On a network populated by Jersey Shore and Teen Mom, this show wasn't bad at all. The format works like this: (There are spoilers contained within on a prize given out and the end outcome)
This episode started off with the 20 students in the classroom, two at a time in pre-selected pairs, each going up and facing off one-on-one. In round one, "Things You Should Know," each pair was asked one fairly-softball academically-related question. The first person to ring in with the correct answer advanced and the other person was eliminated. If the person who rang in was incorrect, the other person had to answer correctly to move on. Two of these face-offs were deemed "Extra Credit." The winners of these went against each other at the end of round one for a mystery bonus prize. This episode's was an HDTV and Blu-Ray player.
Round two works very similarly to round one, weeding ten students down to five in the pop culture round "Things You Do Know." There were no bonuses in this round. The five remaining students went against each other in round three's "Things You Do" round. This episode's challenge had each student simultaneously putting six events chronologically on a magnetized whiteboard. The student who put the most events in order correctly and, in the event of a tie was quickest, advanced to the final showdown. The twist here is that the rest of the class votes from the remaining four finalists to determine who faces off against round three's winner. If the winner wins the final showdown, he wins the $5,000 grand prize but if the class favorite wins, the rest of the class splits the prize.
Round four is a best-of-five Family Feud-esque round, "What You Think." The students are asked questions given to a national sample of teens like "What should a guy get for a girl on Valentine's Day?", "What is your worst habit?" and "To the nearest hundred, how many Facebook friends do you have?" The first person to signal gets to give a first answer and the other person, naturally, goes second. The questions are read consecutively and after all have been read, the percentage of respondents that gave each student's answer is revealed. On this particular episode, the class won after their representative got the win on the fifth question, 3-2.
There's no artificial drama, no confessionals, no host-induced trash talking, no super-dramatic face close-up reveals. Just 22 minutes of a cut-and-dry game show with a good amount of material (although, admittedly, not terribly difficult) with high schoolers as contestants. It's perfectly harmless and is a bright spot on MTV's schedule. Give it a watch if watching teens on a game show interests you.
