Author Topic: About that 'Blockbusters' 20 win rule... (Read 6077 times)

joshg · « **on:** December 20, 2003, 10:19:58 AM »

Do you think they brought back the 10 game winners because they had a shortage of contestants for the show? In other words; change the rule from 10 wins to 20 wins, make a big deal about it on-air and have a guaranteed contestant pool.

JOSH

GS Warehouse · « **Reply #1 on:** December 20, 2003, 10:39:53 AM »

[quote name=\'matchgame\' date=\'Dec 20 2003, 10:19 AM\'] Do you think they brought back the 10 game winners because they had a shortage of contestants for the show? In other words; change the rule from 10 wins to 20 wins, make a big deal about it on-air and have a guaranteed contestant pool. [/quote]
I think it's the "Thom McKee effect": familiarity breeds viewership. In other words, more recognized contestants and higher possible winnings. OTOH, could this have been when BB jumped the shark? After all, it continued for only seven-plus more months after that.

Don Howard · « **Reply #2 on:** December 20, 2003, 02:38:16 PM »

Quote

OTOH, could this have been when BB jumped the shark? After all, it continued for only seven-plus more months after that.

I doubt ten more allowed wins constituted a shark-jump for Blockbusters.
For some reason, NBC was bound and determined to add reruns of CHiPs
to the daytime line-up and salvage their sinking soap Texas so Bill Cullen
and the hexagons had to go.

ChuckNet · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2003, 01:19:08 PM »

Quote

For some reason, NBC was bound and determined to add reruns of CHiPs
to the daytime line-up and salvage their sinking soap Texas so Bill Cullen
and the hexagons had to go.

Did they really think that moving Texas - a low-rated soap to begin with - to 11 AM, opposite *TPiR*, would improve its ratings? As it is, the show only lasted another 8 mos in said slot before the axe fell on 12/31/82...thankfully, NBC learned from their mistake and never programmed another soap in a morning slot again.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 21, 2003, 01:59:32 PM »

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Dec 20 2003, 10:39 AM\'] [quote name=\'matchgame\' date=\'Dec 20 2003, 10:19 AM\'] Do you think they brought back the 10 game winners because they had a shortage of contestants for the show? In other words; change the rule from 10 wins to 20 wins, make a big deal about it on-air and have a guaranteed contestant pool. [/quote]
I think it's the "Thom McKee effect": familiarity breeds viewership. In other words, more recognized contestants and higher possible winnings. OTOH, could this have been when BB jumped the shark? After all, it continued for only seven-plus more months after that. [/quote]
Maybe Blockbusters was cancelled, because viewers found it to be a weak game to begin with.

Incidentally, what was slotted opposite Blockbusters?

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2003, 02:10:34 PM »

The only network competiton was CBS' "Alice," which ran from June of 80 to Sept of 82. When then NBC exec. in charge of game shows Jake Tauber brought back "Blockbusters" in 1987, he was quoted in "Broadcasting" that the original "probably shouldn't have been cancelled" in 1982.

Don Howard · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2003, 02:47:48 PM »

Quote

When then NBC exec. in charge of game shows Jake Tauber brought back "Blockbusters" in 1987, he was quoted in "Broadcasting" that the original "probably shouldn't have been cancelled" in 1982.

Jake is right. And when it was brought back, they probably shouldn't have dumped the family pair.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2003, 06:51:03 PM »

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 01:19 PM\']

Quote

For some reason, NBC was bound and determined to add reruns of CHiPs
to the daytime line-up and salvage their sinking soap Texas so Bill Cullen
and the hexagons had to go.

Did they really think that moving Texas - a low-rated soap to begin with - to 11 AM, opposite *TPiR*, would improve its ratings? As it is, the show only lasted another 8 mos in said slot before the axe fell on 12/31/82...thankfully, NBC learned from their mistake and never programmed another soap in a morning slot again.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby") [/quote]
Wait..what slot was "Sunset Beach" supposed to get? I know NBC didn't really have "set" time slots by the late-90s, but I remember we had it at 10 am.

zachhoran · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2003, 07:24:37 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 02:10 PM\'] When then NBC exec. in charge of game shows Jake Tauber brought back "Blockbusters" in 1987, he was quoted in "Broadcasting" that the original "probably shouldn't have been cancelled" in 1982. [/quote]
Some people on this board have stated that the BB revival was filler for CLassic Concentration, possibly due to Rich Jeffreys' contestant plugs for CC in the final weeks of the show's run.

