Bad quiz bowl

[BrandonFG]

Careers were ruined, specifically that of Columbia university professor and Today show regular Charles Van Doren. Scandals involving quiz shows such as 21, $64k Question and Dotto caused public uproar and a ratings downturn. As a result, there were no more big payoffs on shows, and they were not allowed a million-dollar prize until 1999... (presumably it was going to finish "FTP: Name this show hosted by Regis Philbin and Meredith Vieira.")
Answer: Millionaire

In addition to there being no direct correlation b/w "21" and "Millionaire", this line...

As a result, there were no more big payoffs on shows

...is purely subjective, and has no place in the question. "No more big payoffs" according to who? The $10/20/25/50/100,000 offered on Pyramid was a pretty big deal in the 70s and 80s, not to mention other shows who, when you adjust the top prize for inflation, are close to, if not exceed six-figures.

I know I over-analyzed that, but it stands out as another writing no-no IMO.

[Jeremy Nelson]

Having zero quiz bowl experience, and admittedly talking out of my ass, the classic Fame Game question format has often struck me as the closest thing to a quiz bowl style question.

You're rigjt...the Fame Game question is basically a more drawn out version of a standard toss up phrased in the first person.

[Twentington]

And thus the urban legend began...

I sit corrected. What fascinates me about it, though, is the attention to detail...you are literally the first person I have seen to use the standardized spelling "Willie," and you're the one debunking the urban myth! Every time I have seen this mentioned in the past, it's ALWAYS with the nonstandard "Willy." Which, at least for me, is part of what cemented it in my head as legit.

Snopes has more info on the Willy Gilligan thing: http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/gilligan.asp

[gameshowcrazy]

Bob Denver and Sherwood Shwartz said Gilligan didn't have a first name, but if he did, it would probably have been Willie.
And thus the urban legend began...

I dunno.  I usually think of an urban legend as something that is A) wrong and/or B) unsourced.  If there's record of the creator of the character and the person who played the character agreeing on a first name, even decades later, I for one would accept that as canonical.

ahh, ye of little faith...

I got the information (including the "correct" spelling of Willie) from the man himself, in his own book regarding Gilligan's Island.  I guess that makes it canonical.

[mmb5]

Having zero quiz bowl experience, and admittedly talking out of my ass, the classic Fame Game question format has often struck me as the closest thing to a quiz bowl style question.

Other good examples:

Sports Challenge biography round
If the main game Qs on 70s Double Dare were strung into one question (with some clues thrown out)


The term we used was "reverse pyramid".  And rather coincidental that Jonas Grumby is being mentioned.  The early NAQT mantra was "make sure the answer is Gilligan, not Jonas Grumby" as a reminder that the answer should be accessible as much as possible.

[PYLdude]

and they were not allowed a million-dollar prize until 1999

You forgot the $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime in 1986.

Travis didn't forget a singlet hing.

You keep your own hing in your singlet and stop worrying about Travis'.

(This is what happens when you don't read the post before pointing out the obvious error in the question.)

Going back to "fhqwgads" for a second- I know that you might not necessarily think of it as being decent question material, but I think that anyone who has an elementary knowledge of modern pop culture or Internet phenomena would know the answer to that. So I gotta disagree with Travis' assessment of the quality of the question.

(For those that don't know, the Homestar Runner Wiki can help you.)

[Jeremy Nelson]

In Illinois, this year's High School Masonic Tournament, and even to some extent State Sectionals, weren't as well written as I'd expected them to be. There was a lot of information in the questions from both tournaments that made the games sluggish and nearly painful to play [or moderate, in my case]. In Sectionals, it got to the point in some packets where both teams (pretty good teams, at that) would ignore the first couple sentences and then perk up when the FTP came along.

[SuperMatch93]

There are often debate on the hsquizbowl forums about whether or not math is worthy quiz-bowl canon. I disagree, because more often than not, it comes down to a "who can work out this problem fastest" race between the math-team refugees on each side.