What Is The Wordiest Show On TV?

What is the "wordiest" show on TV?

Ever find yourself watching something on TV and saying, "They talk too fast!"  "What did Lorelei say to Rory on The Gilmore Girls?" I'll turn on the subtitles. A lot of shows are just TOO WORDY.

WordFinderX (a place to find and/or generate words for word games) determined TV's wordiest shows. They're great shows - just too wordy!

The study was launched in a broader study on subtitles and how accessible, and helpful they are to those with disabilities. The National Disability Authority recommends that English language subtitles not exceed 170 words per minute, though they prefer that they stick to a maximum of 140 pm.

Studies show that about four out of five 18-25-year-olds use subtitles when watching TV shows, even though only one in ten of these say they are deaf or hard of hearing. Subtitles on has become the standard way to watch, with some even arguing that it should be the standard way to broadcast, as we battle to make sense of more complicated shows in a louder world.

After collecting subtitles from the most popular TV shows on subtitle downloading services and breaking down the WPM (words per minute), what did they find?

Well, comedy was the wordiest genre they studied, at an average of 133.6 wpm — still well below the disability authority’s recommended maximum output. To put it into context, no popular sci-fi or fantasy shows they studied exceeded 100 wpm.  The wordiest superhero show was DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

This isn’t that surprising. Comedy relies heavily on language, and pratfalls, slapstick, and spit takes aren’t quite what they used to be.

One flaw in the study, by the way, is that subtitles are sometimes not straight transcripts of dialogue,. It's often simplified, partly for condensation purposes, and partly for better understanding.

So - what is the wordiest comedy on TV/streaming? It's a show that actually broke the maximum recommended wordage with a whopping 176.2 wpm.

Starting with number nine, here are the wordiest shows on TV - 

Carla Rea

Parks and Recreation, is a comedy about government workers in Pawnee, Indiana. The dialog is fast, wordy, and oddly funny -  just like the characters played by Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Rob Lowe, and several more. A great cast!

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For a show to run more than two decades on television is an achievement by any standard – but it’s perhaps especially impressive when you consider the controversy that has often surrounded South Park's  gleefully crude toilet humor, and widespread mocking of public figures. Believe it or not, underneath the vulgarity and talking poop, there’s something actually quite profound about South Park. And those kids talk really fast!

A wordy show, but easier than many to understand. Perhaps because of the various, and distinct voices. Unusual characters - and sounds. Put the closed captioning on, just to read Tina's "ughhhhhh's."

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Suits follows Mike Ross, who uses his photographic memory to talk his way into a job as an associate working for successful closer Harvey Specter, despite being a college dropout who never attended law school. Again - good dialaog, and fast talkers. You'll also see and hear Megan Markle in this series.

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Central Park, the “save the park” comedy musical from the creators of Bob’s Burgers, is filled with storylines, relationships and surplus characters. The wpm is dialed up just to get through an episode.

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This is a show that seemed to speed up the pace as seasons went on. Everyone seems a little rushed, but it worked - and it worked well. Might want to turn on the closed captioning, because - teenagers.

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The fast-talking dialog in Gilmore Girls is part of the actual meat of the show — which actually revolves around the characters responding to and analyzing their lives, rather than relying on big headline moments. It also gives a slight screwball effect that gives the show its charm. 

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Fans of Brooklyn Nine-Nine  say that a few seasons in, some characters start talking very fast, and got very wordy. First noticed with Rosa, and Jake. Not a complaint, they say - just an observation.

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Its creators wrote a show about “a group of friends who care so little for each other,” and the network tagged it “like Seinfeld on crack.”  'It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia' is serving up an accessibility-busting 176.2 wpm in the latest of its 15 seasons. The subtitles make it a little easier to follow, but it might be a bit easier to follow if they were composed in barely literate Charlie’s personal lexicon of pictograms.

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