NPR's This American Life: Quiz show

[Peter5858]

Broadcast last week. Figured this crowd would be interested. But after listening to this, look at yourself in the mirror, people.

http://www.thislife.org/

[earendel]

Broadcast last week. Figured this crowd would be interested. But after listening to this, look at yourself in the mirror, people.

http://www.thislife.org/

I listened to it. It began with a conversation with the author of "Prisoner of Trebekistan" and then featured three "articles". The first was about an unlikely British BAM contestant, the second was about a weekend puzzle gathering and the third was about a woman who helped create a game show for teenaged girls and her disillusionment. It was well worth the hour to listen to it.

[Spock]

I heard most of it too.

The UK guy was a rather strange duck with a very odd story.

[Appa23]

Broadcast last week. Figured this crowd would be interested. But after listening to this, look at yourself in the mirror, people.

http://www.thislife.org/

I listened to it. It began with a conversation with the author of "Prisoner of Trebekistan" and then featured three "articles". The first was about an unlikely British BAM contestant, the second was about a weekend puzzle gathering and the third was about a woman who helped create a game show for teenaged girls and her disillusionment. It was well worth the hour to listen to it.

I only listened to the 30 second promo. Was that Bob Harris who revolved his life around Jeopardy (such as eating meals at the same time that he would while taping Jeopardy)?

[earendel]

Broadcast last week. Figured this crowd would be interested. But after listening to this, look at yourself in the mirror, people.

http://www.thislife.org/

I listened to it. It began with a conversation with the author of "Prisoner of Trebekistan" and then featured three "articles". The first was about an unlikely British BAM contestant, the second was about a weekend puzzle gathering and the third was about a woman who helped create a game show for teenaged girls and her disillusionment. It was well worth the hour to listen to it.

I only listened to the 30 second promo. Was that Bob Harris who revolved his life around Jeopardy (such as eating meals at the same time that he would while taping Jeopardy)?

Yes, yes it was.

[Peter5858]

I heard most of it too.

The UK guy was a rather strange duck with a very odd story.

Hmmm.... he was Irish. I think many Irish would take umbrage at being described as a "UK guy."

Didja notice at the end the very incongruous fact that for such a meek, self-loathing, unaccomplished guy, subsequent to his WWTBAM appearance, he won an international tennis tournament in Canada. Huh?

[trevor_macfee]

Didja notice at the end the very incongruous fact that for such a meek, self-loathing, unaccomplished guy, subsequent to his WWTBAM appearance, he won an international tennis tournament in Canada. Huh?

It was in the Gay Olympics or something similar, I think they said. The point I got was that he was able to do stuff like play in a tennis tournament because of the WWTBAM experience.

It was a very strange story - I'm not sure if it was inspiring or depressing, but it was certainly much darker than I expected. The story after about the girls' game show was definitely depressing.

I try to download This American Life each week and listen to it on my MP3 player while I work out - it is usually worth the hour and is often compelling listening.

[Ritterskoop]

It was in the Gay Olympics or something similar, I think they said. The point I got was that he was able to do stuff like play in a tennis tournament because of the WWTBAM experience.

I have not listened to the linked show, but it sounds like my positive experience would not fit the stories they are telling.

I would not have become a teacher if not for having done WWTBAM. For me it had a quality of "if I can do that, I can do anything". I learned a lot about courage and about presentation.

[TheConfessor]

I intended to post about this, but forgot. A woman I met recently called my house Sunday morning and woke me up to tell me that this show was on and I needed to tune in right away. So I listened to it, then went back to sleep.

Later, I went to the web site to hear the part I missed, including the Bob Harris interview. Game show fans will enjoy the show, even though it isn't necessarily very timely. You get to hear some questions from the now-defunct Irish version of WWTBAM, circa 2000 or 2001, hosted by a guy named Gay Byrne.

What really caught my eye was the strange choice of images on the "This American Life" web page to illustrate this episode. It is a photo taken by the Bored's own John Corbett. Check it out:
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=326

Under the image, where it says "click to enlarge," do so. You will see that the photo is credited to John Corbett. Then if you click on the name John Corbett, you get a link to John's flickr.com photo page.

