Blankety Blanks Episode Online for D/L

[dzinkin]

Herald Sun

July 21, 1993 Wednesday

SECTION: TV GUIDE; Pg. 40

LENGTH: 691 words

HEADLINE: KING OF COMEDY BACK ON AIR

BYLINE: HETHERINGTON L

BODY:
AT 60 and living the life of a virtual recluse on his farm in Bowral, NSW, Graham Kennedy has stunned friends and colleagues by agreeing to a short stint on the FOX-FM radio network.

Kennedy is notorious for avoiding publicity and has turned down countless lucrative offers to return to showbiz in the past decade.

According to Jeff Allis, FOX program director, Kennedy and his agent James Laurie negotiated with the station for six weeks before agreeing to the job.

"We assured Graham that he wouldn't have to go to Sydney, that it could be done in a recording studio close to home," Allis said.

"He was the consumate professional, the famous wit is definitely still there." While Allis would not disclose how much Kennedy was paid for his "comeback" but said he regards it as "great value".

"It was part of the agreement not to reveal how much he was being paid," Allis said.

"For a few hours work, his fee would be considered a lot of money but he's the King of Television - a legend - and he's worth it." The former host of In Melbourne Tonight rarely gives interviews - and then only by fax machine. He agreed to fax The Guide.What follows is a transcript of The Guide's questions and Kennedy's responses: TG: We assume you've had other offers from TV and radio, why did you accept this deal from FOX-FM? GK: I had a fit of altruism.My agent, James Laurie, spends much of his time knocking back work that comes in for me and I considered it was about time to reimburse him for all his faxes and phone calls by doing this small job.

Also, the recording venue was at Mittagong (NSW) which is not all that far away from home. It took only half an hour and wouldn't have been that long if the FOX bloke had brought some tape with him! (True.We had to go out and buy some.) TG: Is this the start of a comeback? GK: No, I'm in my 60th year and retired.

TG: Would you consider fronting a '90s TV version of Blankety Blanks? GK: No fear! All that running around was hard work.

TG: What about another news show similar to Coast To Coast? GK: Coast To Coast was a huge success but, like Blankety Blanks, two years was enough. My enthusiasm span wouldn't even run to two years now, I fear.

TG: There was talk of you doing an In Melbourne Tonight retrospective special with Ray Martin. Is this true? GK: We did fax about it. I've not only lost interest but worry that footage from old shows can be tiresome not to mention (in my case) old-fashioned.

TG: It looks as though Steve Vizard may be vacating the Tonight Live chair. Who would you suggest as a replacement? GK: That's hard work too and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

TG: Are there any comedians or performers working on TV whose work you particularly enjoy? GK: I'm awake at 6am and sound asleep and dribbling by 9pm.I see little TV.

TG: Are you working on your memoirs? GK: No, I couldn't imagine a more booring (sic) book.

TG: Could you describe a typical day in Graham Kennedy's life? GK: Reading the morning paper thoroughly (I can make this last two hours), feeding the horses and dogs. Shopping at Moss Vale, eating and drinking - you know, like all poor farmers.

TG: We hear you thought of the name The Comedy Sale for Seven's new comedy show. Are you in contact with all the networks? GK: I have friends at all the TV stations. Glen Kinging (Seven Network program director) faxed that he had a problem naming his new comedy show because he wasn't allowed to use "store" or "shop" in the title. I suggested Comedy Sale! as long as it contained an exclamation mark. I don't think they took much notice of my suggested punctuation.(Ed's note: They did! The title of the new program includes an exclamation mark!) TG: Would you like to do some more acting? GK: No, not right now, thank you.

TG: Do you travel much? GK: Just to Moss Vale, Berrima and Bowral (near where he lives an hour south of Sydney) and to TCN9 when they send the chopper for me.

TG: Do you come back to Melbourne very often?

GK: I haven't been to Melbourne for years and won't be going there until the entire St Kilda Football Club administration has been fired!

[PalCatIN]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson @ Feb. 4th\' date=\' 06:02 PM\']Kniwt: I'm not sure what you mean about the game not really being "over". Mr. Kennedy wasn't on top of the mathematics, no doubt, but that was indeed the point at which the outcome was a foregone conclusion.[/quote]

You're right about the host not being on top of the math.  Since there were only three chances left when they got to what Dave had written, there should have been some sort of mention that Ian had to match all the remaining celebs.  There should also have been some mention at the beginning of the Round that Kate couldn't play, as Ian had already matched her previously.  All together, though, a thouroughly enjoyable half hour.

[byrd62]

And I must say, that was cool theme music for Aussie Blankety, so cool as to have been from Bob Israel and the Score Productions gang.

