Oh Crap, “Fifth Grader” Was a Hit at BuzzerBlog

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Oh Crap, “Fifth Grader” Was a Hit

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Categories: FOX, Fifth Grader?, Opinion, Ratings and Reader Input

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I expected FOX’s new game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” to bask in the limelight of “American Idol”, but not this large. “American Idol” from 9PM to 9:30PM received a 18.5/27, while “Fifth Grader” retained a good portion of the audience, scoring a 14.8/22. I have to say, after watching it, that’s a bit depressing. There were only two good things I could pick out of the show: the set and, shockingly, host Jeff Foxworthy. He was a lot better than I anticipated. However, the gameplay was as boring as hell, yet another stupidly set up money chain, “Cheats” which are almost identical to the Helps on “1VS100″, crappy music (in my opinion), and just crap all around. The show seems to have an identity crisis. It wants to be funny, but it’s not working. It wants to be serious, and it’s not working because there’s no drama in answering a question a first grader can answer. The sad part is that this will last at least a full season unless audiences realize that it’s a pretty bad show overnight. It’s amazing that we had “The Rich List”, that was a show that wasn’t without its flaws but was at least exciting and dramatic, and yet this will stay around a lot longer. I never thought I’d wish “Show Me the Money” was still around. What did you all think?

26 Responses to “Oh Crap, “Fifth Grader” Was a Hit”

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1 Trent Feb 28th, 2007 at 2:04 pm

well that won’t stop fox from taking it off the air, remember Greed was a hit too
2 Intelligentfan777 Feb 28th, 2007 at 2:34 pm

All I can say is…..Only FOX!

In reality the vast majority of us remember and NEVER forget what we learned in grade school, needless to say, you get the impression Fox was purposely casting towards the minority. I also believe the ratings are a result of two things: AI, and sheer curiosity. I swear if this, and “The Rich List” swapped premiere dates, The Rich List would be a new toast of the game show world, I can assure you of this. Unfortunately, Fox doesn’t seem to give a damn about the Game Show Fan, not anymore anyway.

In any event, I didn’t actually watch the show, (too busy texting AI votes, hehe) but from what you’ve said Alex, It looks as if I was one of the fortunate ones. Now the way I see it, sure this show will have some winners, but I wonder…..

If a contestant should go all the way and win a million on this show, my reaction to that would be…. “Ok champ, good for you……..NOW I want you to go on a REAL SERIOUS quiz show (i.e. Jeopardy, Millionaire, 1 vs. 100, et al) and prove that in fact you are an all around intelligent person.” Sort of challenge if you will…

Because let’s face it, Fifth Grader isn’t a serious quiz at all, and I think all the viewers know this. All other quizzers test you on your all around intellectual ability, and this……..well…..

Let’s hope this show turns out to be just a blip, and that’s it.
3 Paul Feb 28th, 2007 at 3:03 pm

There is now way those questions a 5th grader would know because I work with 5th graders and they dont know any of those questions…
4 Doug Morris Feb 28th, 2007 at 3:03 pm

Agreed Jeff was surprisingly great. If CMT ever wanted to revive “Fandango” from what was The Nashville Network, an exec’s first move is call Jeff.

I only got a split-second glimpse of the money chain and it appeared flawed (could’ve sworn I saw $175K in there somewhere).

It tried to be a comedy game and a high-stakes quiz at the same time — and that doesn’t make for a good merger.

Makes me wish Fox game “The Rich List” another try after AI.
5 Jordan S. Feb 28th, 2007 at 3:26 pm

I don’t think a unique format is the selling point of this show. It’s the Weakest Link factor - the fact that people are looking like complete idiots.

And that is why I think it is going to get renewed, as sad as that is.

