World Series of Pop Culture - 7/10/06

[jryken99]

Did anybody catch this?

I thought it was pretty good. The questions were easier than I thought they'd be ( maybe they'll get harder in the later rounds) and the geek factor is ramped up some, but I enjoyed it and will try to catch some more of it this week.

[Magister]

Channel/Time?

[jryken99]

It's on VH1 at 10:00 EDT. It's going to be on every night this week and then Thursdays after this week.

[MikeMar]

SP added, first time i saw was tues night at 10, not going to get that ep, see if it catches it later

[mwhip]

We had a team together for this and everyone got to busy to participate. Well they saw the episode last night and are now kicking themselves for screwing up at a chance at $250k.

I hope the questions get harder also these were just way too easy.

[MitchO]

I was a little frightened by the fact that I got 17 of the 18 that I saw correct~

[Savafan1]

I was watching it live, and the last commercial break had a promo for the next show, complete with announcing who won the currently showing contest.

[hyimted]

pretty fun show ... the pace is a little slow ... but i like seeing if i can answer the questions. it's weird ... on some categories i can sweep, on others i can't get any ... like the 80's lyrics one (and i'm an 80's music nut). overall, i'd say i can get about 80% of the questions right.

i wish to god i got the scarlett johanssen one (i guess i'm more of a fanboy then i thought).

[That Don Guy]

We had a team together for this and everyone got to busy to participate. Well they saw the episode last night and are now kicking themselves for screwing up at a chance at $250k.
I hope the questions get harder also these were just way too easy.
Don't worry about it - a number of people who took the qualifying test have posted that it was much harder than the questions they ask. I assume they dumb the broadcast questions down a little in the opening rounds so more people watching will be able to answer them; they'll probably make the later rounds harder to make it look like they're getting the "best of the best".

Actually, here's how the qualifying worked, from what I have been able to piece together:
1. Teams sign up for auditions in one of the five "regional qualifier" cities;
2. Each team member fills out an online questionnaire asking things like "why do you want to be on the show" and "what is your interest in pop culture";
3. Somewhere around 250 teams per city are selected, and given a date and time to appear;
4. All three team members take a qualifying test separately (50 fill-in questions in 15 minutes);
5. If all three team members get a certain (unannounced) number correct (that's "each", not "combined"), the team then has a face-to-face interview with someone from the staff, most likely to judge how they would look/perform on TV;
6. Based on some combination of the test and the interview (you didn't think they necessarily took the ones that knew the most, did you?), eight teams per city competed against each other, and three from each city (nobody says if it was the top three, or top two and some "wild card" producers' choice) advance to the TV tapings.
The 16th team is made up of three players who took an online version of the qualifying test.

-- Don

[hyimted]

5. If all three team members get a certain (unannounced) number correct (that's "each", not "combined"), the team then has a face-to-face interview with someone from the staff, most likely to judge how they would look/perform on TV;gawd ... if that is the case, i would like to meet the judges. some of those people (especially the ones who were already kicked off) were just irritating as hell ... screaming from the chairs and such. and i mean irritating in an irritating way ... not irritating in a cute/funny way.

[Stone1717]

gawd ... if that is the case, i would like to meet the judges. some of those people (especially the ones who were already kicked off) were just irritating as hell ... screaming from the chairs and such. and i mean irritating in an irritating way ... not irritating in a cute/funny way.

I completely agree with that....especially that short girl that got kicked off first from her team (Cheetara) last night. She was obnoxious....the crowd was laughing at first, but you could tell they were growing tired of her toward the end.

The worst part is that they made it through :(

[mattack]

The first 4-5 episodes (I'm not sure if they showed 4 or 5 this week) repeat this Sat afternoon.
(I think I'll record them all as one big recording on my non-Tivo recorder.. based upon a review I read, there's lots of 'fluff' to FF through, and if I can do that at 1.5X with sound, I'm less likely to miss anything.)

[spikedavis]

I completely agree with that....especially that short girl that got kicked off first from her team (Cheetara) last night. She was obnoxious....the crowd was laughing at first, but you could tell they were growing tired of her toward the end.

The worst part is that they made it through :(


You're not kidding. That troll-woman was possibly the most obnoxious woman I've ever seen on TV.

[hyimted]

I completely agree with that....especially that short girl that got kicked off first from her team (Cheetara) last night. She was obnoxious....the crowd was laughing at first, but you could tell they were growing tired of her toward the end. yup .... that was *exactly* the chick i was talking about. :down:

[Magister]

I am so glad for this forum, I hadn't heard of this show until this thread. I enjoyed watching this show last night with the wife. She is a big zero on pop culture, but I think I would have done all right.

Pretty cool format.

[scheckeNYK]

Those young kids were pitiful. I can't even imagine how they got through the qualifier if those Qs were supposedly harder. They must have put on some sacrificial lambs to make the viewers at home feel good and keep tuning in.

[That Don Guy]

The three teams from each region are the region's champion and two producer-selected wild card teams. (Presumably, this is a combination of "we want at least one team per region that people will talk about" and "we need to make sure that if the winners beat the two best other teams in their first two games, and the other finalist was weak, then the three good teams advance".)

Also, the wild card team (Almost Perfect Strangers) was made by choosing 50 people at random from the top 1/200th of the people who took the online test, interviewing them indvidually, and then choosing the three players.

