Why is GSN Shooting Itself in the Foot with “That’s the Question”?

06 Oct

Posted by Alex Davis as GSN, Opinion

I haven’t had a chance to see it, but I’ve gotten some reports back about GSN’s new offer seen weekdays at 6PM ET, “That’s The Question”, and the majority of the response is that it’s a pretty good show. Of course, with “Chain Reaction: The WTF Edition” and “StarFace” to compare it with, I’m thinking that “The Chamber” would be heavenly. However, for the positive reaction around the show, GSN is running into a major major error: they are having many spelling and factual errors. Both are really bad, especially spelling in a word game. Read on for more

I’ve been reading around message boards and have gotten information from people who have seen the show. Misspellings like “documenteries”, “Paul Bunyon”, and “hydrogyn”, which makes that humorously close to hydrogyny (if you know androgyny, then you’ll get that little joke). Two question errors were also made noticable. One was the first video game that the Mario Brothers appeared in. The staff says “Donkey Kong”, but our reader who gave me the email says only one of the brothers appeared. That one is a bit peevish, but this one is a bit worse on the “Question” staff. “What is the most abundant element on earth”, with the answer hydrogen. That should be nitrogen. Even if they wanted to know the most abundant element on earth, that would be oxygen. If GSN is reading this: “That’s the Question” is a terrific show. It kicks the living crap out of the most recent ones you’ve done and rivals “Lingo” and “I’ve Got A Secret”. Let me correct that: it CAN rival them if you can clean up the show a bit and get these errors out, but please don’t mess up a terrific show. Now, are you going to? THAT’S the question.

4 Responses

Gus Polly
1
October 6th, 2006 at 12:15 pm

I only fast-forwarded thru one show, but the one error that really jumped out at me was that one of the questions started with “WHO’S” instead of “WHOSE”. For being a word game, you’d think *someone* would notice when something is spelt wrong.
Ben Williams
2
October 6th, 2006 at 1:27 pm

Someone mentioned that because the show is being produced in the Netherlands, that maybe someone on staff there is checking things, and doesn’t know their proper english…still unacceptable, but could be a reason.

I really, really, hope that if the run does make it back to the US, that they check things better…it’s really an enjoyable show, nonetheless.
Pat
3
November 2nd, 2006 at 3:04 pm

The show is really good, but they have some of the dumbest people I have ever seen as contestances. My little brother got more right then the two contestances combined!
contestant
4
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:39 am

There were a lot more spelling mistakes on the show, but they were edited out of the show later. It made some questions rather hard as the letters on the screen were incorrect. I can see how this might make some people look a bit stupid….or even more stupid ;)
The blame for the mistakes does not lie with the Dutch as someone suggested it might. The American producers insisted on making their own questions, but only submitted them a few hours before the show so there was no time to check them for mistakes. The Dutch production crew had no influence on the actual questions at all.
It was a lot of fun to participate though.