History Series / BlankCheck

''Blank Check'' wasn't a success — replacing Dennis James' ''Series/NameThatTune'' on January 6, 1975 in a scheduling shuffle with the popular ''Celebrity Sweepstakes'', it not only had to run just 25 minutes to accommodate the network's five-minute newscast at 12:55 PM, but went up against ''Series/SearchForTomorrow'' on Creator/{{CBS}} and the soon-to-be-canned-but-still-kicking-your-ass ''Series/SplitSecond'' on Creator/{{ABC}}. Not even Art or the show's staff considered it more than a dumb-luck guessing game, calling it "Blank Mind".

!!GameShowTropes in use:

* Personnel:
** TheAnnouncer: Johnny Jacobs.
** GameShowHost: Art James.
** StudioAudience: Of which one member would play a game with the Checkwriter after every three-digit check.
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!!This show provides examples of:
* {{Foreshadowing}}: A big-money NBC game show whose format amounted to little more than dumb-luck number-picking? While it may [[Series/DealOrNoDeal sound familiar]], at least ''Blank Check'' had questions!

''Check'' was canned on July 4 and remained mostly forgotten until 1986, when Barry's business partner Dan Enright (apparently having gained the ''Check'' rights after Barry died in 1984) sued ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' over one of their pricing games — Blank Check, which debuted in 1981. Rather than fight it, ''Price'' removed the game for seven weeks before bringing it back under its current nsme of Check Game.

''Check'' was canned on July 4 and remained mostly forgotten until 1986, when Barry's business partner Dan Enright (apparently having gained the ''Check'' rights after Barry died in 1984) sued ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' over one of their pricing games — Blank Check, which debuted in 1981. Rather than fight it, ''Price'' removed the game for seven weeks and brought it back as Check Game.

* {{Pilot}}: Two were recorded on October 4, 1974. Among the differences:

GameShow created by William T. Naud and Rich Jeffries [[note]](not to be confused with the announcer for early episodes of ''[[Series/{{Password}} Super Password]]'' and the 1987 version of ''Series/{{Blockbusters}}'')[[/note]] in 1974, which was hosted by Art James on Creator/{{NBC}}. The Creator/JackBarry production (his first for the network since the quiz show scandals) involved six vontestants, one of whom was the Checkwriter, competing over the week to fill checks ranging from $1 to $9,876. The Checkwriter hit a plunger to stop the five giant displays at center stage and determine which of the show's 40 number combinations (all numbers 1-9) would be in use.

GameShow created by William T. Naud and Rich Jeffries [[note]](not to be confused with the announcer for early episodes of ''[[Series/{{Password}} Super Password]]'' and the 1987 version of ''Series/{{Blockbusters}}'']])[[/note]] in 1974, which was hosted by Art James on Creator/{{NBC}}. The Creator/JackBarry production (his first for the network since the quiz show scandals) involved six vontestants, one of whom was the Checkwriter, competing over the week to fill checks ranging from $1 to $9,876. The Checkwriter hit a plunger to stop the five giant displays at center stage and determine which of the show's 40 number combinations (all numbers 1-9) would be in use.

GameShow created by William T. Naud and Rich Jeffries (not the announcer) in 1974, which was hosted by Art James on Creator/{{NBC}}. The Creator/JackBarry production (his first for the network since the quiz show scandals) involved six people, one of whom was the Checkwriter, competing over the week to fill checks ranging from $1 to $9,876. The Checkwriter hit a plunger to stop the five giant displays at center stage and determine which of the show's 40 number combinations (all numbers 1-9) would be in use.

* BonusSpace: When determining the numbers, spinning a "straight" (i.e., 1-2-3-4-5) awarded the current Checkwriter a prize.

** StudioAudience: Of which one would play a game with the Checkwriter after every three-digit check.

!!GameShow Tropes in use:

''Check'' was canned on July 4 and remained mostly forgotten until 1986, when Barry's business partner Dan Enright (apparently having gained the ''Check'' rights after Barry died in 1984) sued ''ThePriceIsRight'' over one of their pricing games — Blank Check, which debuted in 1981. Rather than fight it, ''Price'' removed the game for seven weeks and brought it back as Check Game.

** The theme song was Quincy Jones' "Chump Change", then in use on ''NowYouSeeIt''.

''Blank Check'' wasn't a success — replacing Dennis James' ''Series/NameThatTune'' on January 6, 1975 in a scheduling shuffle with the popular ''Celebrity Sweepstakes'', it not only had to run just 25 minutes to accommodate the network's five-minute newscast at 12:55 PM, but went up against ''SearchForTomorrow'' on Creator/{{CBS}} and the soon-to-be-canned-but-still-kicking-your-ass ''Series/SplitSecond'' on Creator/{{ABC}}. Not even Art or the show's staff considered it more than a dumb-luck guessing game, calling it "Blank Mind".

GameShow created by William T. Naud and Rich Jeffries (not the announcer) in 1974, which was hosted by Art James on Creator/{{NBC}}. The JackBarry production (his first for the network since the quiz show scandals) involved six people, one of whom was the Checkwriter, competing over the week to fill checks ranging from $1 to $9,876. The Checkwriter hit a plunger to stop the five giant displays at center stage and determine which of the show's 40 number combinations (all numbers 1-9) would be in use.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The theme, composed by Alan Thicke, was a blatant SuspiciouslySimilarSong version of Quincy Jones' "Chump Change" (which was used on the pilot).

