If Blockbusters gets revived, it should adopt the UK theme, logo, font and colors but this set with more modern elements & techniques. Bill Cullen and Bob Holness are the best hosts of this franchise. Both are missed.
Tom Hendricks(one of this episode's family pair) was previously a contestant on episode 90 of Match Game PM. Blockbusters host Bill Cullen was a panelist on that episode.
NBC Daytime Line-Up Premiere October 27th 1980 9:00 Las Vegas Gambit 9:30 Blockbusters 10:00 Wheel Of Forune 10:30 Password Plus 11:00 Card Sharks 11:30 The Doctors 12:00 Days Of Our Lives 1:00 Another World 2:00 Texas
Tried watching the British version of this... it's not much different in terms of quality, but I found myself missing Bill's hosting. Always fun to watch.
To someone who grew up with the UK version, this one is just bizarre. It looks like a regular jovial quiz show rather than having the atmospheric aesthetic, and if I may purposely be pretentious because I think it's funny... the gravitas!... of the British version.
As a tribute to late host Bill Cullen, this is the series premiere episode of the American game show "Blockbusters" & this episode's orginal airdate is October 27, 1980 on NBC. 🇺🇲 🇺🇲
@charles allan I liked LVG,and it looked as though it prepared Wink for his High Rollers gig,although short.Or,it could've had Gambit and High Rollers in one 30 minute show.
They need to reboot this game show! Had it my way, though, the _Gold Rush_ board 8:25 would be flipped at a 90-degree, so you'd have to work from bottom to top.
Always loved this show. If they wanted to bring it back with a $1M top prize, what they could do is have multiple bonus rounds, provided the player feels comfortable playing on, for progressively larger cash prizes...but with fewer rows to work with, until, at the $1M level, there are only 5 hexagons on the board, forcing the player to answer all 5 correctly in order to win the $1M.
Not Long After this Premiere, The Game was Changed to a 2 Out of 3 Match. $500 was Won for Each Game, and The Side that Won the Match Played the Gold Run for $5,000.
This version was sooo underrated... I mean, the UK one was awesome but it was way too popular in the 80's (no offence to Bob Holness). This version, despite not having a long timespan, and despite having a failed reboot in 1987, 100% deserved more recognition from people worldwide (and don't forget that this was most likely why they decided to air their own version in the UK).
At16:20, the initials read TB--Tom Brokaw who, coincidentally, co-hosted with John Chancellor on NBC News all-night coverage of the 1980 Presidential Election the following week on Tuesday, Nov. 4th, where Ronald Reagan cruised to victory early that same evening. Soon after, Tom Brokaw became the sole anchorman for NBC Nightly News and the rest is TV history.
After watching the the pilot episode, I wish kept the original look of the board and the contestants podium. "the shortcut" board could have been used as the "tie breaker" game.
This game show reminds me of the Crossword Clues categories on "Jeopardy!". Based on the letter you choose on the board, your response must be with that same letter.
If it were me, I wouldn't feel very comfortable waiting until 3 days before air day to record the show. What if a misjudging error happens? What if an important light or camera quits working? What if Bob Hamilton gets stuck in traffic? :-)
Blockbusters original version with Bill Cullen never gave away cars!! The 1987 revival(which I didn,t watch) with Bill Rafferty didn,t give away cars either.TO ME A GAME SHOW IS NOT A GAME SHOW IF YOU DON,T HAVE THE CLASSIC IDEAL PRIZE--A NEW 🚗 CAR!!
This was a pretty good show. Too bad it didn't last longer than it did. Here's what was on in primetime the day it premiered: ABC- That's Incredible!, ABC NFL Monday Night Football (Dolphins at Jets) CBS- Flo, Ladies' Man, M*A*S*H, House Calls, Lou Grant NBC- Little House on the Prairie, NBC Monday Night at the Movies
Oh yeah, there were lots of Bible questions throughout the run of the show. It does disappoint me, though, when the contestants don't know the answer :(
Maybe because I'm more used to it, but I prefer the English version than the American. I'm not saying that the American version isn't good I'm just saying that I prefer the English version.
BLOCKBUSTERS DOES NEED A REVIVAL!! & I THINK IT SHOULD BE CALLED 'BLOCKBUSTERS DELUXE'.I loved the original show with the late Bill Cullen. The game should be played exact the same way with 1 solo player against a family pair.However the GOLD RUSH BONUS ROUND should be much bigger & better then much before.Whichever contestant wins the game goes to the Gold Rush Bonus game.However it should be that if you do connect GOLD TO GOLD in the gold rush YOU WIN $50,000!! Then whoever wins the 2nd main game then goes back to the Gold Rush Bonus game--again if you're able to connect Gold to Gold--the next time you win $100,000!! The final part of the Bonus game-- should be that then you pick one letter from the 20 hexagons that make up the board--you answer the final question correctly--to add to what you already won--You win $1,000,000 & A NEW CAR 🚗!! IF you get the final question wrong--$100,000 gets added to the million dollar jackpot until it,s won.YOU WIN THE JACKPOT--YOU ALSO WIN THE 🚗 CAR!!
