It’s apparently the year of a ton of million dollar winners. In just the first week of the new Fall season, we’ve crowned a Deal or No Deal winner. Now we have Georgia State Superintendent Kathy Cox as Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?. FOX did spoil a millionaire a bit ago as well, though not weeks ahead of time like NBC. You had to actually watch the show to know someone was winning that episode. Also, what they did was bump a game taped later in the season up quite a bit to get some ratings. Or maybe to piss in NBC’s chips. Who knows. Here’s the win video with commentary below.
I don’t know; this win just wasn’t that exciting to me. It’s not because of my relative dislike of the way the show is handled, because I have a lot of issues like this with many current shows. I’m sorry, I just don’t get that excited about someone winning a million dollars answering, literally, fifth grade level questions which should not be missed. Still part of the reason I look more forward to the syndicated version in Fall 2009 more than anything: lowered stakes so they can be what they should be. I feel more excited when I watch $100,000 winners on Millionaire. I know NBC spoiled the Deal millionaire. We’ve been over it a lot. A lot of the drama and tension was lost. But it was still pretty cool and very exciting to see the big win there, mostly because of the amazing job the Deal studio staff did in preparation of handling, executing, and shooting the million dollar win.
A lot of the excitement is also gone for me because FOX purposely casts dumb people for Fifth Grader for laughs, and the fact that they started casting people who should win a million dollars this season isn’t remotely shocking whatsoever. I really didn’t feel a person who had basically no excuse not to win a million actually winning the million to be thrilling. Again, maybe fans of the show can tell me, but am I missing some charm in it? Because I still watch occasionally and think, “How the hell is this person not getting this easy question?”
21 Responses
Chris S.
1September 6th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Knowing who was Britain’s longest serving monarch -
$1,000,000.
Being able to look into a camera and proclaim that you ARE smarter than a fifth grader -
Priceless.
Travis P
2September 6th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Deal is down to luck and 5th Grader is down to elementary/primary school education. If Lyrics creates a Millionaire then they should have the proper credit since it will take someone to sing ten songs from the last fifty years word perfect.
Eddie D.
3September 6th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Amen Chris!
dropzone5
4September 6th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Just so we’re clear…this WAS for charity, wasn’t it? (I didn’t see it, but I’m assuming this is part of 5th Grader’s celebrity brigade…)
Neville
5September 6th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
First, congratulations, Kathy!
This question does seem to me to be easier than some of the other Million Dollar Questions we’ve seen. But at the same time, since this show began, it has always been about easy questions and (no offense) dumb people. I’ve always felt that this game shouldn’t be taken so seriously (see Wipeout, Match Game, and Hollywood Squares) Maybe a reduced syndie budget will help. And still (I know I’ve said this before, but I think it warrants repeating) why don’t we compete AGAINST the 5th graders?
Sam
6September 6th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
dropzone,
It’s not a part of the celebrity brigade.
Kathy Cox was my world history teacher at Sandy Creek High School in Georgia nine, maybe 10, years ago. It took me a few minutes to realize it was her. She said that she was going to give the money she won to help the Georgia education system. They could use it; they’re one of the worst in the country.
I expected her to go for it, really, and I’m very glad she won it. I had no idea who Britain’s longest-reigning monarch is myself.
It was fun to watch.
Kevin G.
7September 6th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
It’s only easy if you know the answer. Some hardcore quiz fans gave John Carpenter short shrift because they didn’t think his question stack was hard enough.
If you don’t like the format, that’s one thing, but there’s no other reason to discount her win. She still had to get the questions right. They didn’t give her any special advantage as a ratings stunt.
Erskine Thompson
8September 7th, 2008 at 12:16 am
It should be noted that Kathy Cox is a fine woman, doing her best to help the admittedly woeful Georgia education system. The million dollars she won is being donated to three specialty schools in Georgia: The Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon, the Atlanta School for the Deaf, and the Georgia School for the Deaf, which is in Cave Spring, not far from where I live in Rome. Cox took a big risk to her credibility by going on the show, being a lifelong educator, and I was happy to see her succeed. I’m also happy that she did it without any special rules changes.
I didn’t see the show as it aired, so I have this question: Did Cox use any of her cheats during the show? They were never mentioned during the MDQ clip, so I don’t know if that means she used them, or if they were off the table because it was the final question.
dropzone5
9September 7th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Thanks for clearing that up, Sam.
