Rumour: Rove to revive Blankety Blanks?
Could Rove McManus front a revival of Graham Kennedy's hit game show for TEN'?
- Published by David Knox
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With the game-show genre getting more attention, could Blankety Blanks be next up for a revival?
The latest rumour, which comes via Peter Ford on 3AW, speculates that Rove McManus might be set to front a new version of Blankety Blanks for TEN.
The classic game show ran on TEN from 1977–1981 with Graham Kennedy as host and panelists including Ugly Dave Gray, Noeline Brown, Carol Raye and Stuart Wagstaff.
That version put catchphrases into the Aussie vernacular including, “Did Dick?”, “Dick did!” and has been replayed on Foxtel.
The FremantleMedia format was revived twice on Nine for short runs, first with Daryl Somers in 1985 then with Shane Bourne in 1996.
Yesterday McManus and wife Tasma Walton announced they were expecting their first child, fuelling speculation the couple may be looking to spend more time in Australia.
Blankety Blanks could be under consideration as a viable 6pm project for TEN, helping to give a stronger lead-in to The Project, produced by one Roving Enterprises of course.
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34 Responses
Celebrity Squares, Blankety Blanks or even Rove Live again.
I’d love to see Rove return on tv. What Ten did to him was rotten. But is anyone surprised by Ten’s decisions over the past few years
The beauty of the original was the hilarious talent, the joviality and the very rude jokes. I’m not sure the old nudge, nudge, wink, wink works in the same way now.
But if they’re making a go of it may I suggest booking actual comedian and making it as dirty as possible?
Reasons why this can not possibly work:
1. The original show was from an era when wink-wink-nudge-nudge humour would make crowds laugh hysterically. Things were actually naughty back then, and it was funny to suggest things you couldn’t say
2. Rove is an in-your-face pretty boy with no substance or nuance in his ‘comedy’. He could never display the wit or sense of play that Graham Kennedy did
Oh dear…the original was & always will be the best. Please just leave it alone. That chemistry at that time can never be repeated.
I can see it now Peter Hellier, Meshel Laurie etc…No thanks.
God god no!
No, just, No.
I guess it’s only natural considering we’ve jumped back 40 something years with our new Prime Minister. A family friendly remake of Number 96 on it’s way for Channel 9 in 2014!
can’t see it working, especially not at 6pm. even though I enjoy watching the replays of BB on the Comedy Channel, a remake is not warranted
I’d rather have Rove’s talk show back…. and I mean the original one, not that I don’t like Rove LA cos I do, just I miss games like What the, flick the switch and Corrine Grant & Peter Hellier….. sigh. I’m sure Rove will make it a hit though.
I feel TEN would be smarter to revive Celebrity Squares where nine of their network personalities…
Uh huh – forget it.
I used to love Blankety Blanks. Be interesting to see how this pans out.
it wouldnt work you cant get away with most of the things these days graham and co did on the show back in the 70s
Clearly Ten’s weakness in early evening is around holding News at Five viewers through until The Project. I think the original premise to opt out of the 6pm news battle no longer stands up in a FTA environment with 24 hour news channels and news all afternoon on 7 & 9.
Doubt they would ever place Rove in afternoons or stripped weeknights for that matter, but moving News at 5 so that it runs into The Project makes sense and 90 minutes should not be entertained.
3.00 Entertainment Tonight US
3.30 Judge Judy
4.00 Ten Afternoon News
4.30 The Bold & The Beautiful
5.00 Entertainment Tonight Australia
5.30 Ten Evening News
6.30 The Project
Take advantage of the CBS output deal foe ET and produce an Australian hybrid show with US content on celebrities and shows we know, mixed with stories, gossip and interviews from home. Glossy & fast paced. Something different between 4-6, not just news…
Lets hope Peter the Phantom Puller is involved., love the graham Kennedy version, not sure it would work today though.
Have to agree with Cynical.
This won’t work unless it is Shaun Micallef and not filled with talentless cross promotion drones from other Channel Ten shows.
If it is Rove, it will die as much as the gawd awful remake with Darryl Somers.
This idea is totally Blank!
*Cue thinking music*
Unfortunately I wasn’t born until the 1990s so I’m not sure whether this is a good or bad idea, but everyone knows the show’s name and Rove resonates with Australian audiences (Rove LA was in the Top 20 overnight figures every week and still isn’t officially cancelled; Rove’s guest appearance on This Week Live doubled its overnight figures (620k vs 303k this week), etc,) so I would definitely give it a go.
Great idea. I always thought this would be a good vehicle for Shaun Micallef and the TAYG team to segue to.
What a great idea! I used to love that show as a kid. Although I don’t think they’ll be able to use the old ‘Cyril said to Cecil’ jokes!
I’m not sure if it’s an interesting enough format to fit into today’s TV, we live in the golden age of Slideshow, Celebrity Splash, and Australia’s Got Dancing With The Big Brother Factor.
Dear. God. No.
I enjoyed Battle of the Sexes on TEN back in the late 90’s that was in the 6pm slot from memory.
I recall the Shane Bourne version of BB, but found it weak. It had the forced pre-written jokes of Hollywood Squares, or Australia’s ‘All Star Squares’ on Seven. Not the hilarious spontaneity of comedians in shows like Would I Lie to You and QI.
Perhaps they could bring back All Star Squares which Rove used to make fun of in his stand-up years ago. How things have changed.
I’ve tried to watch this on Foxtel over the years that its been re-played and still i have no idea how to play or whats going on… Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader stripped at 6pm weekly would be a better suit….
What the…?