Says You!
Encyclopedia
Says You! is an American panel radio show
distributed by Pipit & Finch in the United States. Although many NPR
stations carry it, it is independently produced. It was created by host Richard Sher, and is produced in Boston, Massachusetts, by Pipit & Finch. Its tagline
is "A game of bluff and bluster, words and whimsy." It has a similar format to the long-running BBC program My Word!
(1956-1990).
The show's website is integrated with the show. Audience members can suggest questions for the show through the website.
s, brain teaser
s, trivia
, and parlor games. Typical games include "What's the Difference?," "Odd Man Out," "What Came First?," "Melded Movies," and variations of anagram
s, homonym
s and other language games.
Rounds 2 and 4 are the same each week, known as the Says You! bluffing round. It's a variation on the popular word game fictionary
. The three members of one team are given an obscure word; one of them gets the actual definition, and the other two must bluff with fake definitions composed within a minute or so. The other team attempts to select the correct definition. Points are awarded for guessing or bluffing successfully. During the time while the panelists are making up their definitions, there is a musical interlude, which for many years was provided by an acoustic house band named "The Dactyls" whose humorous tag line was "Second takes are for wimps." In recent years many different (local) acts have been featured.
On rare occasions rounds 2 and 4 are replaced with segments where three panelists present one true and two fictional stories explaining why some obscure person is notable, and the other team has to guess which story is correct.
With the expansion to one hour in October 2006, an occasional new round was added called the Spotlight Round. This is a highlights portion of the show featuring memorable rounds from the first ten years of the show. These highlights are taken from listener requests.
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
distributed by Pipit & Finch in the United States. Although many NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
stations carry it, it is independently produced. It was created by host Richard Sher, and is produced in Boston, Massachusetts, by Pipit & Finch. Its tagline
Tagline
A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising. The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of a brand or product , or to reinforce the audience's memory of a product...
is "A game of bluff and bluster, words and whimsy." It has a similar format to the long-running BBC program My Word!
My Word!
My Word! was a long-running radio panel game broadcast by the BBC on the Home Service and Radio 4 . It was created by Edward J. Mason and Tony Shryane, and featured comic writers Denis Norden and Frank Muir, famous in Britain for the series Take It From Here...
(1956-1990).
The show's website is integrated with the show. Audience members can suggest questions for the show through the website.
Format
The show features a regular group of panelists divided into two three-person teams. The team makeup varies from week to week. The program is recorded before live audiences at locations throughout the United States. Both in its panel-game format and its literary bent, the show's debt to the BBC's now defunct My Word! is evident. Rounds 1, 3, and 5 vary from week to week, and consist of word gameWord game
Word games and puzzles are spoken or board games often designed to test ability with language or to explore its properties.Word games are generally engaged as a source of entertainment, but have been found to serve an educational purpose as well...
s, brain teaser
Brain teaser
A brain teaser is a form of puzzle that requires thought to solve. It often requires thinking in unconventional ways with given constraints in mind; sometimes it also involves lateral thinking. Logic puzzles and riddles are specific types of brain teasers....
s, trivia
Trivia
The trivia are the three lower Artes Liberales, i.e. grammar, rhetoric and logic. These were the topics of basic education, foundational to the quadrivia of higher education, and hence the material of basic education, of interest only to undergraduates...
, and parlor games. Typical games include "What's the Difference?," "Odd Man Out," "What Came First?," "Melded Movies," and variations of anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
s, homonym
Homonym
In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that often but not necessarily share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings...
s and other language games.
Rounds 2 and 4 are the same each week, known as the Says You! bluffing round. It's a variation on the popular word game fictionary
Fictionary
Fictionary, also known as the Dictionary Game or simply Dictionary, is a word game in which players guess the definition of an obscure word....
. The three members of one team are given an obscure word; one of them gets the actual definition, and the other two must bluff with fake definitions composed within a minute or so. The other team attempts to select the correct definition. Points are awarded for guessing or bluffing successfully. During the time while the panelists are making up their definitions, there is a musical interlude, which for many years was provided by an acoustic house band named "The Dactyls" whose humorous tag line was "Second takes are for wimps." In recent years many different (local) acts have been featured.
On rare occasions rounds 2 and 4 are replaced with segments where three panelists present one true and two fictional stories explaining why some obscure person is notable, and the other team has to guess which story is correct.
With the expansion to one hour in October 2006, an occasional new round was added called the Spotlight Round. This is a highlights portion of the show featuring memorable rounds from the first ten years of the show. These highlights are taken from listener requests.
Personnel
- Richard Sher (creator, producer and host)
- Francine Achbar (panelist)
- Carolyn Faye Fox (panelist)
- Tony KahnTony KahnTony Kahn is an American award-winning broadcaster, published author, scholar and son of the blacklisted screenwriter Gordon Kahn.- Life :Kahn grew up in Los Angeles, the son of Hollywood screenwriter Gordon Kahn and Barbara Brodie Kahn. He joined his family in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where his father...
(panelist) - Paula Lyons (panelist)
- Barry NolanBarry NolanBarry Nolan is an American former presenter on Comcast Cable's CN8 channel, once hosting the shows Nitebeat and Backstage, and Backstage with Barry Nolan...
(panelist) - Arnie Reisman (panelist)
- Phil Salkind (producer)
- The Dactyls (house band)
- Zach Moore (associate producer)