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Doubletalk
CelebrityDoubleTalk
Aired
ABC daytime, August 18, 1986 - December 19, 1986
Number of episodes
90
Run time
30 Minutes
Host
Henry Polic II
Announcer
Bob Hilton, Johnny Gilbert
Origination
Studio 54, ABC Television Center, Los Angeles, California

(Celebrity) Double Talk was a short-lived game show and a remake of the equally short-lived 1977 game show Shoot for the Stars (originally Shoot the Works in the 1976 pilot) where words, phrases and names are not quite exactly what they seem to be.

Game Format[]

Main game[]

Two teams, each consisting of a contestant and celebrity competed. The object was for the team to work together and decipher puzzles that are written "in other words" style. For example, "Twice / Speak" translated to "Double Talk", the show's title. The slash represented a break in the puzzle, and each partner had to solve half of the puzzle to score. As noted above, this game play mechanic was borrowed from Shoot For the Stars but slightly modified for Double Talk.

The game board had four hidden puzzles on it, each worth ten points if correctly solved by the team in control. The controlling team could continue to solve puzzles until they solved all four puzzles on the board or made a mistake. If either partner could not solve their half, control passed to the other team, who could score five points and end the round by providing the correct response to the puzzle missed by their opponents. If the second team provided an incorrect response in their attempt to steal, play continued with the original team and any remaining unrevealed puzzles.

Round One ended after both teams played one board. In Round Two, each team again attempted four puzzles on their own board, with correct responses worth twenty points, but still only five points for a steal.

The team with the higher score at the end of Round Two won the game and played the bonus round for $10,000. If both teams were tied at the end of Round Two, the scores were reset to zero and teams attempted to solve additional puzzles by buzzing-in and responding in the same manner as before. Each puzzle was worth ten points, but if the team was unable to solve the puzzle after buzzing-in, ten points were awarded to the other team. The team that reached twenty points first won and played the bonus round.

Jackpot puzzle[]

If a team was able to solve all four puzzles on the board, they were shown a fifth, harder puzzle. If the team solved the puzzle, the contestant won a jackpot that started at $1,000 and increased by that amount each day until won.

Format changes[]

Later, teams were only required to solve three of the four puzzles in order to obtain a chance at the Jackpot Puzzle, which was now worth $1,000 every time. Additionally, after stealing a puzzle and winning five points, play continued with the original team until they had played three of the four puzzles on that board. However, missing a puzzle forfeited the chance at the Jackpot Puzzle.

Bonus round[]

The bonus round saw the team work to win $10,000 by correctly figuring out the solutions of nine fill-in-the-blank style puzzles. The contestant had a choice of whether to give or receive clues.

The puzzles were displayed on nine of the ten trilons that spelled out the "Double Talk" logo on stage. The tenth, the trilon with the "D", stayed in place and was considered a free space. The receiver saw the blank puzzles while the giver viewed the puzzle solution from an offscreen monitor. Based on the solution, the giver tried to lead the receiver to the correct answer. For example, if a puzzle was displayed as G_____ C_____ and the solution was George Carlin, the giver would mention something associated with the comedian. This was similar to the front game played on the two Pyramid series airing at the time, with the difference being that the team member receiving clues had some idea of what the subject was.

Each time the receiver correctly solved a puzzle, the trilon would flip back to the corresponding letter on the logo board and play continued with the next puzzle. Passing was allowed, and if the giver either used their hands or gave away the puzzle, the letter would be blocked out, resulting in the contestant forfeiting the shot at the $10,000.

After both bonus rounds were played, the contestant who had accumulated the most money -- including the Jackpot puzzles -- was declared the champion and returned the next day. Players were automatically retired after five days or were retired on the day their winnings hit $50,000

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).

Trivia[]

Merchandise[]

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TV Guide ad[]

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Episode Status[]

See also: Double Talk/Episode Guide

Video[]

See Also[]

Shoot for the Stars

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