| Hosts | |
| Bob Eubanks (1975–1976) Jack Clark (1981) | |
| Announcer | |
| Johnny Jacobs Jim Thompson | |
| Broadcast | |
     | |
| Packager | |
| W.T. Naud Productions | |
PILOT OPENING:
"From Hollywood, it's time for Rhyme and Reason! With the poet laureate of television, Nipsey Russell! The beautiful and talented Lee Meriwether! England's gift to the United States, Richard Dawson! The wild and liberated Jaye P. Morgan! The handsome and debonair Jack Cassidy! And the vivacious and sexy Adrienne Barbeau! They are our celebrity poets for this week, and here's the star of Rhyme and Reason, Bob Eubanks!"
MAIN SERIES OPENING:
"From Hollywood, it's time for Rhyme and Reason, starring (insert celebrities' names)! You've met our celebrity poets for today. Now, here's the host of Rhyme and Reason, Bob Eubanks!"
Rhyme and Reason was the short-lived game of rhyming words & matching celebrities.
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 that matched with a celebrity panelist.
To start, the contestants saw two partial statements which were part of a sentence (ex. When you are out/Be careful when you fish), and then the contestants would write down on a word (using an electronic pen) that rhymes with the last word in the second statement (only the home audience could see the contestant's words; the panel couldn't). 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. If a panelist's end word matched 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 could 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[]
The winning contestant and a celebrity partner of his or her choice played for the $5,000. Two lines were again shown to the contestant, who then wrote three rhyming words. The contestant and celebrity then had thirty seconds to match all three words. The clock began once the lines were first read to the celebrity, who then provided a rhyme for the last word in the line. The process repeated for the entire thirty seconds or until the celebrity matched all three words. Matching on each word won the contestant $1,000, and matching all three awarded the $5,000 grand prize.
Champions retired after either playing five bonus rounds or reached the ABC winnings limit of $20,000 (therefore by winning four straight bonus rounds). Champions also left the show when they were defeated by a challenger.
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.
Gallery[]
Pilot[]
Main Series[]
Press Photos[]
.jpeg "ABC's Brand New Day (July 1975).jpeg (130 KB)")
.png "Rhyme and Reason (August 03, 1975).png (558 KB)")
Rating[]
Studio[]
ABC Television Center, Los Angeles, CA
Music[]
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
Trivia[]
- Rhyme and Reason debuted the same day as You Don't Say! (also on ABC) and NBC's The Magnificent Marble Machine.
- Rhyme and Reason ended the same day as Let's Make a Deal (also on ABC) and it was replaced by what would become television's most popular game show within a year: Family Feud.
Link[]
Rhyme & Reason @ Game Shows '75