-- Don

[DevdogAZ]

I stumbled across this show last night and thought it was the greatest thing ever. (OK, maybe not ever, but still...). I'm a pop culture trivia nut and this is awesome. My SP hasn't caught an episode of Beat the Geeks in a really long time so it's glad to see another pop-culture based trivia game on TV. So far I've only seen one episode, and I'll agree that it's very slow, but I just FF through the crap because I'm only watching for the questions and not the game format or the participants. SP definitely added, and I checked to make sure it will pick up reairings of all the eps shown so far.

[Uncle Briggs]

pretty fun show ... the pace is a little slowThats what I didn't like about it. I cancelled my SP

[spikedavis]

This show rocks. The Almost Perfect Strangers kick ass...

[mwhip]

Also, the wild card team (Almost Perfect Strangers) was made by choosing 50 people at random from the top 1/200th of the people who took the online test, interviewing them indvidually, and then choosing the three players.

-- Don

Once my team could not compete I took the online test and aced it. I guess I should not feel bad that they never called because it was random.

[laststarfighter]

This show is definitely only good on TiVo. I scan past the fluff and get right to the questions. I'm still upset that they didn't call me in January to let me know they were taking auditions. I guess they wanted to keep the game competitive instead of me destroying all the other contestants. :cool:

[fmowry]

This show makes me realize I drank too much in my college years and the 5 years following college. I just don't remember a whole period. Up to '88 or so I'm good. But the '90s are a blur.

Like the show. It's good on FF X 1 to be able to read the questions and skip the crap.

Frank

[Magister]

I heard an interview with the Shows Producer. He said his goal was to have most of the questions that have the answers on the 'tip of your tongue.' That is why it may seem so easy.

[MikeMar]

I heard an interview with the Shows Producer. He said his goal was to have most of the questions that have the answers on the 'tip of your tongue.' That is why it may seem so easy.

makes sense. Cause who wants to watch a show when they ask.

What was the name of the actor that played cop #4 in copland, or something way out of left field like that

[hyimted]

I heard an interview with the Shows Producer. He said his goal was to have most of the questions that have the answers on the 'tip of your tongue.'i had a few of those moments ... one time the answer was russell crowe (or someone like that). i kept going, "what's that guy's name ... what's that guy's name ... argh!" :p

[mwhip]

I like the host though he is pretty good and involves himself just enough to make the show funny. Not sure who he is though.

[murgatroyd]

I caught episode 105 last night.

Good summer fun! I like the fact that the questions go back and forth and (unlike Jeopardy) your success doesn't depend on your skill at hitting a buzzer at the exact right time.

Jan

[David Platt]

I like the host though he is pretty good and involves himself just enough to make the show funny. Not sure who he is though.

I think he's Dave Foley with a bad wig.

[scheckeNYK]

I saw the finals last night. For $250K it was awfully easy. I sorely regret not being more on the ball about trying out. The U2 albums tie breaker was so easy, and they were both stumped! I had at least 3 answers I could have given after they were tapped. This truly can't be the measure of the best pop culture junkies in the world.

Fun format overall though. I enjoyed the questions and often found myself pulling hard for one team. I didn't really like either of the teams that made the finals. Would have preferred to see Almost Perfect Strangers win the whole thing. I wonder if it did well in the ratings. The casting director told me this was basically like a pilot and they hope to turn it into a regular series. Can't wait!

[Magister]

Much more entertaining format and questions than just about another other quiz show out there currently.

[GerryGag]

Would have preferred to see Almost Perfect Strangers win the whole thing.

Dude, spolier tags please. I clicked the link because it said 7/10. Not that it's that big of a deal to me (going to watch some episodes tonight when I get home). But there may be others who don't want that much information.

But (now that I know this), I agree with you...

I've wanted Almost Perfect Strangers to win right from the start.

[MitchO]

I'm glad Almost Perfect didn't win, if only because it felt like they were carrying the short guy the entire way. He seemed to miss a lot of questions.

I also knew at least three other U2 albums (I suspect we both thought of the same obvious ones they missed; War, Boy and Achtung Baby), but I couldn't name a supporting actress or a CMA winner to save my life. You gotta remember some things stick with different people, that's the point of having the team I guess.

Please post here if anyone hears about new tryouts, I'm upset that I missed them! I'm all for the TiVo team! :)

[hyimted]

I also knew at least three other U2 albums (I suspect we both thought of the same obvious ones they missed; War, Boy and Achtung Baby), but I couldn't name a supporting actress or a CMA winner to save my life. You gotta remember some things stick with different people, that's the point of having the team I guess.exactly. just because one question seems easy to you doesn't mean they're all gonna be that easy.

for example, i could have (and did) name all the U2 albums (i should hope so since i have them all) ... so that was stupid easy for me. but the one about teenage drama shows ... holy crap ... i think the only one i got was the one about 7th heaven (and that was a total guess). and the cma winners .. forget it ... i would skunked big time.

[sushikitten]

Now, I don't like the format. What, a whole 18 (or is it 24--I've only watched two eps) questions per show (not counting tie-breakers)?

I totally don't want them to have to buzz in quickly, but I'd much rather see more questions with group answers.