"You Don't Say", a Goodson-Todman production, was a hybrid of the popular game show "Password" and the parlor game known as Charades. Two teams of two players competed against one another. Each team consisted of a celebrity and a contestant. The celebrities appeared for an entire week as Goodson-Todman would film 5 episodes in one day, thus only taking one day out of the celebritys' schedule.

The object of the game was for one member of the team to provide clues to the other to reveal a famous person or well-known place. The clue had to convey a portion of the name, but not the entire answer. One was not allowed to give a clue that directly identified the person or place, nor say any part of the answer, or (heaven forbid) the entire answer. Such an infraction was immediately met with a rather nasty sounding buzzer from the judge and the team's turn was forfeited Hence the name of the show, "You Don't Say."

After the clue was conveyed, the team member giving the clue was then required to remain silent while their teammate verbally worked through the clue that was given and perhaps previously clues from unsuccessful attempts to guess the correct answer. However, the silent team member could use head, hand and facial gestures (as in charades) to further assist their team mate in converging on the correct answer.

For example, if the Famous Person was Alfred Hitchcock, one could not give a clue like "He directed Rear Window and The Birds." A proper clue would be: "This is the device with a thing that looks like a ball on it that you attach to the bumper of your car so that you can tow your boat trailer." This is a trailer 'Hitch', so then the clue giver would put their finger on their nose (a standard charades signal for 'exactly' as in 'on the nose') or shake their head yes. The guesser had perhaps 10 seconds to try and come up with the correct answer while their partner gestured. If they didn't the other team got a turn. The obvious clue to give next would be "Another name for a rooster is a....."

Money was awarded based on the number of clues used. The fewer clues required garnered more money. There was also a bonus round. It was not a big money game show, as the entertainment value was from the interaction of the team members and the amusing things that would happen from thinking out loud or momentary brain death, not the tension and excitement of fabulous prizes.

The show aired on NBC from 1963 to 1969 in various time slots. It was briefly resurrected in 1975, with Tom Kennedy hosting, but wasn't successful in competing with the bigger money shows like "$10,000/$25,000 Pyramid", "Joker's Wild", and "The New Price is Right."
[-] Hide Full Summary

"You Don't Say", a Goodson-Todman production, was a hybrid of the popular game show "Password" and the parlor game known as Charades. Two teams of two players competed against one another. Each team consisted of a celebrity and a contestant. The celebrities appeared for an entire week as Goodson-Todman would film 5 episodes in one day, thus only taking one day out of the celebritys' schedule.

The object of the game was for one member of the team to provide clues to the other to reveal a famous person or well-known place. The clue had to convey a portion of the name, but not the entire answer. One was not allowed to give a clue that directly identified the person or place, nor say any part of the answer, or (heaven forbid) the entire answer. Such an infraction was immediately met with a rather nasty sounding buzzer from the judge and the team's turn was forfeited Hence the name of the show, "You Don't Say."

After the clue was conveyed, the team member giving the clue was then required to remain silent while their teammate verbally worked through the clue that was given and perhaps previously clues from
[+] Show Full Summary