Meredith Vieira To Host ‘25 Words Or Less’

Meredith Vieira will host 25 Words or Less, a game show set to debut Aug. 6 on select Fox Television Stations, announced Stephen Brown, Fox Television Stations EVP of programming and development, Wednesday.

The half-hour limited series is a collaboration of Lisa Kudrow, Dan Bucatinsky, Mary McCormack, Michael Morris, show-runner John Quinn and Bruce Sterten, the creator of the 25 Words or Less and Taboo board games. The summer series will be broadcast for three-weeks on Fox-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Orlando and Charlotte, N.C.

In making the announcement, Brown said: “The most popular game shows are often defined by their iconic hosts. That’s why we are so excited to have Meredith host 25 Words or Less. As host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Meredith became the longest standing female game show host in history. In everything she does, she brings humor, intelligence and an overall sense of fun that we think will make this a great game show series.”

Hosted and produced by Vieira, 25 Words or Less pits two teams comprised of both, celebrities and civilians, against each other in a fast-paced word game with a top prize of $10,000. In the beginning rounds of the game, after a frenzied bidding session, one team member provides clues to two partners to help them guess a list of five words using fewer than 25 clue words. In the final round, the contestant who has earned the most points, has 60 seconds to get his partners to guess 10 words using only 25 words or less.

Meredith Vieira is a 14-time Emmy Award-winning host, executive producer and anchor. Most recently, she served as co-host of PBS and BBC’s Royal Wedding Watch, and is currently hosting the PBS series The Great American Read. Vieira served as executive producer on the award-winning documentary Tower, released in October 2016.

She hosted and served as executive producer on her own nationally syndicated daytime talk show, The Meredith Vieira Show, which premiered in September 2014 and ran for two seasons. Previously, Vieira received critical acclaim for her hosting of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Today Show and The View.

Early in her career, she spent more than a decade at CBS News, garnering five Emmy Awards for her work as an editor on the news magazines 60 Minutes and West 57^th. Vieira founded and is CEO of Meredith Vieira Productions, which develops and produces film, television and theatre. A native of Providence, R.I., Vieira received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University in Medford, Mass.

Markets And Time Periods: 

• New York: WWOR, weekdays at 6:30 p.m.
• Los Angeles: KTTV, weekdays at 2:30 p.m.
• Philadelphia: WTXF, weekdays at 2 p.m.
• Dallas: KDFI, weekdays at 2 p.m.
• Atlanta: WAGA, weekdays at 2 p.m.
• Minneapolis: WFTC, weekdays at 8:30 p.m.
• Phoenix: KSAZ, weekdays at 1 p.m.
• Orlando, Fla.: WOFL, weekdays at 1 p.m.
• Charlotte, N.C.: WJZY, weekdays at 1 p.m.