And Erskine, from the looks of this, it appeared she only used her Copy.
Sam
10September 7th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Erskine,
Ah, I missed that part. I thought she was going to donate it to the whole system in general. I tuned in at the $500,000 question, so I missed a huge amount of the game. Still, I was watching for the important part. :)
Jim
11September 7th, 2008 at 2:25 am
She only used her peek through the game. On the $500,000 question, she was asked which British general surrendered at the battle of Yorktown, when she peeked at the 5th grader’s (wrong) answer, and went with her gut.
David Howell
12September 7th, 2008 at 9:13 am
It’s also worth noting that this is still a better win than Jessica Robinson’s because there was a skill element. You can argue how much, but there is one. Jessica Robinson only needed to reject the value of money and luck out on a 1-in-26, or in her case 5-in-26, chance.
homerjay
13September 7th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Amen David.
I don’t consider the full stack of questions on a given Fifth Grader game easy–I’m usually sure I once memorized all those factoids, but many of them left my brain eons ago, so while it may be elementary school level stuff, we don’t all still remember every bit of it.
The show is sweet in its own way, and Foxworthy does a less annoying version of the tease-reveal than Regis did on Millionaire.
Marc Power
14September 7th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
well, I thought the MDQ waspretty easy (I had it narrowed down to Elisabeth I and Victoria) but I would have gotten the $500K question wrong. and I agree Alex a lower budget would make the show better, but I wouldn’t be agaisnt offering a bonus for getting through the questions without using any cheats.
the problem now thoguh with dond, 5th grader an the others is now that they ahve given away the $1m, much of the thrill is gone.
Happy Steve
15September 7th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I don’t watch this show regularly, but I wouldn’t dismiss the game as some sort of cakewalk. The fifth grade covers a broad range of topics so kids can help find out what subjects they like. Later on in life, you focus on a few and hopefully become experts in that field. Who’s going to remember EVERYTHING they were taught 20 or 30 years ago?
Ken C.
16September 7th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
The reason that I liked this win better than DoND’s win because it was genuine and it was EARNED! (Once I heard Victorian era, it was pretty much a lock for me)
insaneben
17September 7th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Gotta agree with you, Ken C.
As the old saying goes, “The harder you work for something, the more you appreciate it.” And man oh man, to see a superintendent from Georgia win big has got to be an inspiration for all those in schools across Georgia, both teacher and student alike.
And Marc, that seems to be a common problem for most of the million-dollar game shows out there- once the highest amount has been won, it loses its’ luster. I guess it stands to reason why the big three (WoF, J! and TPIR) have lasted for decades…
ddele7
18September 7th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
they should have never revealed that she was gonna win the million in the season primeire commericals. TPIR gave away the million dollars 3 times, and not once did they clue anyone in on the big wins.
But having said that, this was a great win indeed. I knew the answer was Victoria, but sometimes you have to think that you could be wrong. It takes a lot of guts to go for the million on any show. Im so happy for that woman. Teachers do know their stuff. And that lady proved it.
Kathy Cox is SMARTER than a fifth grader. HATS OFF!
B-W
19September 8th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Having been spoiled at the top of the show, I watched Kathy Ireland’s segment. Then, already knowing how the other one would fare, I changed the channel. No reason to watch if I know what’s going to happen….
David Howell
20September 9th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Exactly, homerjay and Steve.
I’d have expected more six-figure wins and probably at least one millionaire before now, and if there’d been different casting that’s what would have happened. But this game’s sure not easy, despite looking so. And that’s the whole point of the show. It looks easier than it is, which makes for cringeworthy moments when players struggle. It’s the Millionaire shout-at-your-TV phenomenon taken to the next level, basically.
Alex J
21September 10th, 2008 at 7:23 am
I’ve watched a bit of Fifth Grader, and all I have to say about the questions is “Did my schools really suck, or have elementary school cirricula become that much more intense?” There are some questions I knew the answers for when I was in school and just forgot, but a lot of the time I wonder “They actually go over that during/before fifth grade?” And I’m speaking as somebody who was straight-A/gifted/99th percentile throughout elementary school… go figure :P
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