* {{Foreshadowing}}: A big-money NBC game show whose format amounted to little more than dumb-luck number-picking? While it may [[DealOrNoDeal sound familiar]], at least ''Blank Check'' had questions!

GameShow created by William T. Naud and Rich Jeffries (not the announcer) in 1974, which was hosted by Art James on {{NBC}}. The JackBarry production (his first for the network since the quiz show scandals) involved six people, one of whom was the Checkwriter, competing over the week to fill checks ranging from $1 to $9,876. The Checkwriter hit a plunger to stop the five giant displays at center stage and determine which of the show's 40 number combinations (all numbers 1-9) would be in use.

''Blank Check'' wasn't a success — replacing Dennis James' ''Series/NameThatTune'' on January 6, 1975 in a scheduling shuffle with the popular ''Celebrity Sweepstakes'', it not only had to run just 25 minutes to accommodate the network's five-minute newscast at 12:55 PM, but went up against ''SearchForTomorrow'' on {{CBS}} and the soon-to-be-canned-but-still-kicking-your-ass ''Series/SplitSecond'' on {{ABC}}. Not even Art or the show's staff considered it more than a dumb-luck guessing game, calling it "Blank Mind".

* TheJimmyHartVersion: The theme, composed by Alan Thicke, was a blatant JHV of Quincy Jones' "Chump Change" (which was used on the pilot).

''Check'' was canned on July 4 and remained mostly forgotten until 1986, when Barry's business partner Dan Enright (apparently having gained the rights to ''Check'' after Barry died in 1984) filed a lawsuit against ''ThePriceIsRight'' over one of their pricing games — Blank Check, which debuted in 1981. Rather than fight it, ''Price'' removed the game for seven weeks and brought it back as Check Game.

''Check'' was canned after 26 weeks and remained mostly forgotten until 1986, when Barry's business partner Dan Enright (apparently having gained the rights to the show upon Barry's death in 1984) filed a lawsuit against ''ThePriceIsRight'' over one of their pricing games — Blank Check, which debuted in 1981. Rather than fight it, ''Price'' removed the game for seven weeks and brought it back as Check Game.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: A big-money NBC game show whose format amounted to little more than dumb-luck guessing? While it may [[DealOrNoDeal sound familiar]], at least ''Blank Check'' had questions!

* BonusRound: The audience game. Up to four nice prizes for a member of the audience, and a crack at the thousands digit for the Checkwriter.
* BonusSpace: When determining the numbers, spinning a "straight" (i.e., 1-2-3-4-5) awarded the current Checkwriter a prize.
* GameShowWinningsCap: Five days, as per the format.
* Personnel:
** TheAnnouncer: Johnny Jacobs.
** GameShowHost: Art James.
** StudioAudience: Of which one would play a game with the Checkwriter after every three-digit check.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: A big-money NBC game show whose format amounted to little more than dumb-luck guessing? While it may [[DealOrNoDeal sound familiar]], at least ''Blank Check'' had questions!
* TheJimmyHartVersion: The theme, composed by Alan Thicke, was a blatant JHV of Quincy Jones' "Chump Change" (which was used on the pilot).
* ObviousRulePatch: By March 7, the rules were altered a bit.
** Art started with the challenger at the far left and asked a general-knowledge question, with a correct answer leading to the ESP game with the Checkwriter as before (the toss-up "connect these two" questions were only used after the audience game to determine the new Checkwriter).
** The Checkwriter now had a "hidden" choice of 0 as the fourth, third, or second number.
** The next player (on the top/back row) was then asked a question, and this pattern continued until a four-digit check was written.
* {{Pilot}}: Two were recorded on October 4, 1974. Among the differences:
** The theme song was Quincy Jones' "Chump Change", then in use on ''NowYouSeeIt''.
** The audience game was only played after a Checkwriter had filled in ''all four'' numbers of their check. Four players were called, one at a time, and chose one of two prizes (each player had a different set of prizes); a correct guess by the Checkwriter give him/her that prize, while an incorrect guess gave it to the audience member. If the Checkwriter correctly predicted three of the four prize choices, s/he won a 1975 Buick Skylark as well.
** As the car was in the audience game, there was no reward for the largest individual check of the week.

GameShow created by William T. Naud and Rich Jeffries (not the announcer) in 1974, which was hosted by Art James on {{NBC}}. The JackBarry production (his first for the network since the quiz show scandals) involved six people, one of whom was the Checkwriter, competing over the week to fill a four-digit check. The Checkwriter hit a plunger to stop the five giant displays at center stage and determine which of the show's 40 number combinations (all numbers 1-9) would be in use.

If this is confusing...we don't blame you. It was also pretty dull.

''Blank Check'' wasn't a success — replacing Dennis James' ''Series/NameThatTune'' on January 6, 1975 in a scheduling shuffle with the popular ''CelebritySweepstakes'', it not only had to run just 25 minutes to accommodate the network's five-minute newscast at 12:55 PM, but went up against ''SearchForTomorrow'' on {{CBS}} and the soon-to-be-canned-but-still-kicking-your-ass ''Series/SplitSecond'' on {{ABC}}. Further, both Art and the show's staff considered it little more than a dumb-luck guessing game, going so far as to call it "Blank Mind".