And Doug: Your eyes weren’t deceiving you. The money chain has $100K, then $175K, then $300K.
6 tom b Feb 28th, 2007 at 3:29 pm

please explain to me what the point was staging the kids laughing when foxworthy would say something. It was so staged, the whole thing, but the kids reactions and laughing most of all.
7 Bob H. Feb 28th, 2007 at 4:01 pm

The format is okay, the host was good, but there’s room for improvement.
8 Rodney Flippen Feb 28th, 2007 at 4:26 pm

I think this show is a very interesting game show. I was trying to play along with the show, and even I missed two questions on this show. The question was a fourth grade math question, and the quesion was: If the area of the triangle is 16 and the base is 8 what is the height? My answer was 8. I was thinking that it was a perimeter question when it was a question about the height. As you know, the answer was four. I think the older adults get, the more they forget about what they did in grade school. I believe this show could be as challeging as 1 vs. 100. 1 vs. 100 however is a big dog in game shows. This show requires a lot of smarts and you cannot win $1,000,000 that easily as this show. In my opinion this show has an equal shot as 1 vs. 100.
9 keith Feb 28th, 2007 at 4:28 pm

I thought the show was okay, I loved the set, the gameplay was decent. But, why does every new game show have the “Deal or no Deal” format? You know the “one person against themself and no bonus round”.
10 Donald Feb 28th, 2007 at 5:12 pm

Only thing that kind of bothered me was the theme music. Game shows shouldn’t have lyrics.
11 glenn Feb 28th, 2007 at 6:30 pm

like Wintuition, it draws on the fact that grade schoolers have to know things that adults forget because they are obscure or rudimentary and easily forgotten as people grow up.

Unlike wintuition, it was able to be interesting while wintuition was in danger of equalling 100% for being the most boring show in GS history.

In a way I was glad this format was revisited, both the quiz kids challenge and wintuition tried the same premise (that adults will not do good with straight up schoolbook stuff) but this had some panache…that being said this reeks of fox’s flaws.

1. take a successful format and give it a simplistic title and take a portion of another game and take it way too far. While not as obvious as Greed vs Millionaire which bordred on the downright unfair with some of the cuthroating or as silly as chamber vs chair

2. try to add humor where there is none and drama where there should be humor (

However i think the premise is something adults are facinated with and therefore will do good ratings. Which is a shame cuz it is a very simplistic show with way too much rip off factor for my tastes although not as blatant as greed very very close.
12 Mike Feb 28th, 2007 at 7:01 pm

The educational standards where I’m at are borderline ridiculous. Maybe that’s where they get the grade levels. With that said, I sure as heck didn’t learn about Andrew Johnson’s impeachment before 9th or 10th grade.

I don’t want to get started about the mathematical expectations of our children when I’m off the clock. Too bad the school has Buzzer blocked, so I can talk about the standards while I’m on the clock. :-P
13 Joe Capitano Feb 28th, 2007 at 8:51 pm

“If you think the height of a triangle is 12 when a school kid knows it’s 4, you might be a redneck.”

Personally, I was waiting to see if someone would trip over that backpack that remained on the floor through the entire show. You’d think some stagehand would have dealt with that during a stopdown.
14 Gene Feb 28th, 2007 at 10:45 pm

I think its a pretty good show It does has that deal or no deal/1 vs 100 feeling yeah im tired of the money tree format. Jeff Foxworthy is pretty good he looks bored time to time
15 John Goodman Feb 28th, 2007 at 11:27 pm

You know a game show sucks when the best thing about it is Jeff Foxworthy.
16 John Feb 28th, 2007 at 11:34 pm

We KNEW this show was going to be bad, but I must admit that I was absolutely surprised by the show. It was great watercooler talk today. The opening was great. I loved how they revealed the set and the kids came running down the hall. Yes, it was a bit contrived and staged but wasn’t it supposed to be campy? I believe that it will die a quick death but the content we all take for granted is going to seem a little more difficult than some thought. The math question was a great question. Even some of my 8th graders didn’t get it because they didn’t read the problem. And, I know this is really cheezy…even the theme song was catchy….words and all. Thankfully, it’s only a 1/2 hour.
17 Cosmic Jester Mar 1st, 2007 at 1:45 am

I’m surprised that the show has some potential, but there are a couple of things they need to fix in a hurry. First and foremost, they need to be very judicious with what they say. Make the contestant feel uncomfortable, you’ll make the audience feel uncomfortable and CLICK there goes your audience. The biggest example of this is the contestant having to proclaim into the camera that they aren’t smarter than a fifth grader when they take the Drop Out option. They really need to speed up the show, too. There was what, five questions across the half hour?

