C'mon, challenge us
Honestly, the "test" episode of the new Sunday night KNBC Channel 4 series "The Challenge" that we saw recently was a bit disappointing.
This show, which will follow NBC's Sunday night NFL games, isn't just one of those filler programming things that gives the channel a time cushion leading into the prime-time programming. This is meant as a real-deal thing, where Fred Roggin shows his video bloopers and such, then has nine questions that viewers can answer via their computer or cellphone and compete for prizes against others watching.
But some of the questions on that first show ....
"How many runs for a grand-slam homer?"
"Who's the owner of the Clippers?"
Won't insult you by revealing the answer to that one above, or get into the rest of the brain teasers.
"That's not indicative of the questions we'll have," Roggin insisted the other day. "I don't actually know the questions. Our producers, Charlie Rosene and Steve Leveton, have them all written -- did 'em three months ago -- they're locked up and no one has access to them. This has a game-show element, and we have to be protective of all the information we use.
"Believe me, they get harder as the show goes on."
Welllll .... OK, then. We'll tune in Sunday night at about 8:30 with our computer ready to stomp all you know-it-alls. The rules are basic: First log in at www.thechallenge.nbc4.tv When the show starts, you're rewarded for answering accurately and quickly. If you wait until the very end until the last (correct) answer is revealed, you at least get 10 points. Answer wrong early, and you're locked out. Stuff like a trip to Hawaii, flat-screen TVs, game tickets, etc., are ready to be distributed to weekly and season-ending winners.
Roggin says more than 26,000 people have already preregistered to compete.
"Something like this has never been tried before, because of the technology and the difficulty to produce a show like this," said Roggin. "You watch it, and it looks like a snap, but there's alot that's gone into this."
This might remind you of the days when Todd Donoho did "Time Out For Trivia" on that old cable channel whose name escapes us. But take it a step further: No waiting for someone on the phone to stumble through an answer, it moves much faster, and, like those games you play in a sports bar, you can impress your drunken friends.
And don't bother trying to cheat by using TiVo to freeze the question and google for an answer. It's all live.
"You don't even have to be home to play it, just in front of the live TV and use your phone," said Roggin. "We hope this works as a TV show that has a game element, because in the end, it is a TV show. But I think we've covered all the bases."
Comments
Great piece, Tom. I was thinking the exact same thing while watching last night.
And yeah, they'll graduate to the "who was the last Dodger to hit for the cycle" in no time.
Todd Donoho was a classic too, wasn't he? I'll never forget the time he stumped the audience with a question about naming the members of the 500 home run club whose last names were spelled with just three letters. No one guessed Jimmy Foxx, for obvious reasons, and Donoho thought he'd stumped the band.
Posted by: Howard Cole | September 8, 2006 02:02 PM
I was a frequent winner on Time Out For Trivia. Also was a co-host with Todd Donoho for a couple of shows in 1988. Take a hike.
Posted by: Skippy | November 16, 2006 05:27 AM