Blockbuster

Blockbuster may refer to:

TV and entertainment

Comics

Military

Blockbusters (UK game show)

Blockbusters is a British television game show based upon an American game show of the same name in which contestants answer trivia questions to complete a path across or down a game board of hexagons. The programme premiered on 29 August 1983 on ITV and ran for ten series, coming to an end on 19 May 1993. Blockbusters was revived for four additional series, the most recent of which aired on Challenge in 2012.

Background

Blockbusters was created by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions and originated as an American series in 1980. The UK version was created after Central Independent Television producer Graham C. Williams spotted the show in 1981 and produced a pilot in 1982. The difference was that instead of adults, which appeared on the American edition, the UK edition was produced for sixth formers.

Bob Holness was the original presenter, staying on for the first ten series of the first incarnation and a 1994 revival on Sky One. A 1997 edition featuring adults was produced for one series on BBC Two with Michael Aspel presenting. Sky One brought Blockbusters back under its original rules in 2001 with Liza Tarbuck at the helm, and the Challenge series was presented by Simon Mayo.

Blockbusters (U.S. game show)

Blockbusters is an American game show which had two separate runs in the 1980s. Created by Steve Ryan for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, the first series debuted on NBC on October 27, 1980 and aired until April 23, 1982. In the first series, a team of two family members competed against a solo contestant. Blockbusters was revived on NBC from January 5 to May 1, 1987, but featured only two contestants competing.

Bill Cullen hosted the 1980–82 version, with Bob Hilton as announcer. Johnny Olson and Rich Jeffries substituted for Hilton on occasion, with Jeffries taking over for the final two weeks. Bill Rafferty hosted the 1987 version, with Jeffries announcing the entire run.

Gameplay

1980–82

Blockbusters and Las Vegas Gambit, which premiered on the same day, were added to the NBC schedule to replace The David Letterman Show. Letterman's show, which NBC had cancelled three game shows to create a space for back in June of 1980, did not draw ratings and only managed a total of eighteen weeks of episodes before NBC decided to return to a more traditional morning lineup.