First episode: April 21, 1975
Last episode: June 27, 1975
Seen weekday mornings 11:30-12:00 on ABC
 
Two teams of celebrity-contestant pairs compete to identify a subject from cryptic clues.  The winning team could double their earnings by completing a pun.  The odd device beside Bill in the picture determined players' turns by random selection.

A cute idea marred by poor execution and the notoriously cheap Bob Stewart production values.  It replaced reruns of The Brady Bunch in this time slot.  When it bombed, the Brady reruns returned.

Read the original Variety review from April 30, 1975

In a 1975 magazine article, Bill was philosophical about the failure of Blankety Blanks, which he felt "didn't get a fair shake," as well as the similar demise six months earlier of Winning Streak, which he admitted "just didn't work."

"I've been fortunate," he said.  "The passage of shows hasn't hurt, because I don't get blamed for it.  It does hurt me in another way, though, because I feel a certain amount of responsibility.  But you make yourself realize that nothing more can be done about it."

This series would have to be considered one of the biggest flops of Bill's later career.  Most daytime shows of the era were guaranteed a minimum of thirteen weeks.  Blankety Blanks disappeared after only ten.

A pilot taped February 10 with Anita Gillette and Soupy Sales was virtually identical to the series that followed.  Within the ten-week run of the series, the rules regarding money winning changed slightly.  On-air tinkering with a show's rules and formats was a Stewart trademark.

EPISODE GUIDE
What good is an episode guide for a series whose episodes were almost certainly destroyed long ago?  We're not sure ourselves, but here you are anyway:

PILOT (February 10)
Soupy Sales
Anita Gillette
April 21-25
William Shatner
Anne Meara
April 28-May 2
Clifton Davis
Jo Anne Worley
May 5-9
Tony Randall
Jo Ann Pflug
May 12-16
Larry Blyden
Adrienne Barbeau
May 19-23
Soupy Sales
Anita Gillette
May 26-30
Nipsey Russell
Peggy Cass
June 2-6
Jack Carter
Lee Meriwether
June 9-13
Larry Linville
Rita Moreno 
June 16-20
Peter Lawford
Loretta Swit
June 23-27
Nipsey Russell
Anne Meara

In the ten weeks the show was on the air, Stewart managed not to repeat celebrities until the very last week.  Virtually all of the celebrities were also making appearances on Stewart's (and Bill's) The $25,000 Pyramid around the same time this brief series aired.

VIDEO        
The pilot episode and the premiere episode with William Shatner and Anne Meara are known to exist, both in fair quality.
Watch the premiere:  
  
FOR MORE INFORMATION 
Curt Alliaume's Blankety Blanks page at Game Shows '75
The Blankety Blanks page at Adam Nedeff's Bill Cullen's World
The Blankety Blanks page on Wikipedia

In the United Kingdom, Blankety Blanks was the title for the show Americans know as Match Game.