Re: Weakest Link

• From: weill
• Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 06:20:01 -0700
• Message-ID: <000TDR541.001H0H8F8.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

I submitted my info last night in a fit of "These
IDIOTS! How could they not KNOW that?" ranting. However,
I can be pretty certain that this game show won't
last too long. NBC needs to learn that people don't
want to watch incredibly stupid albeit charismatic
people get questions wrong.

The early press
releases touted the show as "Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire?" meets "Survivor." The human element is sort of
there, but the main draw of "Survivor" is that you get
to see a LOT of the people over the course of 13
weeks. With "Weakest Link," people vent their bitterness
for nine seconds after being booted off the show (in
a segment obviously taped as an afterthought, with
no audience in the background).

I agree with
James -- the contestants were on the level of "Greed."
They certainly had a very diverse range of
backgrounds, as opposed to the upper-middle-class white males
that permeate "Millionaire," but they were dumb.
Incredibly dumb. They plant dumb people there to keep the
jackpots low.

I'm reminded of the short-lived U.S.
version of "Winning Lines" on CBS, in which one woman
said during the bonus round, "This is stupid." and
bailed out with her cash. If even the contestants aren't
focused on playing the game, it's damn hard to find an
audience for it.