Are you smarter than a Canadian Fifth Grader?

[vtown7]

I had been meaning to post this up sooner, but only now am getting around to it...

This past Wednesday I arrived at the CBC to see a taping of Global TV's Are you smarter than a Canadian Fifth Grader at around 2.30 pm and found myself first in line (not surprisingly) for the 5 pm taping.  My Toronto game show partner in crime, Mr. Blaquière, arrived shortly thereafter with another friend and the three of us got admitted to the studio around 4.30 pm.

After seeing somebody that looked vaguely familiar (turned out it was the contestant coordinator from Inside the Box) we took our seats.  Having never been to the US version I can't confirm, but it would be my best guess that our set was smaller.  First off there was no huge lettering of the title around the perimeter of the audience, and there was no sliding walls.  But that being said, the set was quite elaborately done - filled with various items including an upright canoe and several math operational sets (ie. +, x, % etc) and the floor was a map of Canada.

I found Colin Mochrie to be enjoyable.  All I'll say is that it's hard to work with kids!  And I would imagine that they've been through quite a ride - apparently according to a PA it's show tapes, tutor, more show tapes.  We sat next to a classmate of a cast member and her mother mentioned that they've all bonded quite well.  There's seven of them, btw - guess we're getting good exchange on the dollar? - and they're in a 2/2/3 tiering system, with the three being at the top.  No signs, only flat screens with their name and their hometown.

The game, then.  Taping lasted almost three hours, and we got to see two full games being played and I'm not sure how they'll edit them, even with the pickups it was a bit vague (and I'd rather not say anything more so as to stay out of the Iso Booth!).  My voice was hoarse after the taping as I spent the majority of it yelling things like "French! French! Grade 4 French!" and so forth.  

I think that's about it... I'm sure that Mr. Blaquière can add more and if anyone has any other questions, do feel free to post.

Cheers

Ryan

(who discovered that he's not always smarter than a fifth grader, apparently...)

[tpirfan28]

[quote name=\'vtown7\' post=\'165882\' date=\'Oct 7 2007, 11:34 PM\']
The game, then.  Taping lasted almost three hours, and we got to see two full games being played and I'm not sure how they'll edit them, even with the pickups it was a bit vague (and I'd rather not say anything more so as to stay out of the Iso Booth!).
[/quote]
How long are the episodes on-air?  Is each episode 1/2 hour or 1 hr?

[vtown7]

AFAIK, Global will be airing five one hour episodes.

Ryan.

[remlap]

No regional rename for the show?

I always thought Canadian school system went by Grade Five, like we would say Year Five.

Mark Burnett Productions is flogging this shows rights quicker than I expected, just actually finished watching the UK's début changed to Are you smarter than a 10 year old, which was also our first HD gameshow, and I've watched the US version on a Dubai TV station, and know FOX Turkey has their variation in the works.

UK set looks way to Americanised for my liking, the chalk video board is something special though.