Chris Harrison to host the National Spelling Bee...

[weaklink75]

No word on if he'll hand out roses for correct spellings...

[Fedya]

Shows how much TV I watch: I'd never heard of him.

[Mr. Armadillo]

I didn't know I was even supposed to have heard of him.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Mr. Armadillo\' post=\'240321\' date=\'May 4 2010, 10:27 AM\']I didn't know I was even supposed to have heard of him.[/quote]
No knowledge is required, but all knowledge is good.  As they say in quiz bowl, there is no shame, only points.  It is certainly possible to know who Chris Harrison is without ever having watched his show.

[Thunder]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'240325\' date=\'May 4 2010, 12:09 PM\']...As they say in quiz bowl, there is no shame, only points...[/quote]


As they say on this topic, there is no ignorance, only bliss.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'240325\' date=\'May 4 2010, 09:09 AM\'][quote name=\'Mr. Armadillo\' post=\'240321\' date=\'May 4 2010, 10:27 AM\']I didn't know I was even supposed to have heard of him.[/quote]
It is certainly possible to know who Chris Harrison is without ever having watched his show.[/quote]
I guess the question is one of what tier of the reality oeuvre you'd place The Bachelor(rette) on. In my eye, someone with a passing knowledge of television should probably know who Jeff Probst, Ryan Seacrest, Julie Chen, and Tom Bergeron are. You're kinda getting to the second tier with the Chris Harrison's and Padma Lakshmi's and Phil Keoghan's and the like, but, yeah, if one were going to claim Modern Television as your specialized subject on Mastermind, it's reasonable to understand why ABC would trot him out for a fairly high-profile generic gig.

[tpirfan28]

They can't seem to find one person/group of people to host this thing...they've had several ESPN personalities over the last few years, and Tom last year.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'240332\' date=\'May 4 2010, 10:11 AM\']They can't seem to find one person/group of people to host this thing...they've had several ESPN personalities over the last few years, and Tom last year.[/quote]
Well, it seems that the Mouse is trying to transition their coverage from "novelty event treated like sports and taken mock-seriously" which is how ESPN brought it to prominence, to "prime-time TV spectacular." I'm sure ABC would love to get it to the point where they have a single host who raises it to the status of Annual Tradition, but outside of Bergeron, they really don't have someone high-profile enough to do it, and it's possible that Bergeron turned them down since he's currently busy on DWtS.

(Then there's the whole question of whether what is really a little-kid competition should be raised to this level of pressure at the end.)

[Mr. Armadillo]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'240325\' date=\'May 4 2010, 11:09 AM\'][quote name=\'Mr. Armadillo\' post=\'240321\' date=\'May 4 2010, 10:27 AM\']I didn't know I was even supposed to have heard of him.[/quote]
No knowledge is required, but all knowledge is good.  As they say in quiz bowl, there is no shame, only points.  It is certainly possible to know who Chris Harrison is without ever having watched his show.
[/quote]
And now I know for the next time it comes up.  

Makes sense...if you're trying to push a second-tier name (according to Chris's hierarchy) up a tier, this is the sort of thing you'd do.

/If this was NBC, would Chris Hansen be hosting it?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Mr. Armadillo\' post=\'240344\' date=\'May 4 2010, 12:58 PM\']/If this was NBC, would Chris Hansen be hosting it?[/quote]
"That's correct. Johnny, Now, why don't you have a seat right over there."

[dale_grass]

[quote name=\'Mr. Armadillo\' post=\'240344\' date=\'May 4 2010, 02:58 PM\']/If this was NBC, would Chris Hansen be hosting it?[/quote]

Chris Hansen: Billy, your word is "pederast."

Billy: "Pederast."  Could you use it in a sentence?

CH: "The pederast, whose screen name was BigPappaLicks69, kept condoms, candy, and champagne in his glove compartment."

Billy: "Pederast." P-E-D-A-R-A-S-T. "Pederast."

* Ding *

CH: Sorry Billy, that's incorrect.  Why don't you have a seat over there?

[Fedya]

Chris Lemon wrote:

(Then there's the whole question of whether what is really a little-kid competition should be raised to this level of pressure at the end.)

If you haven't seen it before, get a copy of the documentary Spellbound (not the Hitchcock movie).  The kids are for the most part much better adjusted than the parents.

[Joe Mello]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'240335\' date=\'May 4 2010, 02:32 PM\'](Then there's the whole question of whether what is really a little-kid competition should be raised to this level of pressure at the end.)[/quote]
Of course, this is the same network that airs the Little League World Series every year, so they've obviously decided on an answer.

My two cents: Someone's getting tens of thousands of dollars towards their education.  I think that's kind of a big deal.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'240404\' date=\'May 5 2010, 02:06 PM\']Of course, this is the same network that airs the Little League World Series every year, so they've obviously decided on an answer.[/quote]
Doesn't feel quite the same. The LLWS would be a big hairy deal for those kids, TV or no TV. It was a big deal before there was the coverage it gets now.

[Joe Mello]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'240413\' date=\'May 5 2010, 07:10 PM\'][quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'240404\' date=\'May 5 2010, 02:06 PM\']Of course, this is the same network that airs the Little League World Series every year, so they've obviously decided on an answer.[/quote]
Doesn't feel quite the same. The LLWS would be a big hairy deal for those kids, TV or no TV. It was a big deal before there was the coverage it gets now.[/quote]
If you're saying that the Spelling Bee is a big deal purely because of TV, I think your logic is a little flawed.  If that's not what you're saying, m'bad.