Blockbusters 87

[WorldClassRob]

My original thought on Blockbusters 87 was nobody was really sold on Bill Rafferty as host.  I thought Bill did a very good job hosting BB87; that and the syndicated Card Sharks (his Money Cards traits were right up there with Jim Perry's in the categories of suspense and drama).

I liked one of his famous text-lines:
"You need to win this one, or else it's the land of parting gifts for you."

[Ian Wallis]

And same goes, no doubt, for Break the Bank '76, which all of have cited as a sample of Fred Silverman's dislike of game shows, no matter what the ratings. The ratings period shown in the EOTVGS for '75-'76 ended after Break the Bank had been on for three weeks. There's no doubt in my mind that if the show had maintained high ratings, some other ABC show would have gotten the boot.

Actually, Jimmy posted some ratings for later in "Break the Bank's" run a while back, and it DID maintain high ratings all the way through.  So it was cancelled in spite of those ratings.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'May 2 2005, 04:03 PM\'][quote name=\'tyshaun1\' date=\'May 2 2005, 03:39 PM\']
Some people seem to think that because they began plugging Concentration at the end of the run, that BB was simply a placeholder.

Tyshaun

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Right, but don't think for a second that, had BB's ratings been any good, CC would not have seen the light of day (at that point). Same goes for Second Chance, same goes for Scrabble/Scattergories....

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Wordplay probably would have gotten the boot if BB87 had done well enough, no, as that was the newest show? Whether it was the lowest rated of the other five NBC games on at the time is another story. But as Chris C. said, it would require rearranging the schedule and possibly cancelling another show, especially when WLOD came into the picture later that year.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'May 3 2005, 08:57 AM\']Wordplay probably would have gotten the boot if BB87 had done well enough, no, as that was the newest show?

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Wordplay premiered one week before BB87. But I bet you knew that. I refuse to believe that a man who knows what contestants played on Jeopardy on 11/15/88, and who won, and what color outfit they were wearing, would also know NBC 1987's schedules backwards and forwards, or have an encylcopedia at arms length to find out,

no?

If you're going to go all out rainman on us, don't play stupid just to post something.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'May 3 2005, 09:01 AM\'][quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'May 3 2005, 08:57 AM\']Wordplay probably would have gotten the boot if BB87 had done well enough, no, as that was the newest show?

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Wordplay premiered one week before BB87. But I bet you knew that.

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I meant that Wordplay was the newest of the OTHER NBC game shows at the time

[uncamark]

"Santa Barbara" replaced "MG/HSH" on the NBC schedule.  Because of the long lead time needed to develop soaps, there at least was an indication all throughout "MG/HSH"'s run that it was a placeholder for "Santa Barbara" (of course, if it had clicked, it could've been moved elsewhere).  The fact that it seemed to be getting week-to-week renewals near the end could also be a hint.

[ChuckNet]

I thought Bill did a very good job hosting BB87; that and the syndicated Card Sharks (his Money Cards traits were right up there with Jim Perry's in the categories of suspense and drama).

Not to mention his version moved faster than Eubanks'...the prize cards were also a nice touch, especially when one was worth $5K in cash and both players found it in their respective desks...who would win it?

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'May 3 2005, 07:44 PM\']

I thought Bill did a very good job hosting BB87; that and the syndicated Card Sharks (his Money Cards traits were right up there with Jim Perry's in the categories of suspense and drama).

Not to mention his version moved faster than Eubanks'...the prize cards were also a nice touch, especially when one was worth $5K in cash and both players found it in their respective desks...who would win it?

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

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I think they're getting about the same total number of questions/trips to the maingame board and Money Cards playings as the CBS run did.

[TLEberle]

Got some hard numbers on that, Zach?

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'May 3 2005, 08:01 PM\']Got some hard numbers on that, Zach?

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They got only five questions and a Money Cards on today's show and several of the YPW shows aired on Saturday. They averaged around five or six and a MC round in the audience/car round era of Eubanks.

[JasonA1]

To be fair, we're still early enough in the run for the aces to be askew when they play the Money Cards, so I can't blame them for pacing when the network run hadn't figured it out yet either. And YPW takes longer due to...well, the young people, but also the constantly changing contestants, additional jokers and other hoo-hah.

-Jason