Ken Jennings VS. The Rest of the World

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'goongas\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 11:28 AM\']I wish the head to head matchup involved more of the team participating in it.  But perhaps the point of the show is they want Ken to be beaten only rarely.  If he was shown to be beaten often, then he is worthy of the job in the first place.

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I agree--it doesn't appear that the five really get to play as a team very much. If most of the show is spent building the pot that they're not likely to win, it's sort of a waste of time. Also, while the conceit of the game seems to be the five against one thing, finding five capable players for every show won't be easy. Jeopardy couldn't usually find two.

If Ken is to be beaten only rarely, I wonder how rarely. If he loses one out of three or four, it's still interesting. If he only gets beaten a couple of times a season, less so.

[chris319]

He is going against five people, so chances are that one out of five people should know the answer to a question (if they cast people who are good at trivia which I imagine they would), so Ken isn't necessarily going to cream everyone on every question.

Again, he's Ken Jennings. He defeated 147 opponents on Jeopardy! I don't think team size will be a mitigating factor.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 03:17 PM\']Again, he's Ken Jennings. He defeated 147 opponents on Jeopardy! I don't think team size will be a mitigating factor.[/quote]
What if there were 148 people per team?  Sure, the stage would be quite crowded, but now the common man would have the advantage versus Kenny.

This post was sprinkled with a pinch of sarcasm for taste.

[chris319]

If Ken is to be beaten only rarely, I wonder how rarely. If he loses one out of three or four, it's still interesting. If he only gets beaten a couple of times a season, less so.

You make a good point. A lesson learned on the '50s version of Twenty One is that as engaging a contestant as Charles Van Doren was, viewers eventually got tired of seeing him win week after week, at which point the ratings would "plateau" and he would be defeated.

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 12:28 PM\']

If Ken is to be beaten only rarely, I wonder how rarely. If he loses one out of three or four, it's still interesting. If he only gets beaten a couple of times a season, less so.

You make a good point. A lesson learned on the '50s version of Twenty One is that as engaging a contestant as Charles Van Doren was, viewers eventually got tired of seeing him win week after week, at which point the ratings would "plateau" and he would be defeated.

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But how often did Ben Stein lose? One game in ten maybe?

[Matt Ottinger]

A writer for WB$M once told me that they routinely wrote questions that would take advantage of Ben Stein's weak spots.  Not to say that's the plan here, and it's also likely that Ken has a lot fewer weak spots than the mighty Mr. Stein, but there are ways to subtly tilt the playing field if they need to.

The wild card here is the humor element.  If the show is entertaining regardless of the competiton, then they can more easily get away with flaws in the game.  If Ken isn't beaten with at least as much regularity as Ben was, then Chris is right, the game will get old fast.  

The only reason Ken lost on Jeopardy is that he finally fell victim to the fluky luck that Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy clues add to the game.  As far as I can tell, there's no similar structure here.  In a game of straight-up all-subject trivia, I don't think there are a hundred people in the country who could match up to Ken.

[chris319]

The wild card here is the humor element. If the show is entertaining regardless of the competiton, then they can more easily get away with flaws in the game.

Where does humor enter the picture? From every description I've seen it's being played as a straight quiz. Name a show which has successfully combined comedy and straight quiz besides You Bet Your Life, which turned off the comedy when the questions came out.

The producers face two challenges right off the bat: 1) they'll have to come up with five worthy opponents for Ken for each show where Jeopardy! only had to come up with two, and 2) making Ken a likeable figure by losing some of the smugness that came across when he was on Jeopardy! (sorry Ken if you're reading this).

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 04:24 PM\']Where does humor enter the picture? From every description I've seen it's being played as a straight quiz. Name a show which has successfully combined comedy and straight quiz besides You Bet Your Life, which turned off the comedy when the questions came out.[/quote]
Well, the obvious answer would be Win Ben Stein's Money, which this thing is going to be compared to whether Davies likes it or not.  It's got a comedian host whom Davies compares to Kimmel, though some would say that's not necessarily high praise.  And it is being pitched to Comedy Central, so there better be some humor in it somewhere.

[GPeefalt]

[quote name=\'Neumms\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 02:14 PM\']If most of the show is spent building the pot that they're not likely to win, it's sort of a waste of time.

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*cough*Weakest Link*cough*

[JasonA1]

*cough*Weakest Link*cough*

Yeah, that pot's a guaranteed win, but...

"Scrabble" '93 perhaps? ;)

-Jason

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 02:17 PM\']Again, he's Ken Jennings. He defeated 147 opponents on Jeopardy!

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And now, The Don Howard Horanism Of The Day for August 1st 2005: Ken defeated 149 opponents in regular play.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 04:17 PM\']It's got a comedian host whom Davies compares to Kimmel

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Rule #1 if one wants to make a good impression in The House Of Howard: Don't compare someone's style to another performer's. Let him do his own thing without placing those expectations in someone's mind.

[chris319]

Ben Stein is a witty guy and Ken Jennings ...

Where I see humor entering the picture is that Ken sweeps match after match and the show eventually becomes a mockery of itself:

"And now let's meet today's contestants. They don't have a snowball's chance against Ken, but they thought they'd give our show a try after being rejected by Jeopardy!".

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 02:36 PM\']Ben Stein is a witty guy and Ken Jennings ...
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...is reasonably witty as well, at least in my opinion.

[goongas]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 03:50 PM\']The only reason Ken lost on Jeopardy is that he finally fell victim to the fluky luck that Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy clues add to the game.  As far as I can tell, there's no similar structure here.  In a game of straight-up all-subject trivia, I don't think there are a hundred people in the country who could match up to Ken.

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The show will be taped in NYC.  With the lack of a high payout, they aren't going to get many people flying in from around the country to challenge Ken, so the challenge will be even greater for them.

The show has some humor in it (the beginning segment for instance), but what I found at my run through was the lack of humor (the pilot as suggested in the first post was funny) and the lack of showing Ken's personality (I thought the producers would direct him to act smugly and like a know-it-all, but he didn't.

I found the banter between Stein and Kimmell to be very funny.  I don't think this show will have that.