Blank Check (game show)
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Blank Check was an American game show that aired on NBC from January 6 to July 4, 1975. It was promoted as "television's first ESP game." Art James was the host and Johnny Jacobs was the announcer.
This was Jack Barry's third game show he produced after his return to television, and his first for NBC since his downfall in the quiz show scandal of the '50s.
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[edit] Format
Six players competed for an entire week of shows, trying to fill in a four-digit check.
One contestant was the "check writer," and stood behind a podium at the front of the stage. The contestant would hit the plunger as 5 spinning numbers at random came up which determined the numbers for the check from 1-9 (IE: 4-7-6-3-1). If the contestant spins a straight (IE: 2-3-4-5-6), a bonus prize is won. The other five contestants would be asked a riddle-type question, and whoever buzzed in with the correct answer got a chance to guess what was the last digit in the check (from a five digit readout in the front of the podium). Guessing correctly meant they switched places with the check writer and started a new check. (The check writer won whatever the amount the check had been completed for up until that point). If not, the check writer chose another digit and play continued.
When three digits in the check were completed, the check writer played a game against an audience member. The audience member would be shown four prizes, and asked to pick one. The check writer had to pick the prize they selected. If correct, the audience game was over and play continued. If not, the audience member won that prize, and the process repeated with the remaining prizes. If the check writer was incorrect three times, the audience member won all four prizes and the check writer lost their position.
Once a check writer completed a four-digit check (or if they lost the audience game), another question is asked to the remaining five contestants. The person with the correct answer would then become the new check writer.
Whoever wrote the biggest check of the week won a car.
[edit] Format info
The above info is taken from the third episode, currently the only known existing episode of this show (not counting the pilot). Due to the lack of episodes that are in circulation, these rules are rumored to have changed before the end of the run.
[edit] Notes
- The 1974 pilot had slightly different rules. The contestant played the audience game after they completed their check, instead of after the third digit. In the pilot format, the contestant had to predict what prize off two cards the audience member had chosen. Doing so won the contestant the prize, while not doing so won the audience member the prize. Five sets of prizes were shown, and if the checkwriter managed to guess four prizes correctly, they also won a car.
- Art James would go on to host The Magnificent Marble Machine directly after Blank Check was canceled (it premiered the following Monday).
- Long after Blank Check left the air, The Price Is Right introduced a pricing game also called Blank Check, later changed to Check Game. This was done in 1987, reportedly because Dan Enright was threatening legal action against Mark Goodson Productions and Bob Barker, claiming that Blank Check was copyrighted as a Barry & Enright Production, however, Dan Enright never had any involvement in the production of Blank Check, and was strictly a Jack Barry Production.
[edit] Episode Status
This series is mostly destroyed. The third episode and the pilot exist.
