| Host | |
| Wayne Cox | |
| Announcers | |
| Dean Hill (1988-1990) Doc Harris (1988 (sub)) | |
| Broadcast | |
  | |
| Packagers | |
| Comedia Productions/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | |
OPENING SPIEL #1: (Clips of past teams talking about different topics) Dean: “Let's talk. Whether the subject is (insert subject #1), (insert subject #2), or (insert subject #3, usually a punchline topic), it's something you're bound to/you’ll hear about when we all (get together and) play Talk About! And here's the man who can talk about almost anything/has everybody talking, Wayne Cox!"
OPENING SPIEL #2: Dean: “Let's talk. Whether the subject is (insert subject #1), (insert subject #2), or (insert subject #3, usually a punchline topic), it's something you'll/we might hear about when (insert 2 celebrities) and (insert 2 celebrities) all play Celebrity Talk About! And (now,) here's the man who has everybody/all of Canada talking, Wayne Cox!"
Talk About was a short-lived game show that was loosely based on the board game Outburst.
Gameplay[]
Two teams of two contestants competed to "talk about" a series of subjects which can be either people, places, and things; all while trying to reveal ten hidden clue words on a game board.
Main Game[]
Each round of play was conducted in the same manner. The game started with the champions playing first and each subsequent round saw the teams taking turns. The team that was not playing in a particular round was stationed at a desk to the side of the play area, where they would place headphones on their ears and keep their backs turned to their opponents so they could neither see nor hear anything. Cox would give the team playing a choice of two subjects to "talk about". The team captain would then choose the subject and who would speak first.
Once a subject was chosen and the decision who would play first was made, each player on the talking team had 20 seconds to talk about that subject as much as possible. While talking, they faced a game board of ten hidden clue words associated with the subject chosen by the producers; and the team tried to come up with as many as possible. Each time the team said a clue word, it would be revealed on the board and one point was added to the pot. Credit was given for forms of a word, but not synonyms; in addition, these words would be taken off the list the other team would be shown. If between them, they uncovered all ten clue words, not only did they get the 10 points, but they also won $500. If they didn't get all ten after both players took their turns, then the opposing team was released from isolation, got to see the keywords that were missed, and try to guess what the subject was. If the isolated team could guess the subject using the keywords they saw, they stole the points; but if they couldn't, the talking team would keep the points.
NOTE: On certain subject choices, Wayne would warn the talking team that a certain form of one of the subjects would be accepted if the stealing said it.
Play continued in this manner until one of the teams reached 15 points. The first team to do this won the game and $100, and advanced to the bonus round, while the losing team received parting gifts. All players received a copy of the Talk About home game.
Games could straddle from the end of one episode to the start of the next. This rule was changed for Celebrity Talk About; when time ran out near the end of an episode, the team in the lead won the game and received $1,000 in prizes for the charity sponsoring them.
Bonus Game[]
The team captain chose one of two bonus prizes to play for and one of two topics to discuss. He/she then decided which member would speak first, and the partner entered an isolation booth. As in the main game, the talking player had 20 seconds to say as many keywords as possible from a list of 10. Each word awarded $100; if the talking player said all of them, the team won $2,000 and a chosen bonus prize.
Any words that remained unsaid after 20 seconds were shown to the talking player, who then had to choose whether to continue the round or stop and take the accumulated money. If he/she chose to continue, his/her partner was brought out of the booth and had to try to come up with any of the unsaid words. One second was given for every word that had been said by the talking player, for a maximum of nine seconds. If the partner succeeded, the team won the selected bonus prize and their bonus money was doubled, up to $1,800; if not, they forfeited the money.
In Celebrity Talk About, the bonus game was only played for money.
Any team that won five consecutive games retired undefeated and collected the Grand Game Jackpot. This was a prize package worth $1,000 in the first season; during the second season, it began at this value and a prize was added every time new champions were crowned up to $10,000, until a team claimed it. The biggest Grand Game Jackpot won on the show was $10,000.
Merchandise[]
A home version of the game was produced by Pressman in 1989. All contestants got a copy and Wayne would plug it after every match. Partway through Season 2, Dean Hill began plugging it after coming back from the first commercial break.
A computer game of the show was produced by GameTek in 1990, but is fairly rare.
International Versions[]
The following are a list of countries that have previously aired their versions of Talk About:
- Ireland - TVE/90's/Ian Dempsey followed by Alan Hughes
- Sweden - Prata pa (Speaking of!)/TV4/90's/Lars Gustafsson
- United Kingdom - ITV/1990-1993/Andrew O'Connor
Music[]
Bob Buckley
Inventor[]
Mark Maxwell-Smith
Studio[]
CBC Studios, Vancouver, BC
Additional Page[]
Links[]
Rules for Talk About @ Loogslair.net
Chuck Donegan's Talk About Rules Page