Underplayed Gems

Blockbusters (1980)

Blockbusters poster
Directed by
Ira Skutch, Marc Breslow
Genre
quiz show
Country
United States
Length
1 season, 271 episodes
Rating
8.0 of 10 from 2 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More series like this

How it feels

Two contestants or teams answer general knowledge questions to connect a path across a hexagonal game board. The show pits family members against a single player or two solo contestants against each other.

competitivefast-pacedstructuredfamily-friendlylivelynostalgicinformalsnappy

What happens

Blockbusters is an American game show, created by Steve Ryan for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, which had two separate runs in the 1980s. Contestants answer general-knowledge questions to complete a path across or down a game board composed of hexagons. The first series of the show 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 solo contestants competing. Bill Cullen hosted the 1980–1982 version, with Bob Hilton as announcer and Rich Jeffries taking over in the final two weeks; Bill Rafferty hosted the 1987 version with Jeffries as announcer for the entire run. The show is the basis of the British game show of the same name, which aired in various incarnations between 1983 and 2019. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.