[Chief-O]

[quote name=\'byrd62\' date=\'Feb 5 2006, 09:08 PM\']And I must say, that was cool theme music for Aussie Blankety, so cool as to have been from Bob Israel and the Score Productions gang.

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Except, it WASN'T a Score theme----ASCAP credits Jack Grimsley for its composition.

[Robert Hutchinson]

I believe "so cool as to have been" means "so cool that it is believable that it could have been" in this instance.

[pownster]

As promised two days ago - I now have a clip from a TV special "Graham Kennedy - King of Television", featuring his time on "Blankety Blanks". There is a short interview excerpt at the beginning with Graham himself, and then more in-depth interviews with other cast members and some great on-air moments. The clip concludes with an example of the infamous "crow-call" which forced Graham Kennedy to be banned from live television many years earlier (you'll understand why when you hear it).

Australian Game Show Home Page - Video Moments

Chris.

[JasonA1]

Great, GREAT clip, but that "crow call" was sure underwhelming. The whole routine about Dick on BB was worse than that, but I'm sure at the time...and some such...standards...yeah...

-Jason

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'byrd62\' date=\'Feb 5 2006, 09:08 PM\']And I must say, that was cool theme music for Aussie Blankety, so cool...

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"Cool" was exactly the word I thought of.  As in "not hot."  It seemed like such classy music for a comedy game.  I liked the cue, but didn't think it fit the show.

[ChuckNet]

Just got my copy off eBay, and I have 2 words: Buy It. :-) Really a great collection, and I now wonder how far off a Volume 2 is...

Incidentally, does anyone know the years of these eps? We've already established that the first 3 eps on disc 1 are the first 3 of the series, but dunno about the other 27, LOL.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 06:03 PM\']Incidentally, does anyone know the years of these eps?[/quote]
They're all from 1977, the latest of which is from April or May 1977.

[ChuckNet]

[quote name=\'hmtriplecrown\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 06:21 PM\']They're all from 1977, the latest of which is from April or May 1977.

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Thanks, Mike...this def increases the possibility that subsequent volumes might be in the works, since there's still another 2 yrs or so not yet represented on DVD.

Chuck Donegan (The Hopeful "Chuckie Baby")

[michaellinn]

[quote name=\'mparrish11\' date=\'Feb 3 2006, 11:39 PM\']If this has already been posted, my apologies.  I just stumbled upon it while going through my bookmarks.

classicgameshows.com

Look in the video section for the 3 parts!

Matt

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Thanks for the link, Matt. That is an awesome website. I also enjoyed the "Whew!" page as well! I watched that show when it was originally on.

Mike

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'michaellinn\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 10:20 PM\']That is an awesome website. I also enjoyed the "Whew!" page as well! I watched that show when it was originally on.

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As did I....once WJKW-TV Channel 8 in Cleveland started carrying it in late August 1979 upon the dropping of their hour-long local program that bumped it. That's another show that should have had a longer run. But, no, some nit wit had to determine that adding celebrities was the way to go. I hope he's selling pencils on the street where he belongs.
Reruns of Alice, indeed. And Douglas Edwards reduced to one minute. Perfidy!
The Hollywood Squares couldn't have been doing that well at 10:30 seeing how that got dumped three weeks later itself.

[Ian Wallis]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Feb 19 2006, 11:44 AM\'][quote name=\'michaellinn\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 10:20 PM\']That is an awesome website. I also enjoyed the "Whew!" page as well! I watched that show when it was originally on.

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As did I....once WJKW-TV Channel 8 in Cleveland started carrying it in late August 1979 upon the dropping of their hour-long local program that bumped it. That's another show that should have had a longer run. But, no, some nit wit had to determine that adding celebrities was the way to go. I hope he's selling pencils on the street where he belongs.
Reruns of Alice, indeed. And Douglas Edwards reduced to one minute. Perfidy!
The Hollywood Squares couldn't have been doing that well at 10:30 seeing how that got dumped three weeks later itself.

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Agreed with everything Don said.  I always wondered about how game show ratings worked when all the network offerings in the same slot were dumped within weeks of each other.  Obviously decisions on when to reprogram daytime worked differently than primetime.  I'm not sure that ratings were always the only factor.

And in my opinion, the closing theme from "Whew" is the Best. Ever. Game. Show. Theme. Period.

[WorldClassRob]

[quote name=\'PYLclark86\' date=\'Feb 4 2006, 12:12 PM\']
They really did a good job bringing Match Game to the land down under. Right down to every single detail on the set. However, seeing this leaves me with the retorical question of the day: What American game show hasn't Reg Grundy brought to Australia?

Just about every game show with the words "Barry & Enright" in it.  Reg Grundy has brought mostly Goodson-Todman game shows down under for the most part, and of course "Sale of the Century", which was a Jones-Howard Production originally.