The Hollywood Connection

Host
Jim Lange
Announcers
Johnny Jacobs (Pilot) Johnny Gilbert (Series) Jay Stewart (Series)
Broadcast
Unsold Pilot for CBS: 5/20/1975 Syndication (Daily): 9/5/1977 – 3/3/1978
Packager
Barry & Enright Productions Golden West Broadcasters
Distributor
Colbert Television Sales

"(insert question). In just a few moments, we'll hear the responses to this question, of these six celebrities: (insert celebrities), as they all play The Hollywood Connection! And now, let's meet our host, JIM LANGE!"

The Hollywood Connection was the short-lived game show where six celebrity guests were asked questions intended to reveal a bit of their personalities.

Gameplay[]

Two contestants faced a panel of six celebrities in a game of answering questions about the stars themselves (a concept similar in format to Match Game). As in Match Game, the contestants' goal was to match the stars' answers in order to score points; this was classified as "making a connection."

Main Game[]

Round 1[]

The player who won the coin toss would choose which row of celebrities (either the top or bottom) to play with. Lange then read a question to the celebrities with two possible answers, after which the stars wrote down their response. When finished, the player in control chose one of the answers that they thought the star would say (unlike Match Game, the contestant gave an answer for each individual panelist rather than the entire panel). Each time the player made a connection they earned 1 point. After the first player was done, their opponent did the same thing with the other row of three celebrities.

Round 2[]

Played in the same manner as Round 1, except the player who didn't start the last round went first in this round. That player chose to either play with the male stars or the female stars. Each question had three choices and each connection was worth 2 points.

Round 3[]

In Round 3, the player who was behind went first. Each question still had three choices and each connection was worth 3 points. The player with the most points at the end of the game won, received some prizes, and played the bonus round. In case of a tie, one of the celebrities was asked a numerical question. The player closest to the true number won the game.

Bonus Round[]

Format #1 (first week only)[]

The celebrities & winning contestant were shown a picture of a famous person, place or thing, (or sometimes a word,) then the celebrities wrote down a word or phrase associated with the picture. The winning player wrote down three answers of their own and placed them next to the values of $300, $200 and $100, with the answer marked at $300 the one the contestant thought the panel would most-likely write down.

The contestant called on the stars one-by-one and tried to match what they had written. Each time the panelist's answer matched one of the contestant's, the contestant won the money attached to that answer. After all the stars had shown their answers, if the winning player reached $1,000 or more, they won $2,000 and a trip.

Format #2[]

The contestant still wrote down three key words as above, except each connection was worth $250 instead of the original scoring format. Three connections won the contestant $750 and a trip. After winning the trip, the contestant earned a chance to make two more connections; each one doubled the contestant's money, meaning that the first one doubled to $1,500, and one more doubled to the maximum amount of $3,000. If at any time the contestant was unable to make a connection, the bonus round ended and the money was lost (although the trip was not in jeopardy). The contestant had the option before each double round to stop and take the money already won, as well as the trip.

Music[]

The theme song used on the show is "Virgo" by Robert Ascot. It was previously the theme music for a previous Jack Barry game show, Hollywood's Talking.
The think music which plays while the stars write down their responses ("Gamineries" by Jean Leroi) would later be heard as the category reveal music on another Barry & Enright game show, The Joker's Wild. The bonus round win music would also be later heard on The Joker's Wild.
The think music played during the bonus round was "Gentleman Jim" by Bert Kaempfert.