''Say What?'' is a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

series that aired on American MTV in 1998. It was created at a time when MTV was being heavily criticized for not playing as many music videos as it had in the past. In an attempt to remedy this problem, five shows were created that centered on videos: ''

12 Angry Viewers ''12 Angry Viewers'' is a daily half-hour television show in the United States on MTV. In it, a public jury judged music videos. It ran from 1997 to 1998. The title is a play of title of the movies ''12 Angry Men'' and the 1997 TV remake, which ai ...

'', '' MTV Live'', ''Artist's Cut'', ''

Total Request ''Total Request'' was a music video request show on MTV in the United States. Background The show debuted in April 1998 as part of a renewed effort by MTV to increase the amount of music programming aired on the network. The show originally debu ...

'', and ''Say What?''.

Premise

Hosted by MTV VJ

Matt Pinfield Matthew Pinfield (born May 28, 1961) is an American television host, disc jockey, and music executive. He first reached national prominence as VJ on MTV. He served two stints as the host of the alternative music program ''120 Minutes'', from 19 ...

, the premise behind ''Say What?'' was to show videos with lyrics which were fast or difficult to understand. The lyrics would scroll across the bottom of the screen as the video was played. This concept would develop into '' Say What? Karaoke''.

References

1990s American music television series 1999 American television series debuts 1999 American television series endings MTV original programming {{US-music-tv-prog-stub