Double Talk

This was a short-lived word game show where words and phrases and names are not exactly what they seem to be.

Premise
Two teams of two (consisting of one celebrity & one contestant) played a game of solving puzzles that are double meanings.

Example: "Crack/the Money Place" Answer: "Break the Bank"

Main Game
Each team faced a game board of four hidden puzzles numbered 1-4. On a team's turn, the contestant picked off puzzles one at a time. On each puzzle, one player tried to solve the first half, while the other player tried to solve the second half. Correctly solving the entire puzzle earned points for the team. The team in control kept on playing until they solved all four puzzles or if they miss one; upon a miss, the opposing team can end the first team's turn by solving the missed puzzle. Stealing that puzzle earned five points for the stealing team, but not stealing the puzzle resumed play for the first team.

Four boards were played (two for each team) with the first two boards worth 10 points a puzzle, and the last two boards were worth double or 20 points a puzzle. The team with the most points won the game.

Jackpot Puzzle
If the controlling team can solve all four puzzles in a single turn, they had a chance to solve a Jackpot Puzzle which was more harder than others. If they can solve that puzzle, the contestant won the jackpot which started at $1,000 and grew by that amount until won.

Rule Changes
In later weeks, teams were forced to play three puzzles each turn, so now three puzzles were required to go for the jackpot. Stealing the puzzles still scored five points, but they no longer stopped the controlling team from scoring.

Tiebreaker
If the game ended in a tie, a series of toss-up puzzles were played with the first to buzz-in and solve the puzzle correctly earning 10 points; but an incorrect solve gave the opposing team 10 points. The first team to get 20 points/two correct answers won the game.

The winning team went on to play the bonus round for $10,000.

Bonus Game
To start, during the break, the winning contestant decided whether to give or to receive.

The giver was shown a series of common phrases on a secret monitor on the side of the stage, while the receiver only saw the initial letters of all the phrases. Example: A___________ B___________ The giver's job was to give an incomplete sentence to get his/her partner to say the correct phrase. Ex: "In addition to Pyramid, Dick Clark hosted the ABC Saturday musical show called..." Answer: American Bandstand

If the team got stuck on a phrase, either one can pass and return to it with time leftover. If at anytime the giver gave a keyword, the team must surrender their chance at the big money.

Each correct phrase revealed a letter in the show's title Double Talk (the D in Double was always given for free) and earned the player $100. If the winning team can reveal the rest of the show's title by getting all nine phrases in 60 seconds or less, the winning contestant won $10,000.

Two games were played each show with the contestant partners swapping celebrities in game two. So there's a possibility of winning $20,000 overall. The contestant to win both games or win the most bonus round money became Double Talk champion and returned to play the next day. If both contestants won the same amount of money, they both returned on the next show.

Trivia
Double Talk was reincarnated short-lived revival of the short-lived 70s game show Shoot for the Stars.

The bonus game was originated from the failed Bob Stewart pilot $50,000 a Minute.

One of the reasons Henry got the job as host of Double Talk is because he was a long-time friend of producer Bob Stewart.

Although there was no change in format nor elimination to civilian contestants, late in the show's run, Double Talk was renamed Celebrity Double Talk.

Music
Bob Cobert

The theme originally was used on Blankety Blanks.

Taglines
"Until tomorrow/Monday, this is Henry Polic II giving you a Double Talk puzzle... (insert puzzle) Which is Double Talk for... Celebrities & Host: (insert answer). Buh-Bye." - Henry Polic II

"Until tomorrow/Monday, this is Henry Polic II saying... (insert puzzle), is another way of saying... (insert answer). Bye-Bye everybody." - Henry Polic II

Links
Rules for Double Talk

Jay Anton's Double Talk Page

YouTube Video
The first intro to Double Talk