FWIW:
"Blockbusters" could be played much faster (I've seen a clip of the most recent UK version and Liza Tarbuck ran things a lot faster than Cullen did--and I assume Bob Holness kept up the same pace)--it's just that either Bill or Rob Sherman wanted to play it slower, for whatever reason. It wouldn't work with any host, but somehow with Cullen it seems to work for me (I never saw Bill Raferty's version, so I don't know how much faster his pace was, but it had to be faster). In addition, it is a well-crafted format, to which Steve Ryan deserves the kudos. It deserved better than it got here in the U.S. (and if Mandel's reading this, how about pitching the show to The N as a teen format--or are they simply not interested over there in studio games?). The only problem is Mother MacKenzie's hyperactivity, but that's endemic to any NBC Burbank game show back then.
As for "Cram," yeah, you could nitpick its influences all you could, but it worked for me late at night in its modest, admittedly silly way. Whether it'll work at 8 a.m. Chicago time on a Saturday morning--well, we'll have to see about that.
