To Say the Least

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To Say the Least was an American game show that aired on NBC from October 3, 1977 to April 21, 1978. The show was produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions. The show was hosted by Tom Kennedy and announced by Kenny Williams.

[edit] Format

Two 3-person celebrity/contestant teams (men vs. women) competed.

To Say the Least was a word puzzle game whose object was to guess the puzzles in as few words as possible.

To begin, two of the players would be placed into isolation. The two unisolated players would be faced with a six word sentence and would keep picking words off one at a time, until either the player challenged his opponent to answer, or one word was left (at which point the team who deleted it was forced to guess).

Once the challenge was made, all the isolated players returned to the game, with the challenged team guessing. If they get it right, they win the game, with a wrong answer giving the win to their opponents. The first to win 2 wins the game, $100, a prize package, and a chance at an accumulating jackpot in the bonus round.

[edit] The All-Star Game

To Say the Least's bonus round was called The All-Star Game, and was conducted as such:

The champion and the four celebrities competed.

Each celebrity was behind one of four doors on stage. The champion was given another six word sentence and eliminated three of the words for the first celebrity. A correct guess netted the player $100. After the first part, another word was eliminated. If the celebrity behind door #2 guessed correctly, the contestant won $200. Regardless of how the player did in the first two stages of the endgame, after the $200 stage, the player was given two chances at the jackpot. One last word was deleted, and celebrity #3 got a chance to guess. If they did not get the answer, the word remained, and celebrity #4 got a guess. If either celebrity #3 or celebrity #4 guessed correctly, the champion won a cash jackpot which started at $2000 and increased by $1000 each day until claimed.

A contestant could stay on until they lost twice or won seven times, whichever came first.

If a contestant won four matches in a row without being defeated, they won a new car.

[edit] Notes

• This was Tom Kennedy's third NBC show to debut in the span of one year. His first, 50 Grand Slam, was cancelled after a 13 week run in December of 1976. That show was replaced by a daytime version of his hit Name That Tune, which was canceled in June 1977. To Say the Least debuted on October 3 that year.