![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
25 Words or Less | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Genre | Game show |
Based on | 25 Words or Less by Winning Moves |
Presented by | Meredith Vieira |
Narrated by |
|
Theme music composer | Scott Szabo |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 860 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Production locations | |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | Syndication |
Release | September 16, 2019 – present |
25 Words or Less is an American television game show based on the board game of the same name. Hosted by Meredith Vieira, this show is produced by Dino Bones Productions, Is or Isn't Entertainment, Regular Brand, and distributed by Fox First Run. It first aired in summer 2018 as a three-week summer trial run on nine Fox Television Stations and premiered as a regular series on September 16, 2019. [1] [2]
The show premiered on September 16, 2019. [3]
On November 13, 2019, Fox renewed the show for a second season, which launched on September 14, 2020. [4] The second through fourth seasons featured some staging differences to accommodate for the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, with the two competing teams separated into pods and Vieira hosting remotely from her personal basement studio at her home in New York. [5] On November 18, 2020, the series was renewed for two additional seasons, through the 2022–23 season. [6]
On January 31, 2023, the show was renewed through the 2023–24 season. [7]
On January 11, 2024, the show was renewed through the 2024-25 season, with production moving to Atlanta. [8]
In summer 2018, the show tested as first run on Fox-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Orlando, and Charlotte. In 2019, the show premiered nationwide on all TV stations. [9] It is currently available on Tubi. [10] It is also available as a 24/7 FAST channel on The Roku Channel.
Two three-member teams, consisting of two contestants and a celebrity (For the first two seasons, it was two celebrities and one contestant), compete in the game.
In Round 1, team members are called up to the host's podium, one on one. At the podium, they are shown a list of five words to convey to their teammates in 45 seconds via single word clues. In the second season, instead of coming up, the list is shown on the tablet of the two players.
Starting with a varying number of clue words set by the host as the opening bid between 17 to 25, the face-off contestants bid against each other as to how few clue words they can use to complete the round. The bidding continues until one of the contestants concedes to the other contestant's bid. The contestant who wins the bid then plays the game using the number of words they bid. The contestant can pass on a word if it is too difficult, returning to any passed words if time remains on the clock.
Clue givers must keep their hands on the electronic tablet at all times. Clue givers cannot use a word itself, a part of a word, or a derivative form of a word, in a clue. Clue givers are also forbidden from using hand gestures. Doing so ends the round immediately, with the opponents earning the points. The round also ends if the clue giver exceeds their word limit for the round.
Contestants score points if they are successful in getting all five words within the 45-second time limit. The other team receives the points if the playing team fails to complete the round. In some episodes, three word sets are played, with each player playing once for 250 points. In other episodes, there are four word sets, with the first two worth 250 points each and the final two 500 points each, each contestant plays once, and then the teams choose a clue giver for the final set.
Contestants and celebrities have an individual tablet and compete in separate studios in Seasons 2 and 3 due to social distancing guidelines resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Only the players active in each round see the clues on their tablet.
Starting with the third season, the celebrities play first, followed by the civilian contestants.
Round 2 begins with the contestants at the podium while the celebrities are in a soundproof room offstage. In the second season, the celebrities are told to put on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones with music playing in them, but from the third season on, the celebrities make the lists and the contestants put on the headphones.
Clue givers are shown a series of five sets of three words which have been determined by the producers to be of distinct levels of difficulty (in season three the celebrities see the sets of words). Green words are easiest, and worth 250 points, yellow words are more difficult, and worth 500 points, and red words are the most difficult, and worth 1,000 points.
The clue givers alternate first choice of the three words to place in their own five-word stack, with the trailing team choosing first in the first, third, and fifth word sets. The team who chooses second picks from the remaining two words in the set, the unchosen word in each set is discarded. Once the process is done, the contestant/celebrity plays their five words.
Starting in the fourth season, during the second round, two of the words are bonus words. If the clue giver selects a bonus word and the team manages to guess that word during their turn, they receive a $250 cash bonus.
The trailing team, otherwise, whichever one that played last the previous round in a tie, goes first. The teams have 45 seconds and a set limitation of 20 words. Contestants score the points for each successful word and earn a 1,000-point bonus for successfully getting all five. If the clue giver gives an illegal clue in this round, the word in play is removed.
The round will end early if a clue giver exceeds the 20-word limit. Moreover, the second team's round will end if they take the lead or an illegal clue makes it mathematically impossible for them to win.
