Talk:Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Criticism
There should be a Criticism section. This article appears to be the product of advocates and enthusiasts. I know that there are people who have a negative attitude towards this show because I am one. I hope somebody will come forward to contribute such a section. Unfortunately, I avoid the show at all costs and so have only limited knowledge. What I would have to say would be limited to my view that it is a show produced by and for people who have essentially no sense of humor, low intelligence, a love for political and social conformity and for crude antics. I hope somebody can flesh out the negative aspects. ---Dagme (talk) 02:01, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

What is the Format Actually Like?
I've never seen Wait Wait before, and I would like to see an actual description of the game show.

If I were to give the format of Jeopardy!, I would say "Three contestants each pick categories that contain questions they must answer, with each question worth a certain amount of money. The player that answers the question first gets that much money added to their score and picks the next question's category and value.  A wrong answer has the question's value deducted from the player's score.  The "questions" are actually in the form of statements and the contestants must "answer" them by forming questions, such as "Who is George Washington?"  The player with the highest score at the end wins.

Would someone please do that clearly and concisely for Wait Wait...? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.125.40.26 (talk) 16:22, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Show length and "Bluff the Listener"
Is the show really one hour long? I don't hear it on the radio but subscribe to the podcast, which is usually about 45 minutes. Current show is 46:15. (ETA: PBS and NPR shows tend to follow the 1/4 hour time unit model, i.e. all shows last 15, 30 or 60 minutes, with a bit of time reserved for interstitial announcements. 46 minutes doesn't seem to follow that model; if the show is an hour, that's a lot of time left for the interstitial announcements....)

Bluff the lIstener: Do the panelists really invent the fake news stories themselves? I have the impression that they are written by staff writers and just read by the panelists. JShook | Talk 15:07, 17 June 2012 (UTC)


 * The show that airs is roughly 44-46 minutes, but live taping of the shows can last around 1 1/2 hours or more. The edited version cuts out a number of panelist questions and some of the Lightning round questions, along with any pick ups, redos, or recording of additional material to cover when things change between taping (Thursday nights) and airing (Saturday and/or Sunday). One example was the taping when Scotland was holding their vote for independence, they recorded a bit in case the vote went "Yes" and another bit in case the vote went "No".


 * As far as I know, the (non-true) bluffs are written by the panelists and, over the years, common themes and trends can be picked out for each panelist. For example: Mo Rocca has used the surname "Bagnoli" a number of times, Paula Poundstone has used one surname multiple times, etc. --questionlp (talk) 01:11, 14 June 2015 (UTC)


 * This seems a good place to discuss Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank length. Contestants have 60 seconds starting when Peter starts the first question. Around 42-44 seconds later (as measured on a June 2022 show) there is a gong signaling the end, but the host can continue the question and the panelist can complete the answer, in more or less than 60 seconds. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MrArtC (talk • contribs) 16:26, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

additional source for the article

 * https://web.archive.org/web/20090730034459/http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-090726-wait-wait-npr,0,2139904.story
 * https://web.archive.org/web/20090731041420/http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-090726-wait-wait-npr,0,2139904.story?page=2 —   fourthords  &#124; =Λ= &#124;  20:16, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

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