Rhyme and Reason

The game of rhyming words & matching celebrities.

Broadcast
ABC - July 7, 1975 – July 9, 1976

Packager
W.T. Naud Productions

Host
Bob Eubanks

Announcer
Johnny Jacobs

Gameplay
Two contestants faced a panel of six celebrities in this year long show.

Main Game
The object of the game was to come up with a word that rhymes with another in a sentence, and the matches with a celebrity panelist.

To start, the contestants saw two partial statements which are part of a sentence (ex. When you are out/Be careful when you fish), then the contestants written down a word (using an electronic pen) that rhymes with the last word in the second statement (Only the home audience can see the contestant's words, the panel cannot). Then (while alternating turns) the contestants picked off the panelists one-by-one. Each panelist came up with his/her own statement to complete the sentence. Now if a panelist's end word matched the either of the contestants', they scored points. A contestant scored two points if a panelist said his/her word, but if a panelist said the opponent's word, the opponent scored one point. Should both contestants' words be the same, only the contestant choosing the panelist can score the two points. It took three points to win the game and $250, and the player to win two out of three games won the match, a total of $500 and the right to play the $5,000 bonus round.

$5,000 Bonus Round
To start the winning contestant selected a panelist to play with him/her for the entire round. Bob read & shown another half sentence to the contestant but not the celebrity, then the contestant had 30 seconds to come up with three rhyming words. After that, the celebrity was shown the half sentence, and came up with three different second halves of sentences in an attempt to match the contestant. The first two matches were worth $1,000 each, and matching all three was worth $5,000.

Champions stayed on the show for up to five days.

The Unbelievable Finale
In the finale, while things were normal in the first part of playing, things got really rough and crazy near the end. Four of the panelists started to destroy the entire set including Bob's podium.

Pilot
Phrase Reveal - "The Savers" by Gershon Kingsley & Jean Jacques Perrey Win - "Be My Host" by Billy May & His Orchestra (This was also played on Bob's best known show The Newlywed Game).

Series
Main - "Hilltop" by Charles Fox

Links
Rhyme & Reason @ Game Shows '75

YouTube Videos
The Pilot Episode

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3