I’m sure if you’ve read this site or any of game show news site, or even any TV website, you can see that the entire casting process for the show is shady. From getting contestants based their looks to be sure we can laugh at stupid people to hiring child actors, not regular fifth graders, for the Cheats, FOX’s new (somehow) hit game show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? has always been in the limelight for brief controversy. Finally, a Floridian lady did some research, and as she casually watched Comedy Central, she saw one of the kids on one of my top three shows for this season, The Sarah Silverman Program. Child Laura Marano plays Young Sarah on the show, and also has guest appearances on Dexter, Without a Trace, and Ghost Whisperer. If you look during the end credits, you will also see that the children are provided materials from which questions and answers are taken from. Basically, it’s like Game Show Network’s Cram, except the point of the show isn’t to cheat beforehand. This is the biography of Laura from FOX.com…
Laura, an 11-year-old 5th grader from Los Angeles, CA, loves all school subjects and consistently gets great grades. She has also proven to be quite the matchmaker; she has successfully helped more than one happy couple find love.
So not one mention that these are actors, not normal fifth graders. However, until people get sick of FOX’s lying and/or start realizing that FOX is pulling the wool over their eyes, the show will be on if not solely for the fact that it is after American Idol.
13 Responses
Have you actually watched the end of an episode? There’s a disclaimer that says kids were briefed before the show on subject matter.
Your “expose” all of a sudden is suspicious considering you hate the show and you would do anything to knock it or try to “be a hero”.
There are production companies that probably read your site and after they read this, they will think your credibility will go down.
You know in your rant, you sounded like what Bill O’Reilly does and yet you hate Fox News and everything on it. Kind of a hypocrite are you?
Posted on March 8th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
I also have to say the fact that you think the Sarah Silverman Program is one of the top TV shows kind of hurts your credibility too. By the way, anyone who didn’t already suspect/know that those kids are actors is as stupid as the adult contestants.
Posted on March 9th, 2007 at 11:34 am
I’m agreeing with both comments above.
Posted on March 9th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
…and this surprises me because?
I always thought this show was rather suspicious. Now we all know that it’s a big f*ckin’ sham. Matt, I strongly suggest you take a long walk off a short pier, because you obviously have your facts mixed up. Either that, or you lack the intelligence to come up with logical facts to begin with.
Posted on March 9th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
[...] Though, thanks to game show eagle-eye BuzzerBlog, the student has been outed as pro child actor Laura Marano. Laura Marano plays Young Sarah on the show, and also has guest appearances on Dexter, Without a Trace, and Ghost Whisperer. [...]
Posted on March 9th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
http://harddrivelife.com/2007/03/09/5thgraderlaura/
Gave your blog a plug, plus threw in a Youtube clip of Marano and a google search on the other “classmates”
Posted on March 9th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
I saw Jacob on a Disney Channel program while I was flipping channels over the weekend. I guess when you cast for 5th graders in LA, you’re going to get actors….
Posted on March 9th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I agree with the first comment poster Matt…you badmouth shows you don’t like and praise ones you do. Maybe if Fox contacted you to promote 5th grader you’d have better things to say like you do with the amazing *NEW* Crosswords! If you want to work in this industry, badmouthing people isn’t the way to do it!
Posted on March 9th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
If FOX asked me to promote 5th Grader I’d say more things but still bad mouth it. I do the same thing for the awful Chain Reaction, as I’ve done promotion for GSN and Embassy Row with it. It’s my honest opinion that the show is a load of crap. Why should I change my opinion? Trust me, I’d rather be poor than do work for FOX, so I don’t care about that. Mark Burnett has never done anything I’ve liked. And yet I still somehow get work while being honest. It’s just my opinion. I didn’t try to make it seem like a big revelation that they are actors, and I’m sorry. But it’s total crap when FOX says that the kids don’t get answers when they do, and that they aren’t getting all fifth graders, and that it appears they are feeding the kids answers midgame. It’s total crap. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but it’s just my opinion. Look, it’s not the worst show in the world, but it’s just a lousy show in my opinion. I’ve seen two and a half episodes, and it hasn’t improved. Once we get some shows that have thought-through and somewhat original gameplay and don’t lie about what’s going on, more power to it. This is why I enjoy shows like The Rich List. Hell, I give Show Me the Money more credit than the show because at least there was a slight bit of drama to it and they weren’t hinting at which scroll to pick.
Posted on March 9th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
This is how I see it: people tend to forget that this is a BLOG, an open outlet for the author to express their opinions, positive or negative. If Alex or anyone from the Buzzerblog crew wishes to state his disdain revival of Chain Reaction or ‘Fifth Grader’ in their own blog, so be it. We don’t have to agree, but we shouldn’t castigate Alex either.
And on another note, Alex stated that TO HIM, The Sarah Silverman show is among his top favorite programs of the season. Big deal.
Should one also consider game show guru Fred Wostbrock’s credibility be hurt when you consider that The Diamond Head Game, The Neighbors, and Magnificent Marble Machine are among his all-time favorites game shows yet a show like Concentration isn’t?
One shouldn’t attach Alex’s credibility to his personal taste.
Posted on March 10th, 2007 at 3:50 am
I’m pretty sure that another big part of a blog is that the readers get to chime in as well. Alex isn’t the only one who gets to voice his opinions. I welcome the fact that Alex gives a personal spin to everything, but I certainly don’t agree that, as you suggest, Jamie, we treat his words as those of God and don’t question anything he says.
Posted on March 10th, 2007 at 11:05 am
BACK TO THE POINT… one of the kids stars on Disney Channel’s ‘really short report’
Posted on March 12th, 2007 at 2:39 am
One thing you guys are all forgetting.
Even if those kids are actors, they are also really 5TH GRADERS!!!!!
Posted on March 17th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
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