The team with more points is the champion and moves on to the Money Round to play for $10,000. The losing contestant/team from the main game receives consolation prizes.
In the event of a tie, both civilian contestants face off at the podium with buzzers. The host will begin giving clues to one final word. The first contestant to buzz gives their answer. If correct, they are declared the winner and advance to the Money Round, if incorrect, their opponent wins.
In the Money Round, the champion must convey 10 words to their celebrity partners (or, beginning in Season 3, one civilian partner and the celebrity) in one minute with the maximum of 25 clue words available to them. If the contestant can get the two partners to solve all 10 words, the champion wins $10,000.
If they do not succeed, the champion (civilian partners in season 3) receives consolation prizes. If the clue giver exceeds the 25 clue word limit, or gives an illegal clue at any time, the round ends.
For the second season of the show, a new rule was introduced in which the contestants are also playing for a "SuperFan" who registered via the show's website or on social media accounts. The losing contestant in the main game receives consolation prizes, and the losing SuperFan that they played for receives a $100 gift card. If the champion in the Money Round wins the $10,000, the chosen SuperFan receives $1,000 as well. If the champion fails to win the Money Round, the chosen SuperFan will receive consolation prizes.
In Season 3, the SuperFan rule returned and a new rule stated the team that wins and advances to the Money Round will return for the next episode and can continue to do so until they are defeated, regardless of the outcome (like Jeopardy! , without limitations). One SuperFan is chosen per game instead of two.
The Spanish channel Telecinco was the first international broadcaster to launch a local format of the show, called 25 palabras and hosted by Christian Gálvez. [11] [12] [13]
Country | Name | Presenter | Channel | Broadcast |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 25 palabras | Christian Gálvez | Telecinco | 19 December 2022 – 15 September 2023 |
Pyramid is an American game show franchise that has aired several versions domestically and internationally. The show was developed by Bob Stewart. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted on CBS on March 26, 1973, and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series. Most later series featured a full title format matching the original series, with the title reflecting an increasing top prize. Two teams, each consisting of a celebrity and contestant, attempt to convey mystery words and phrases within a common category, against a time limit, to win cash and prizes. The title refers to the show's pyramid-shaped gameboard, featuring six categories arranged in a triangular fashion. The various Pyramid series have won a total of nine Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Game Show, second only to Jeopardy!, which has won 13.
Password is an American television game show. Two teams, each composed of a celebrity and contestant, attempt to convey mystery words to each other using only single-word clues, in order to win cash prizes.
Lingo is an American television game show with multiple international adaptations. Contestants compete to decode five-letter words given the first letter, similarly to Jotto, with each correctly guessed word earning number draws to attempt filling in a Bingo card.
Win, Lose or Draw is an American television game show that aired from 1987 to 1990 in syndication and on NBC. It was taped at CBS Television City, often in Studios 31, 33, and 43 at various times. It was co-produced by Burt & Bert Productions and Kline & Friends for Disney's Buena Vista Television. It has also had two versions on The Disney Channel: Teen Win, Lose or Draw from 1989 to 1992, and a revived version known as Disney's Win, Lose or Draw which aired in 2014. New York described Win, Lose or Draw as "a knockoff" of the board game Pictionary, however, Burt Reynolds and Ed McMahon referred to playing the game at Burt's home during the August 2, 1978 episode of The Tonight Show, with Johnny Carson, three years before Pictionary was created.
Chain Reaction is an American television game show created by Bob Stewart, in which players compete to form chains composed of two-word phrases.
The Cross-Wits is an American syndicated game show which premiered on December 15, 1975, and lasted for five seasons until its cancellation on September 12, 1980. The show was hosted by Jack Clark, with Jerri Fiala as hostess. Announcing duties were handled by John Harlan, Jay Stewart, and Jerry Bishop. The show was produced by Ralph Edwards Productions and distributed by Metromedia Producers Corporation.
Go is an American television game show created by Bob Stewart and aired on NBC from October 3, 1983, to January 20, 1984. The show featured two teams, each composed of four contestants and a celebrity. The teams had to construct questions one word at a time to convey a word or phrase to their teammates. The concept of Go was based on "Instant Reaction", an endgame played on two different iterations of another game show created by Bob Stewart, Chain Reaction, in 1980 on NBC and from 2006–07 on GSN.
