Channel Surfing
I was channel surfing on the TV last night when i came across an American game show called 'Smarter Than a 4th Grader'. I dont know whether anyone has seen it but it basically consists of one contestant who gets some assistance from a 4th grader to answer questions. The contestant wins money for right answers. In the middle of all this the contestant gets OVERLY excited over exaggerating hand movements, shock and disbelief. He/She also gets to do a lot of Waaaaaaahooooo's, hand clapping, dancing and hi 5's......Quite frankly i could not believe how over excited these contestants got. For one brief moment i thought it was just an American thing....
.....But oh no......
After the show, i saw the ad for the New Zealand version of the show. It's called 'Smarter Than A 10 Year Old'. The theme music is essentially the same but the song has been edited to say 10 year old instead of 4th grader. Dont get me wrong but New Zealanders are a lot more reserved than Americans (there's our British heritage coming out there) but to see NZer's getting over excited about answering a question then doing a dance to celebrate followed by a scream followed by a hi 5 is so staged and un-New Zealand like that it's incredible. In fact i cringe!
I wonder how successful this show will be.
posted by kevin @ 11:34 AM
10 Comments:
And here I was hoping that your countrymen were not like mine!
What Lem said. I couldn't walk outside my house if I ever appeared on one of those shows and acted the idiot.
There is a newish trend in game shows lately... they're HEAVILY edited now a days, and the contestants are not NEARLY as randomly selected as they used to be. They're basically hired to be on shows and they are instructed to REALLY GET EXCITED about stuff. So much so that it all ends up looking very fake. At first it wasn't so noticeable... but now, they ALL look this way (Power of 10, Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100, Bingo Night). I've never seen Are You Smarter than... but I imagine it's the same thing.
In Canada they say "Grade 4" instead of "4th Grade." I wonder if they'll call the Canuk version, "Are You Smarter than a Kid in Grade 4?"
Hey, it's in Australia...Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Here in the UK, it's Are You Smarter Than a 10 yr old...generic TV...
yeah. it's funny how some of these contestants take a big accomplishment out of beating fifth graders!
LOL....yes, "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" is such a goofy show. http://www.fox.com/areyousmarter/
The host here in America is a Southern comedian named Jeff Foxworthy who's gimmick is to shine a harsh light on Southerners.
I hope your version isn't so goofy.
Are you "America-Bashing" my friend???
hahaha...i think kiwis are really into game shows. i can't help but realise the popularity of programs like "deal or no deal", and now this 10 year old thing.....watched it the other day- was a bit silly, quite light-hearted, a good laugh
ok, I can not even remember what grade 4 was like let alone the material we learned.
It seems quite popular here in the states.
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