History
The series was a Reg Grundy production based on the long-running American game show Match Game, which had been created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Indeed, the Blankety Blanks set looked almost identical to its American counterpart.
One of the conditions Graham wanted when he started Blankety Blanks was the right to choose the members of the panel. If they worked well they would be retained but if they didn't work out well they wouldn't be asked back.
The first episode aired on TEN-10 Sydney on Monday, 24 January 1977 at 7:30pm, where it was stripped Monday to Friday. After six weeks of broadcasting at 7:30pm the show was moved into the 7pm slot, where it remained through to the end of its first season on Friday 2 December 1977. After summer break, the show returned to TEN-10 on Monday 9 January 1978 and remained stripped at 7pm Monday to Friday for its entire second season.
In October 1978 the series came up for renewal, and Ten was keen to renew the series. Kennedy consulted key panelist Ugly Dave Gray about the potential renewal. Gray felt he had used all his jokes and exhausted the comic potential of the formula and expressed a desire to not continue with the series. Kennedy observed that the ratings were down from earlier figures; although earlier figures were unusually high (ratings in the 40s), recent figures in the 30s range were still extremely high. In any event, Kennedy informed Ten that he would not be continuing with the series, and the show ended its run on TEN-10 Sydney on Friday 3 November 1979.
The series has been repeated many times since its run ended. It was shown by the Ten Network many times though the 1980s. In the 2000s it has been screened in Foxtel's TV1. Beginning in January 2009, The Comedy Channel began screening back-to-back episodes on Friday nights.
A DVD set of 30 episodes was released in late 2005.
Read more about this topic: Blankety Blanks
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