Body Language is an American game show produced by Mark Goodson Productions. The show aired on CBS from June 4, 1984, until January 3, 1986, and was hosted by Tom Kennedy. Johnny Olson announced until his death in October 1985; Gene Wood and Bob Hilton shared the announcing duties afterward, having substituted on occasion before then.
Blackout is an American game show that was broadcast on CBS as part of its daytime schedule from January 4, 1988 until April 1, 1988. The program was created and produced by Jay Wolpert. The game features two contestants, each paired with a celebrity. Contestants attempt to solve word puzzles consisting of a sentence or short paragraph with four blank spaces. Players guess each missing word based on hearing clues recorded by their partner, but with the playback being muted or "blacked out" at certain places by their opponent.
Mad Libs is an American children's game show based on the book/word game series. It aired on the Disney Channel from July 26, 1998 to mid-1999, and was hosted by David Sidoni. Dick Clark and J. D. Roth produced the show.
¿Qué dice la gente? is a Spanish-language adaptation of the American game show Family Feud which was produced in the United States, that aired on Spanish-language channel Telefutura in 2006. It was itself the American version of Mexican game show, 100 mexicanos dijeron, originally hosted by Marco Antonio Regil for two seasons from 2006 until 2008 followed by Omar Chaparro who took over for the last nine weeks of the series when it was filmed in Miami. Jackie Vilarino and Survivor: Nicaragua Contestant Brenda Lowe both served as co-hosts for the show's run. The show premiered on June 12, 2006, and ended on November 14, 2008. In 2008, the show was reduced to a half-hour in order to pair up with the Spanish-language version of the short-lived 1982-83 American game show Child's Play under the name Dame la Pista or hosted by Alessandra Rosaldo, but it was ultimately cancelled along with ¿Qué dice la gente? for "unknown" reasons.
Million Dollar Password is an updated version of the game show Password on CBS, which was hosted by Regis Philbin and ran from June 1, 2008, to June 14, 2009. FremantleMedia produced the program.
25 Words or Less is a party board game in which two teams of players take turns bidding words back and forth, until one team allows the other to try to give that number of clues to their team to try guessing five words from a card in only one minute. It was first published by Winning Moves Games USA in 1996 and was republished in 2006 as 25 Words or Less: People, Places and Things Edition. The game is no longer in production.
Pyramid is an Australian children's quiz show screening on the Nine Network from 2009 to 2015 hosted by Shura Taft. It is co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and produced by Sydney-based Ambience Entertainment. It began broadcasting on 1 September 2009 and is filmed in front of a live studio audience. It involves two teams competing in games of "vocal charades". The show is based on the 1979 United States game show The Junior Partner Pyramid, a children's variant of the Sony Pictures Television Pyramid franchise.
Celebrity Name Game is an American syndicated game show that premiered on September 22, 2014. Based on the board game Identity Crisis, the series was developed by Courteney Cox and David Arquette's Coquette Productions and was originally pitched as a primetime series for CBS with Craig Ferguson as host. The series was later picked up by FremantleMedia and Debmar-Mercury as a syndicated series for 2014 with Ferguson, who left The Late Late Show on December 19, 2014, remaining as host as well as an executive producer. The series marks Coquette's first foray into game shows. The show was subsequently renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 21, 2015.
Ellen's Game of Games, also known as Game of Games and stylized as ellen's GAME OF GAMES, is an American television game show that aired on NBC. In March 2017, NBC ordered six hour-long episodes of the series. Ellen DeGeneres serves as host, while Stephen "tWitch" Boss appears as announcer/sidekick. The series is based on game segments from DeGeneres' daytime talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The series premiered on December 18, 2017. On February 18, 2020, DeGeneres announced on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that the series was renewed for a fourth season, which began airing on October 6, 2020. In January 2022, the series was canceled after four seasons.
Get a Clue is an American television game show hosted by Rob Belushi that aired on Game Show Network from January 6, 2020 to April 16, 2021.
People Puzzler is an American television game show hosted by Leah Remini and broadcast by Game Show Network as well as in syndication. It premiered on January 18, 2021. The show is inspired by the celebrity and pop-culture themed crosswords in People magazine.
Pictionary is an American television game show based on the board game of the same name hosted by Jerry O'Connell that premiered in syndication on September 12, 2022.
Person, Place or Thing is an American game show in which three players compete to win cash and prizes by identifying people, places and things. Players gain more information about the subjects by asking questions and receiving clues. Hosted by Melissa Peterman, the series premiered nationally on September 11, 2023. The show is based on the parlor game twenty questions.