Genre Panel game Country United States Syndicates PRX | Running time 60 minutes Home station WGBH | |
Hosted by Richard Sher (1996–2015)
Barry Nolan (since 2015) | ||
Says You! is a panel radio show 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. 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).
Contents
Through the show's website, audience members and the public in general can suggest questions and segments for the show.
Following the death of Richard Sher on February 9, 2015, panelist Barry Nolan took over as host.
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 games, brain teasers, trivia, and parlor games. Typical games include "What's the Difference?", "Odd Man Out", "What Came First?", "Melded Movies", and variations of anagrams, homonyms and other language games.
Rounds 2 and 4 are the same each week, known as the Says You! bluffing round. 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 in a short time, while the band entertains the house, and local stations identify themselves. The other team attempts to select the correct definition from the three presented. Points are awarded for guessing or bluffing successfully.
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, when it ran a half-hour. These highlights are claimed to be based on listener requests.