3/13 Blockbusters on GSN

[Pyramid80]

I have heard that Tom Kennedy makes an appearance promoting Password +, does anyone know if this has aired yet or when it should air?  Thanks!

[uncamark]

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.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Mar 15 2004, 08:22 PM\'] The only problem is Mother MacKenzie's hyperactivity, but that's endemic to any NBC Burbank game show back then.
 [/quote]
 Maybe it's me, but the McKenzie track for BB I thought was considerably muted compared to other NBC games of the day.  There were audience tracks that NBC used in its various games that were much more "hyper" (the ones primarily used by GONG and HSq spring to mind immediately [which also got plenty of use on many of NBC's other Burbank-based shows]--although the various reaction tracks could be mixed and matched at the sweetener's discretion [or even someone higher up]).

Of course, most people probably couldn't tell the difference or even cared to tell the difference between the various tracks that NBC used.  Guess I'm a little goofy in that respect (for probably more reasons than just that one ;-) ).

Doug