Blankety Blanks (Australian game show)

Blankety Blanks
Also known asGraham Kennedy’s Blankety Blanks
GenreGame Show
Based onMatch Game
Directed byAlan Catt
Presented by
Narrated by
Theme music composerJack Grimsley
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
Production
Executive producerBill Mason
ProducerTony Connelly
Production locations
Running time30 minutes
Original release
Network
Release24 January 1977 (1977-01-24) –
3 February 1997 (1997-02-03)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Blankety Blanks is an Australian game show based on the American game show Match Game. It was hosted by Graham Kennedy on the 0-10 Network from 1977–1978.

Panelists were Ugly Dave Gray, Jon English, Noeline Brown, Carol Raye, Stuart Wagstaff, Kate Fitzpatrick, Noel Ferrier, Dawn Lake, Barry Creyton, Mark Holden, John Paul Young, Peggy Toppano, Bobby Limb, Peta Toppano, Belinda Giblin, Abigail, Trevor White, Nick Tate, Tommy Hanlon Junior, Wendy Blacklock, Delvene Delaney, Jacki Weaver, Gloria Dawn, Joy Chambers, Col Joye, Debbie Byrne, Ros Speirs, Wendy Hughes, Bob Moore, Ray Burgess, June Salter, Joe Martin, Jane Kean, Iain Finlay, Tony Bonner, Marty Rhone, Joy Westmore, Julieanne Newbould, Cornelia Frances, Joanne Samuel, Mike Preston, Johnny Pace, Harriet Pace, Syd Heylen, Joe Hasham, Sheila Kennelly, Megan Williams and Linda Kerridge.

Blankety Blanks had a two-season run from 1977 to 1978. It was screened at a rate of five, thirty-minute episodes each week, stripped across an early evening timeslot. In Sydney and Melbourne, it was broadcast in the 7pm timeslot across both seasons.[1][2] It was a ratings success, beating the flagship current affairs programs Willesee At Seven on the Seven Network and A Current Affair on the Nine Network, and on occasions achieving ratings in the low 40s. It was only after this ratings success that Network Ten revealed Kennedy was paid an unprecedented $1 million per season.[3]

In 1978, Kennedy won a TV Week Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television. When Kennedy had a bout with pneumonia, announcer Don Blake was forced to host the show for an episode.

  1. ^ "Tuesday 7 June 1977 — MELBOURNE". Television.AU. 9 June 2021. Archived from the original on 19 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Tuesday 20 June 1978 — MELBOURNE". Television.AU. 6 July 2013. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  3. ^ McColl-Jones, Mike; Vizard, Steve (2008). Graham Kennedy Treasures: Friends Remember the King. Miegunyah Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0522855456.