Blankety Blanks (Australian game show)
| Company type | Television program |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television game show |
| Founded | January 24, 1977 |
| Founder | Reg Grundy Organisation |
| Defunct | 1978 |
| Headquarters | Australia |
| Products | Television game show |
Blankety Blanks is an Australian game show adapted from the American program Match Game. It was hosted by Graham Kennedy and broadcast on the 0-10 Network between 1977 and 1978. The series consisted of two seasons, each featuring five weekly episodes lasting 30 minutes, typically scheduled at 7pm in Sydney and Melbourne.
The program achieved strong ratings, surpassing major current affairs shows such as Willesee At Seven on the Seven Network and A Current Affair on the Nine Network, occasionally reaching audience figures in the low 40s. This success led Network Ten to reveal that Kennedy was earning an unprecedented $1 million per season.
In 1978, Kennedy was honored with the TV Week Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television. During a period when he was sidelined by pneumonia, announcer Don Blake stepped in as temporary host.
Gameplay
The competition featured two contestants—a returning champion paired against a challenger—always consisting of one male and one female participant. Their goal was to match answers from six celebrity panelists to various fill-in-the-blank prompts.
The main contest unfolded over two rounds. Initially, the challenger selected between two statements labeled "A" or "B," which Kennedy then read aloud. Many prompts contained double entendres, such as "Joan and Paul went to bed and Joan asked Paul to (BLANK) her."
Celebrity panelists wrote down their responses on cards before the contestant provided their answer. Kennedy revealed each panelist’s reply sequentially, awarding one point for every match or a reasonably similar answer, as determined by producer Tony Connelly (nicknamed “Tony the moustache twirler”).
After the challenger completed their turn, the returning champion tackled the remaining statement. Round 2 began again with the challenger, using fresh questions unless they had already matched all panelists in the previous round. Only those panelists who had not been matched participated. In case of a tie, scores were reset to zero-zero and play continued until a winner was decided.
The victor advanced to the Super Match, where they attempted to guess a word completing a fill-in-the-blank phrase that corresponded with the most popular audience survey response. Contestants could seek advice from three panelists. The top survey responses were valued at $100, $50, or $25 respectively. Matching any of these answers earned the contestant that amount.
If unsuccessful, the bonus round ended immediately. A correct match granted an opportunity to win ten times the amount ($250, $500, or $1,000) in the "Head-To-Head Match" by matching a fill-in-the-blank answer with one celebrity panelist chosen by the contestant. Winning both stages awarded the total combined prize. Champions continued competing until defeated.
Running gags
Among recurring comedic elements were quotes from a fictional character named Cyril—Kennedy’s middle name—voiced with a stereotypical gay male inflection. Another character borrowed from Match Game was Dumb Dora. A frequent sketch involved humorous dialogue about a man named "Dick," featuring playful exchanges between Kennedy and Ugly Dave Gray.
Kennedy’s provocative humor often challenged Australian broadcast regulations. Crew member Peter Hough, responsible for revealing correct answers by pulling a lever, earned the nickname "Peter the Phantom Puller" from Kennedy, who would enthusiastically call out phrases like "Pull it Peter!" during answer reveals.
On one occasion, Kennedy humorously presented a list of acceptable “rude” words while intermittently chanting "wee poo bum, wee poo bum!" highlighting the show’s cheeky and irreverent tone.
History
Produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation, the series was adapted from the enduring American game show Match Game, originally developed by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. The design of the Blankety Blanks set and its logo bore a strong resemblance to the American version.
Host Kennedy took personal responsibility for choosing the panelists, keeping those who delivered strong performances and replacing those who did not meet expectations.
The premiere episode was broadcast on TEN-10 Sydney on Monday, 24 January 1977 at 7:30 pm, initially running from Monday to Friday. After six weeks, the show shifted to a 7 pm timeslot, where it remained for the entirety of its first season, which concluded on 2 December 1977. Following a summer hiatus, the program resumed on 9 January 1978 at 7 pm for its second season.
In October 1978, as renewal talks were underway, Kennedy sought the opinion of key panelist Ugly Dave Gray, who expressed that he had exhausted his comedic material and preferred not to continue. Although the ratings were still solid in the low 30s—down from earlier peaks in the 40s—Kennedy opted against renewing the show, which ended its run on TEN-10 Sydney on 3 November 1978.
The series has been regularly rebroadcast across Network Ten affiliates, notably on ATV-10 Melbourne between 1985 and 1987. During the 2000s, episodes aired on Foxtel's TV1, and starting January 2009, The Comedy Channel began weekly screenings.
A DVD collection containing 30 episodes was released towards the end of 2005.
Revivals
Following Kennedy’s tenure, the show experienced two Australian revivals. The first revival aired from 1985 to 1986 on the Nine Network, hosted by Daryl Somers, and achieved moderate popularity.
The second revival occurred between 1996 and 1997 on Nine Network with host Shane Bourne. Regular panelists included Marty Fields, Rhonda Burchmore, Tim Smith, Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Nicky Buckley, Ian "Molly" Meldrum, Jane Turner, and Sam Newman. This iteration lasted two seasons and enjoyed slightly higher success compared to the '80s revival.
Both revivals preserved the original format but introduced a top prize of $5,000. Audience Match rewards ranged between $500 and $100, mirroring prize values from the American Match Game during 1973–1982. In the second round of the '90s revival, contestants and panelists submitted responses to identical prompts; subsequently, the contestant selected either the top or bottom row to play with, earning two points for each match.
See also
External links
- Articles with short description
- 1970s Australian game shows
- 1980s Australian game shows
- 1990s Australian game shows
- Network 10 original programming
- Nine Network original programming
- 1977 Australian television series debuts
- 1997 Australian television series endings
- Television series by Fremantle (company)
- Australian television series based on American television series