Author Topic: History IQ (Read 2719 times)

brianhenke · « **on:** June 22, 2006, 12:42:18 AM »

Most of us remember June 22, 2001. That was the day the History Channel aired the final episode of a tournament edition of its History IQ game show.

In the championship, Virginia attorney Robin Grover held off a late finish in the Speed Round by Leslek - the last two contestants standing from a field of 81 - to win $250,000 - still the most ever awarded on a cable game show. We all thought - with the championship airing in prime time, and a vocally devout following - that the Marc Summers-hosted quizzer would return.

Unfortunately, the History Channel suits saw it differently and decided not to bring it back for a third season - and banished the show to Saturday mornings as part of their involvement with Cable in the Classroom.

Flash forward to 2006. History IQ is still on Saturday mornings, at 6 a.m. If you were an exec at History Channel, and you decided to order a new season of History IQ. You would bring back Marc, Harvey, Dana Calderwood, and most of the writing and technical staff. But you have to tweak the show's format (albeit slightly) to make it more up to date.

Here's what I would do.

First round: I would bring back the Season 1 format.

Second round: Tri Q - I would keep the Season 1 format, as well. However, the Speed Round would be increased to 60 seconds.

Bonus round: Timeline - I would keep the Season 1 format, but the Timeline screen should be the one from the Tournament Edition. I would cut the number of hot buttons to two, and have a five-second "stop the game" option (which Marc wouldn't read a headline; similiar to the Pit Stop from Winning Lines). The grand prize for putting all ten headlines in 60 seconds (plus the five second "stop the game') will be $10,000.

Set: The original set is SO 2000, so the new set should have a white background, and pictures of historical figures and things (ie, the Spirit of St. Louis) should be placed behind the contestant podiums. Everything else (the contestant podiums, the fonts on the podiums' screens) should be the same.

Contestant eligibility: Contestants must be 21 (just like the original), and must have taken at least two history courses in college (or equivalent courses in high school). Anyone who had appeared on a game or reality show in the last year would be ineligible, as would anyone who previously appeared on History IQ in 2000 or 2001.

So the question is: How would you revive it?

Brian

The Jehovah's Witnesses distribute Mad magazine?

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #1 on:** June 22, 2006, 12:50:06 AM »

[quote name=\'brianhenke\' post=\'122085\' date=\'Jun 21 2006, 09:42 PM\']
Most of us remember June 22, 2001.[/quote]
Heck, yes! The day I graduated elementary school! Fun day, that was...but how did you know?

Quote

That was the day the History Channel aired the final episode of a tournament edition of its History IQ game show.

Oh.

Nope. Not me.

clemon79 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 22, 2006, 01:07:29 AM »

[quote name=\'brianhenke\' post=\'122085\' date=\'Jun 21 2006, 09:42 PM\']
So the question is:
[/quote]
"...why are you still here?"

/giggity-giggity-goo!

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 22, 2006, 01:30:09 AM »

[quote name=\'brianhenke\' post=\'122085\' date=\'Jun 21 2006, 11:42 PM\']
So the question is: How would you revive it?
[/quote]
No.

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #4 on:** June 22, 2006, 01:30:32 AM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'122087\' date=\'Jun 21 2006, 10:07 PM\']
[quote name=\'brianhenke\' post=\'122085\' date=\'Jun 21 2006, 09:42 PM\']
So the question is:
[/quote]
"...why are you still here?"
[/quote]
No, no. The correct conjugation is "...why am I still here?" Remember, you're building off of Brian's quote, and therefore speaking as Brian.

*dodges flying gazpacho*

aaron sica · « **Reply #5 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:13:38 AM »

Is anyone at all surprised that he did this? After all, he did "promise" it to us last month.

MikeK · « **Reply #6 on:** June 22, 2006, 01:46:23 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'122087\' date=\'Jun 22 2006, 01:07 AM\']
[quote name=\'brianhenke\' post=\'122085\' date=\'Jun 21 2006, 09:42 PM\']
So the question is:
[/quote]
"...why are you still here?"

/giggity-giggity-goo!
[/quote]
That's Quagmire!

Heaven help us all if the next words from Lemon's keyboard are "Giggity giggity, let's have sex."

Getting back to the original topic, my History IQ revival would involve Jehovah's Witnesses, MAD Magazine, and more NASCAR and wrestling questions.

TLEberle · « **Reply #7 on:** June 22, 2006, 03:01:08 PM »

[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'122101\' date=\'Jun 22 2006, 05:13 AM\']Is anyone at all surprised that he did this? After all, he did "promise" it to us last month.[/quote]Right, but this is Henke we're talking about here. I figured when he said "a month," that we had at least four months to ready ourselves.

aaron sica · « **Reply #8 on:** June 22, 2006, 03:12:27 PM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'122133\' date=\'Jun 22 2006, 03:01 PM\']
[quote name=\'aaron sica\' post=\'122101\' date=\'Jun 22 2006, 05:13 AM\']Is anyone at all surprised that he did this? After all, he did "promise" it to us last month.[/quote]Right, but this is Henke we're talking about here. I figured when he said "a month," that we had at least four months to ready ourselves.
[/quote]

I wish he would get it into his head that we don't give two flips about a revival of HIQ (as we mentioned last month), but anything with Henke is fruitless. Either he's too stupid to care, or he just doesn't care. Considering how cut and paste was a foreign concept to him, I'm thinking it's option 1.

TLEberle · « **Reply #9 on:** June 22, 2006, 10:55:51 PM »

It is unsurprising that a certain type of person is the most likely to type out a complete rehash of the format, especially when they're changing one insignificant detail at the very end of the proposal. How much easier would it have been to say "History IQ was neat. They shouldn't have canned it."