WWTBAM Bored

A lot of people here suspect that TPTB try to weed out the best contestants who might have a chance to break the bank. If that's true, they let one slip through for Friday's show.

I just saw on tvgameshows.net that a "former child prodigy" doctoral degree student who is a quiz bowl veteran will be in the hot seat. Among his Phone a Friends are Kevin Olmstead and a couple other people who have PAF experience. The contestant's name is Michael Kearney, a student at MTSU, near Nashville. He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.
http://tvgameshows.net/bignews.htm

At the above link, there's an audio interview with further details. Michael mentions meeting me at a TRASH tournament. I assume that was last year in Maryland. I met a lot of people there, and I'm bad with faces and names so I need to dig through my old papers and see if I ever played against him.

Michael, if you find your way to this board, congratulations and (retroactive) good luck!

TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.

He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?

MarleysGh0st wrote:

TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.

He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?

I know that he is not the only one.

Appa23 wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.

He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?

So did I.

Why would you do that? Didn't you trust your PAFs to remember how to answer a telephone?

MarleysGh0st wrote:

TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.

He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?

My goodness

The Huge Manatee wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.

He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?

My goodness

How long have you been waiting to unleash this MM?

The Huge Manatee wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.

He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?

My goodness

Where is my attorney?

OhTheHumanity wrote:

The Huge Manatee wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote: He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?

My goodness

Where is my attorney?

Your are my inspiration today!

Rexer25 wrote:

Appa23 wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote: He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?

So did I.

Why would you do that? Didn't you trust your PAFs to remember how to answer a telephone?

You may recall that I had just returned from South Korea when I auditioned for the show. I already had decided that I would not travel for the first two months after she came home, in order to allow for a bonding process.

The Huge Manatee wrote:

OhTheHumanity wrote:

The Huge Manatee wrote: My goodness

Where is my attorney?

Your are my inspiration today!

This may be one of the first instance of someone other than me and mini playing off each other's MM's....

lb13

I'm not surprised they put this guy in the hot seat. I don't think they are specifically trying to avoid good players, but they do want ratings. This guy is probably good for ratings no matter how he does. If he crashes and burns, people can laugh at the mighty having fallen. If he does well, that would be exciting also.

TPTB want hooks. This guy certainly has some awesome hooks.

Retroactive good luck to Michael.

slam wrote:I'm not surprised they put this guy in the hot seat. I don't think they are specifically trying to avoid good players, but they do want ratings. This guy is probably good for ratings no matter how he does. If he crashes and burns, people can laugh at the mighty having fallen. If he does well, that would be exciting also.

TPTB want hooks. This guy certainly has some awesome hooks.

It is surely no coincidence that the May sweeps start today. What may be surprising is the apparent lack of publicity.

slam wrote:TPTB want hooks. This guy certainly has some awesome hooks.

Why do you say that? From my perspective, I think he'll be a very worthy contestant. From the show's perspective, he might appear to be just another hard core trivia geek. Hundreds of people like that have auditioned, but very few of them have been invited to the show. If you consider the Kevin Olmstead PAF angle a good "hook," I doubt that the show knew anything about that before they selected Michael. Besides, they generally avoid any mention of the Regis era of WWTBAM. The "child prodigy" angle might be a "hook," but I didn't see any specifics about what that meant.

Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.

TheConfessor wrote:

slam wrote:TPTB want hooks. This guy certainly has some awesome hooks.

Why do you say that? From my perspective, I think he'll be a very worthy contestant. From the show's perspective, he might appear to be just another hard core trivia geek. Hundreds of people like that have auditioned, but very few of them have been invited to the show. If you consider the Kevin Olmstead PAF angle a good "hook," I doubt that the show knew anything about that before they selected Michael. Besides, they generally avoid any mention of the Regis era of WWTBAM. The "child prodigy" angle might be a "hook," but I didn't see any specifics about what that meant.

Having a good hook doesn't mean that someone wouldn't be a worthy contestant. Nothing that I said implied that this guy wouldn't be a worthy contestant. Sure, from the show's perspective he might be "just another hard core trivia geek". Look at his wikipedia article. There are certainly a handful of things in there that make him more than just that, any of which could be a good enough hook to get on the show.

I see that Michael has posted saying that TPTB didn't know that he was the world's youngest college graduate. Nonentheless, they had to know at least some of the details that would constitute a good hook.

Oh, and welcome to the Bored, Michael. Good retroactive luck tomorrow.

Welcome to the Bored, Michael!

MKearney wrote:Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.

Hi, Michael. Welcome to this board. A lot of the people here have been avid fans of WWTBAM since the early days, though most of the discussion is far from the original topic that brought us together. I hope your appearance gives us something memorable to talk about.

I didn't know about the world's youngest college graduate angle. That's a great accomplishment and an excellent hook. Congratulations! What is your major?

Stick around and I'm sure you'll have lots of opportunities to compare notes and strategy with people who really know and love WWTBAM.

By the way, did you play in the TRASH finals this year? Weren't they in Chattanooga, or am I imagining that? The subject matter doesn't really fit my knowledge base, but it's always a fun weekend of competition.

Oh, in Michael's wiki article is a link to this article which says he was interviewed by none other than Meredith Viera when he was 10. Wouldn't that alone be enough of a hook?

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1303853

The only thing that TPTB knew was that I was personable, talkative, and a big pop culture dork. I passed both Movie Week and the regular test, and they liked that. After I got the call, we went through the pre-interview stuff about being a child prodigy, but I wanted to make my way onto the show without using my "hook".

And considering I was being selected for Guest Week, my previous interview with Meredith didn't come up.

Ed: Actually, we won TRASHionals this year, and are now the reigning champs. Woo!

MKearney wrote:Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.

Welcome, Michael. It's a privilege to have you join us here. However I should warn you that we post transcripts of each day's show and some of us (myself included) make comments about how we would have done given your stack of questions.

earendel wrote: Welcome, Michael. It's a privilege to have you join us here. However I should warn you that we post transcripts of each day's show and some of us (myself included) make comments about how we would have done given your stack of questions.

Yeah, but now that he's a Bored Buddy, we'll go easy on him.

Although I get the feeling that he won't need that!

MarleysGh0st wrote:

earendel wrote: Welcome, Michael. It's a privilege to have you join us here. However I should warn you that we post transcripts of each day's show and some of us (myself included) make comments about how we would have done given your stack of questions.

Yeah, but now that he's a Bored Buddy, we'll go easy on him.

Although I get the feeling that he won't need that!

Maybe I'll get the honor of transcribing a million-dollar winner.

earendel wrote:

MKearney wrote:Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.

Welcome, Michael. It's a privilege to have you join us here. However I should warn you that we post transcripts of each day's show and some of us (myself included) make comments about how we would have done given your stack of questions.

A very warm welcome to you indeed. I also make daily comments on the day's questions, and I very frequently express disgust over missed questions, lifeline usage, etc. We're way overdue for another great contestant (like fellow Bored member Lyn Payne from a few months ago), and you may just be that one. I can't wait to watch you!

MKearney wrote:Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.

Welcome aBored, Michael, and congratulations on making the show. I'll be looking forward to seeing your appearance. Retroactive good luck to you. --Bob