John, did you know anything about this? It seems like a bizarre choice, since it really has nothing to do with the radio program. I recognized that image as the scoreboard from a couple years ago at the annual Smarty Pants competition at the Game Show Congress in Los Angeles. I believe the names shown on the scoreboard refer to me, Steve Chernicoff, Bob Harris, Jerome Vered, Kevin Olmstead, David Legler, Nancy Christy, and Tim Hsieh. In fairness to Tim, and possibly others, I think he may have been in the rotating seat and may not have had as many opportunities to answer as the other players did.

Smarty Pants has been an annual highlight of the Game Show Congress, and is created and hosted by Paul Paquet of Ottawa, who runs the fine Trivia Hall Of Fame web site.

(EDIT: changed Jerome Harris to Jerome Vered)

[thguy65]

John, did you know anything about this? It seems like a bizarre choice, since it really has nothing to do with the radio program. I recognized that image as the scoreboard from a couple years ago at the annual Smarty Pants competition at the Game Show Congress in Los Angeles. I believe the names shown on the scoreboard refer to me, Steve Chernicoff, Bob Harris, Jerome Harris, Kevin Olmstead, David Legler, Nancy Christy, and Tim Hsieh. In fairness to Tim, and possibly others, I think he may have been in the rotating seat and may not have had as many opportunities to answer as the other players did.

Smarty Pants has been an annual highlight of the Game Show Congress, and is created and hosted by Paul Paquet of Ottawa, who runs the fine Trivia Hall Of Fame web site.

From what I remember, I was just getting my ass kicked by all of you fast-on-the-buzzer hotshots.

[MarleysGh0st]

What really caught my eye was the strange choice of images on the "This American Life" web page to illustrate this episode. It is a photo taken by the Bored's own John Corbett. Check it out:
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=326

Under the image, where it says "click to enlarge," do so. You will see that the photo is credited to John Corbett. Then if you click on the name John Corbett, you get a link to John's flickr.com photo page.

That's cool!

Snaxx got his photo selected by NPR to illustrate a...uh...radio show.



I've downloaded the broadcast; now to see if I find time to listen to it on my MP3 player.

[MarleysGh0st]

Broadcast last week. Figured this crowd would be interested. But after listening to this, look at yourself in the mirror, people.

I finished listening to the podcast during my lunchtime walk.

Nope, no resemblance to anyone on this Bored. None at all!



A couple serious comments:

I'm curious why they ran the segment about the Irish WWTBAM contestant on a show called "This American Life"? They said it had won some radio award, somewhere, but I would think they could find an American game show contestant with a similar story.

In the third segment, interviewing the woman who produced a game show for girls on the Oxygen network, intended to boost their self esteem by providing smart role models, the telling point for me was when she was asked why this show had a male host. She said they had interviewed dozens (scores?) of women for the role and that one might have been right for it, but she wasn't pretty enough for television.

And so, while she was bemoaning how poorly the girls did on the show until they dumbed down the questions, I couldn't help wondering what standards they used to cast those young contestants? Looks and personality, perhaps?

[Peter5858]

I couldn't help wondering what standards they used to cast those young contestants? Looks and personality, perhaps?

That's CLEARLY how I got on TV

[earendel]

In the third segment, interviewing the woman who produced a game show for girls on the Oxygen network, intended to boost their self esteem by providing smart role models, the telling point for me was when she was asked why this show had a male host. She said they had interviewed dozens (scores?) of women for the role and that one might have been right for it, but she wasn't pretty enough for television.

And so, while she was bemoaning how poorly the girls did on the show until they dumbed down the questions, I couldn't help wondering what standards they used to cast those young contestants? Looks and personality, perhaps?

IIRC the woman being interviewed bemoaned the realities of casting TV shows and also having to "dumb down" the questions. She wanted to show that girls were as smart as boys but her experience seemed to show otherwise. Maybe it's just a phase - our female contingent would hardly classify as "girls" (females ages 12-25) but they're plenty smart.

[MarleysGh0st]

IIRC the woman being interviewed bemoaned the realities of casting TV shows and also having to "dumb down" the questions. She wanted to show that girls were as smart as boys but her experience seemed to show otherwise. Maybe it's just a phase - our female contingent would hardly classify as "girls" (females ages 12-25) but they're plenty smart.

Of course! (Did they say that was the contestant age range on the show?)

And, yes, that's what the producer was talking about, but it was a pointless complaint without clarification about which girls got on the show and which didn't, and why.