30m| en| More Info
Released: 27 October 1980 Ended
Producted By: National Broadcasting Company
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Blockbusters is an American game show which had two separate runs in the 1980s. Created by Steve Ryan for Mark Goodson Productions, the first series debuted on NBC on October 27, 1980 and aired until April 23, 1982. In the first series, a team of two family members competed against a solo contestant. Blockbusters was revived on NBC from January 5 to May 1, 1987, but featured only two contestants competing. Bill Cullen hosted the 1980–1982 version, with Bob Hilton as announcer. Johnny Olson and Rich Jeffries substituted for Hilton on occasion, with Jeffries taking over for the final two weeks. Bill Rafferty hosted the 1987 version, with Jeffries announcing the entire run.

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Reviews

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
Staci Frederick Blistering performances.
hfan77 I remember Blockbusters, one of the few quiz shows from Mark Goodson that debuted in 1980. It was a show that pitted a solo player against a family pair to prove that "two heads are better than one." It was a simple game that the home audience could play along and even better, Bill Cullen as host. He added a lot to the show and added plenty of humor to the game.But NBC put Blockbusters into a time slot that was held by one of the disastrous attempts for something different in daytime, a talk show starring David Letterman. After four months of lousy ratings, it was canceled and replaced in the first half hour by a revival of Gambit that was taped in Las Vegas. The Wink Martindale-hosted show, leading into Blockbusters had to rebuild the time slot which suffered from not only low ratings but diminishing clearances by affiliates who opted syndicated talk shows such as the popular Phil Donahue Show.Other than clearance problems and rebuilding a fallen time slot, Blockbusters was a show that people could learn something and the question structure in the main game was a lot like another Bill Cullen game show that aired on NBC, Winning Streak.
Poseidon-3 What was great about this show, apart from it's rather unique concept of the game board, was the difficulty level of the game for the single player and the IQ required of a single person to remain champion. Very few, if any other, game shows have pitted a solitary player against a family pair of two. A good family pair, with areas of expertise that are contrasting, could be next to impossible to beat. Still, a single player with a wide array of knowledge could do it (as the virtually unstoppable Leland did. He was retired after winning too many times!) There were some impressive family pairs as well, but too often they were led by one very strong player with a tag-a-long relative who barely helped out (i.e.- the brother/sister team in which the Army officer answered nearly every question on his own while his ditzy blonde sister grabbed his arm every time in amazement and scarcely got anything out of her mouth through their entire reign!) Host Cullen is an invaluable part of TV game show history and was an endearing, if not so telegenic, presence. His sometimes corny jokes and tendency to overstate the status of the game are faint detractions from his ability to smoothly operate the game in a very genial, reliable way. They don't make 'em like him anymore. It's a shame that the show was as short-lived as it was because it was indeed a cut above the rest in terms of challenge and taste, but that's not necessarily what the majority of people want to see. Dig the groovy opening them music! A tacky, dumb-downed version surfaced about five or so years later.
ENDING-MAN It's very sad that a show with challenging questions, creative elements (the hexagonal pattern), and Bill Cullen's hosting talent all had to go away when this show went off the air. It's even more sad that it's not as celebrated as Card Sharks, The Price is Right, Press Your Luck, Wheel Of Fortune, not to mention Jeopardy. Not these shows are worse than Blockbusters, but Blockbusters certainly deserves just as equal attention. Although the music is not as simple as those game shows, it is nonetheless upbeat and great to listen to. In my opinion, this show should be, even, just as Press Your Luck has been, brought back.Let me sum it all up: It is really a great game show.
cosmos80 This wasn't a bad game show. It was this game show, that got veteran game show host, Bill Cullen, his first and only emmy award, and he was great in this, too.The concept of this puzzle game was great and original. I would recommend this to any game show fan. I hope they will make a modern update of Blockbusters.

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