I don't think it's as pre-planned as it might seem. I usually come up with answers that the stars do (sometimes matching all of them, sometimes matching just one or two). Sometimes it's because I try to think like they did back then..like when the answer was obviously the name of a famous tall person I said Wilt Chamberlain and a couple of the stars had that answer.
Occasionally I can't think of an answer so I would've needed to "cheat" (like Brett does
) if I had been one of the stars.
Mag, Darling, you're being a bore.

it appears that the stars have been given "suggested" answers. So many of them match the most obvious answer even when the contestant does not.
They know the questions ahead of timethe answers are all their own.
~
Not my circus, not my monkeys
~

Very true Ken. My wife and I record these shows and watch them at lunch. We've often made the same observation as we play along at home.

It's hard to judge the answer today to what they said 40 years ago because some of the saying aren't used anymore.

The stars weren't given answers by the producer, but they were allowed to cheat by giving answers to each other. Brett gets some correct if the questions are easy. The regulars got better as time went by.
Richard simply used common sense, and he was very educated and perceptive. Not to mention being a good comedian. But I enjoy the humor of many stars that were on the show.

I've been watching for the first time on GSN for a year, and I was just wondering the same. Or have they at least been given the questions beforehand? All of a sudden without Richard there, Brett is (sometimes) capable of coming up with a good answer. I remember the 1976 episodes when she was constantly asking Gene to repeat the questions and acting foggy (even for her) after first quitting smoking. Now the stars often seem to match even on the more open-ended and ambiguous questions. (Of course I know they frequently cheat off each other.)