''Beyond Reason'' was a television quiz show seen throughout

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

from 1977 to 1980. Programmes featured a group of experts from various paranormal specialties attempting to find the identity of hidden visitors, resembling a combination of ''

Front Page Challenge ''Front Page Challenge'' was a Canadian panel game about current events and history. Created by comedy writer/performer John Aylesworth (of the comedy team of Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth) and produced and aired by CBC Television, the seri ...

'', '' What's My Line?'' and ''The Amazing World of Kreskin''. This

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

series was recorded in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

. Its first season of 13 episodes began airing on 27 June 1977.

Premise

In each half-hour episode, there are two rounds, each with a hidden guest. The three-member panel usually consists of an

astrologer Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...

, either a

palmist Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those wh ...

or a graphologist, and a clairvoyant and whose task is to determine the identity of the visiting guest. The astrologer is given only the guest's birth date and time. The palmist only sees a palm print of the guest. The graphologist is given a sample of the guest's handwriting. The clairvoyant is given one of the guest's personal items. Each panelist is seated in his or her own sound-proof booth so that they cannot communicate with each other while attempting to discover the guest's identity. Each panelist is given approximately ninety seconds to make as many statements they believe true about the hidden guest, with one point awarded for every correct assertion confirmed by the guest as true or false. They are awarded an extra twenty points if they correctly guess the guest's identity, with partial points awarded depending on how close their guess of the identity is to reality. The panelist with the most points at the end of the episode is declared the winner of that episode.

Hosts

*Journalist Allen Spraggett (seasons 1–2) *CBC announcer

Bill Guest Bill Guest (1928-1985) was best known as quizmaster of the Winnipeg edition of ''Reach for the Top'' from 1962–1985 and quizmaster of the national finals between 1969 and 1985 when the show aired on CBC Television. Bill began his broadcast ...

(seasons 1–2) *Actor/comedian

Paul Soles Paul Robert Soles (August 11, 1930 – May 26, 2021) was a Canadian actor and television personality. He led the voice cast in such series as ''The Marvel Super Heroes'' (1966), voiced the title character in ''Spider-Man'' (1967), and portraye ...

(season 3)

Panelists

* Marcel Broekman (palmistry) *Geoff Gray-Cobb (astrology) * Irene Hughes (clairvoyance) *Barbara Justason (astrology) *Sandra McNeil (clairvoyance) *Marilyn Rossner (graphology)

References

External links

CBC Archives: "CBC game show with a paranormal twist"
video excerpt, accessed 27 September 2006

accessed 27 September 2006 * 1970s Canadian game shows 1980s Canadian game shows 1977 Canadian television series debuts 1980 Canadian television series endings CBC Television original programming Paranormal television Television shows filmed in Winnipeg {{Canada-nonfiction-tv-prog-stub