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Blockbusters

American television game show

TV seriestelevision seriesQ4927250

Started: October 27, 1980
, January 5, 1987
Ended: April 23, 1982
, May 1, 1987
Creator: Steve Ryan
Network: NBC
Genre: quiz show
Country of origin: United States
Original language: English
Runtime: 25 min

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

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.

Overview

All data

28 statements · 14% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Production company: Fremantle
Director: Ira Skutch(1980–1982)
Marc Breslow(1987)
Presenter: Bill Cullen(1980–1982)
Bill Rafferty(1987)
Composer: Robert Cobert(1980–1982)
Location of creation: The Burbank Studios work location: Burbank
Title: Blockbusters

On other databases

8 identifiers linking Blockbusters across the web's reference databases

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statements

14%

externally sourced

Source last edited July 11, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). Blockbusters (Q4927250). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/blockbusters-Q4927250