TLEberle · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2003, 08:43:34 PM »

Quote

Maybe Blockbusters was cancelled, because viewers found it to be a weak game to begin with.

If the viewers found the game weak, that's their own problem, and I would seriously doubt the intelligence of the viewing public. Blockbusters took a cunning game of strategy and melded it with a good question/answer format. I can't call Blockbusters a "weak game," at least with a straight face.

Travis Eberle

melman1 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 21, 2003, 08:53:13 PM »

[quote name=\'Dsmith\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 11:59 AM\'] Maybe Blockbusters was cancelled, because viewers found it to be a weak game to begin with. [/quote]
I doubt that. Much more likely that NBC's let's air game shows / no, lets air Letterman / no, let's air games again / hey, what about soaps? / etc. schizophrenia during that period is to blame.

I thnk the weekend reruns show a quite interesting game, my only complaint being that Cullen occasionally spent way too much time in contestant intros and pleasantries. The original run was almost 2 years with no changes in gameplay that I can think of, which I think speaks for itself.

clemon79 · « **Reply #11 on:** December 21, 2003, 08:59:58 PM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 06:43 PM\'] If the viewers found the game weak, that's their own problem, and I would seriously doubt the intelligence of the viewing public. Blockbusters took a cunning game of strategy and melded it with a good question/answer format. I can't call Blockbusters a "weak game," at least with a straight face.
[/quote]
I have to agree with Travis. Blockbusters (at least during the Cullen regime) was an amazing way of scaling down the game of Hex and turning it into a plausible game show. The two-on-one angle as a way to make up for the asymmetrical board was nothing short of genius.

ObGermanGaming: For those of you into German-style boardgames as well as game shows (and I know this at least includes Travis), I played Attika two days ago, which has a neat Blockbusters feel to it with a city-building theme. I like it so much I think I want my own set, but I dunno if I want it in English or German....

zachhoran · « **Reply #12 on:** December 21, 2003, 09:09:21 PM »

[quote name=\'melman1\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 08:53 PM\']

I thnk the weekend reruns show a quite interesting game, my only complaint being that Cullen occasionally spent way too much time in contestant intros and pleasantries. The original run was almost 2 years with no changes in gameplay that I can think of, which I think speaks for itself. [/quote]
The straddled format allowed Cullen to do more chat with the players if he wanted to. As far as changes in the format, the biggest one came a month or so into the run when they went from the Gold Rush $2500/Super Gold Rush $5000 format(with a bonus after each game was won, and losing two games meant being eliminated, and 16 trips to the bonus round maximum) to the more-familiar best of three format. The only other change came when the maximum number of matches a player or team could win changed from 10 to 20.

trainman · « **Reply #13 on:** December 21, 2003, 09:44:41 PM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 03:51 PM\'] Wait..what slot was "Sunset Beach" supposed to get? I know NBC didn't really have "set" time slots by the late-90s, but I remember we had it at 10 am. [/quote]
Its official time slot was 3:00 Eastern, but NBC made it very easy on affiliates who wanted to schedule it in a different slot...in addition to an early feed in the overnight hours, they had alternate "Sunset Beach" satellite feeds at 10:00 A.M. and noon Eastern.

vtown7 · « **Reply #14 on:** December 22, 2003, 09:40:22 AM »

Quote

ObGermanGaming: For those of you into German-style boardgames as well as game shows (and I know this at least includes Travis), I played Attika two days ago, which has a neat Blockbusters feel to it with a city-building theme. I like it so much I think I want my own set, but I dunno if I want it in English or German....

Have you played "Settlers of Catan/Siedler von Catan"? Now THERE'S an addictive game. Worth getting if you like the German type strategy games.

Cheers,

Ryan