America Says

America Says is an American television game show hosted by John Michael Higgins and broadcast by Game Show Network. The series, which premiered on June 18, 2018,[2] consists of two teams of four guessing the top answers to fill-in-the-blank survey questions.[3][4]

America Says
GenreGame show
Created by
  • Cleve Keller
  • Dave Noll
Directed byHal Grant
Presented byJohn Michael Higgins
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes320
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Tara Long
  • Mark Herwick
  • Dave Noll
  • Cleve Keller
  • John Quinn
  • Jeffery Breeder
Running time20-22 minutes
Production company(s)
Release
Original networkGame Show Network
Picture format16:9
Original releaseJune 18, 2018 (2018-06-18) [1] –
present
External links
Official website

On August 14, 2018, Game Show Network renewed America Says for a 96-episode second season,[3][5] which premiered on November 26, 2018.[6]

As of April 2019, media reports stated that America Says had been renewed for a 160-episode third season, which premiered on July 22, 2019.[7] In June 2019, GSN and Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that the show would be launched in syndication for the 2019-20 television season.[8]

Gameplay

Two teams of four compete. One team is shown a fill-in-the-blank and its top seven answers, with the first letter of each word in each correct answer being shown as a clue. For example, if the question is "When I think of Italy, I think of [blank]," an answer might be "L______ T____" for Leaning Tower.

In the first round, each team is given one question. The team has a total of 30 seconds to guess all seven answers correctly. The first player offers an answer, and keeps giving answers until giving an answer that is not on the board, at which point control passes to the next player in line. This process continues (going back to the beginning of the line as often as necessary) until either all seven answers are given or time runs out. The team is awarded 100 points for every correct answer, and a 1,000-point bonus (1,700 total) if they can get all seven answers within the 30 seconds. Along the way, players must answer in turn; giving an answer out of turn—including before the previous player's answer is ruled incorrect—results in a five-second penalty (and the answer being disregarded). If the team cannot guess all seven, then the opposing team is given a chance to steal the remaining answers at 100 points each. Steal attempts are untimed, but end when either the board is completed or the stealing team gives an incorrect answer. Synonyms and word forms are acceptable if they correctly fill in the same blank(s) (for example, "chefs" and "cooking" would both be acceptable for "cooks," but "physician" would not be acceptable for "doctor").

The second round is played the same way, with 200 points given for each correct answer and a 2,000-point bonus for all seven. Likewise, the third round is played for 300 points per answer and 3,000 bonus points for all seven. The team with the most points after all three rounds wins $1,000 and the chance to play for $15,000 in the bonus round.

In the event of a tie after the third round, a tiebreaker is played between the team captains. The first letter of the top answer is shown, and then the question is shown. The first captain to buzz in is given the chance to answer. If the answer given is correct, that captain wins the game for his or her team. If the answer given is incorrect, then the other team wins automatically.

Bonus round

In the Bonus Round, the winning team has 60 seconds to get the top answers to four more survey questions. The players are lined up in their same order around a central console with a large red Pass Button. Play starts again with the Team Captain, and is similar to the Main Game: a correct guess allows the player to give another answer, a wrong answer passes control to the next player in line.

For the first survey question, only the top answer is needed, the second needs the top two answers, the third needs the top three answers, and the final question needs the top four answers.

If a team member feels they are stuck on a question, they can hit the Pass Button (which stops the clock) and skip to the next question. They must return to the passed question once completing the other three in order to win the Bonus. The Pass Button can only be used once during the Bonus Round, and cannot be used once three of the four questions are completed (as there is no other question with which to pass).

Players must wait until it is their turn before offering an answer. If a player offers an answer out of turn, the team loses five seconds from their clock.

Once all the needed answers for each question are correctly guessed, the clock stops and the next question is revealed. The guessing for each subsequent question begins with the player next in line (i.e. if Player 2 gave the last correct answer for a question, the next question's guessing starts with Player 3).

If the team can give all ten correct answers before time runs out, they win $15,000. If they cannot, they leave with just the $1,000 won in the Main Game.

On October 29, 2019, "The Canadians" (Ayumi Iizuka, Doug Morency, David Ivkovic, and Paul 'PK' Kingston) became the first team to complete a perfect game, amassing 10,400 points in 3 perfect rounds of 1,700, 3,400, and 5,100 points (plus a 200 point steal), and winning the bonus round.

Reception

America Says raised Game Show Network's ratings by 26% over its time slot lead-in, and its women 25-54 ratings by more than 40%.[3]

Stars & Celebs journalist Bradley Clarke described the series as "GSN's newest mediocre game show," criticizing the low prize money and calling the format "basically Family Feud but without the Family Feud charm" as well as stating that the point system "makes absolutely no sense." Clarke did concede that "the game itself is somewhat fun to play along with."[9]

Higgins was nominated for Outstanding Game Show Host at the 46th Daytime Emmy Awards.[10]

See also

References
  1. Actor John Michael Higgins Named as Host of Game Show Network's New Survey-Based Show, AMERICA SAYS-BroadwayWorld TV
  2. "Actor John Michael Higgins Named as Host of Game Show Network's New Survey-Based Show, America Says Premiering June 18" (Press release). GSN Corporate. May 16, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  3. "Game Show Network Announces Season 2 of "America Says"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  4. TV Guide
  5. "Game Show Network Greenlights Season 2 of AMERICA SAYS Hosted by John Michael Higgins". Broadway World. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  6. "Game Show Network on Instagram: "Your favorite fill-in-the-blank Game Show returns with ALL NEW episodes! #AmericaSays with @johnmichaelhiggins Weekdays starting Mon Nov 26…"". Instagram. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  7. Game Show Network Adds, Renews Series; Multichannel, April 5, 2019
  8. Porter, Rick (June 12, 2019). "Sony, Game Show Network Take 'America Says' to Syndication". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  9. Clarke, Bradley (June 29, 2018). "America Says is GSN's newest mediocre game show". The Celebrity Cafe. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  10. "The 46th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Nominations" (PDF). New York: emmyonline.org and National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
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