And they’re missing out on a golden opportunity by not having everyone refer to the host as Mr. Foxworthy.
18 Joe Capitano Mar 1st, 2007 at 2:18 am

What John doesn’t realize is that FOX is about to expand this to one hour, starting tomorrow.

The good news for FOX: It’s still on right after American Idol.
The bad news for FOX: It’s on a collision course with CSI: .
19 Alex Mar 1st, 2007 at 4:52 am

The show was much stronger than I thought it would be, but as others have mentioned:

1) Lyrics in the theme is a questionable move to begin with… at least make them decent!
2) A $175,000 prize level? Hmmmmmmmmm…
3) The pacing would be SLOW for a one-hour show, and this show is a half-hour…
4) OK, it’s amazing what one forgets from grade school, but such lapses don’t equate to idiocy. Unfortunately, the show is built upon that alleged equality. Time to soften the edge on that one-note joke before the audience tires out.
20 Sam Mar 1st, 2007 at 9:07 am

The only thing I really cared about was the play-along factor, and just being utterly flabbergasted that these people didn’t know anything. I guess they really did try to find the dumbest people they could. The only questions I had to think on were whether or not Colombus Day fell in October or not (it did), and to calculate the area of a triangle (1/2 x base x height, NO ONE should forget that, even if you’re terrible at geometry). Now that I think about it, that was more of an algebra question.
21 Cody alan merryman Mar 1st, 2007 at 4:02 pm

I like the theme music alot… Music and all!
22 John Mar 1st, 2007 at 7:07 pm

Joe - Thanks for the reminder that tonight is an hour. Hopefully the game play picks up! Anyone know where to get the lyrics to the theme song? (I know….I know…it’s cheezy but humor me please…..) :-) As a piece of trivia, the only other game show themes I know of with lyrics were To Tell The Truth and Monopoly. Any others? Thanks!
23 KP Mar 1st, 2007 at 7:20 pm

Also there’s Chain Reaction: The WTF Edition. But that’s basically some disembodied female voice speaking over a moderately crappy electropop bed.
24 Julia Mar 1st, 2007 at 7:54 pm

All-Star Blitz…daba doo dabba deeba da ba…All-Star Blitz…daba doo dabba deeba daba

Do I need to go any further?

On another note, I think the pacing was horrible. It was so slow, and the people they got were so stupid that they made it slower just by sheer stupidity. Jeff Foxworthy seems OK on this game, but I think he’s too southern to host this show. What I mean is that people who are from the deep south seem to be very slow talkers, and I think Mr. Foxworthy deffinately falls into that group. I think he needs to speed it up a bit to keep this game from boring people to death. I think if the game was faster, it would be more entertaining. The concept is good. One other note…Where the hell does $175,000 fit into ANY money tree, especially this one? Did they think that little difference would make it seem like it’s not a rip-off?
25 Brandon Mar 4th, 2007 at 1:08 am

Honestly, I found the show to be quite bad. Remember when game shows were actually unique, and Jack Barry and Dan Enright were the only ones ripping off successful formats? Just ONCE I’d like to see a primetime game show that is different from all the other ones, i.e. contestants competing against one another, no money tree, no cheering over everything, no contestants that look like struggling actors, and no giving away loads of money for answering 2+2. Rich List had that potential, and we see what happened with that.

The show is not engaging, it’s slow, and the concept is anti-climatic. Had it been contestants competing AGAINST the 5th graders, instead of relying on them as teammates, it might’ve had potential.

I could do without the money tree and lifelines. It’s just so played out.
26 leren Mar 4th, 2007 at 9:35 pm

I think the show is pretty good. True, it’s hard to believe that 5 graders are actually learning some of the questions asked, but all in all, I don’t think it’s all that bad. At least you have to use your brain a little bit, I mean come on, what skill is there in just picking a suitcase? If it weren’t for the dramatic music and “We’ll find out right after this” time and time again, Deal or no deal would be as boring as watching concrete settle.