Today’s Learned League mini-quiz: Game Shows 2

[BrandonFG]

For all the LL’ers there’s a game show quiz. Without spoiling anything, this one was pretty simple given the relative difficulty of LL quizzes at times.

EDIT: removed questions

[SuperSweeper]

Can the questions please be posted and shared AFTER the Match Day(s) end? I feel like we're just courting trouble otherwise.

[BrandonFG]

Fair. Edited.

[TLEberle]

Couple of things surprised me--one that in my rundle of twelve victims, my game was the only one to split the pie as we both went 9(6), but also that the league-wide forfeit rate was in excess of one in twenty.

[Matt Ottinger]

I think overall, this is going to play extremely easy for our fandom, and if the first day's results are any indication, pretty easy overall.  Five of the six questions were answered correctly by more than two-thirds of the participants.  The most difficult question -- by far -- in the first set was this one, which was answered correctly by only 18% of the participants:

Hosted by Wink Martindale, what quiz show, a hit for the Lifetime network in the '90s, was notable for having its contestants begin the game with scores that were negative dollar amounts?

And yes of course YOU know it, which is why I'm saying our fandom shouldn't have much trouble with this.

[BrandonFG]

So I thought this was going to be a one-day event and not a continuous thing. Today’s questions are a little more difficult, but if you read the questions deeply enough they’re gettable.

/And had I read deeper today, I would’ve gotten five instead of four right
//Did get my first 9(6) yesterday

[Matt Ottinger]

//Did get my first 9(6) yesterday

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[BrandonFG]

For the record, here's yesterday's list again.


Q1. Though this show's main game had no onscreen time limits in its original American format, its contestants earned their way into the Hot Seat through a speed-based qualifying game called Fastest Finger. Name the show.

Q2. Name either of the two future Saturday Night Live cast members who appeared in the on-air cast of MTV's Remote Control. One would become a Weekend Update anchor; the other would occasionally bring his guitar to appearances at the Update desk.

Q3. The US game shows Friend or Foe and Take It All, as well as the UK game shows Shafted, Golden Balls, and The Bank Job, all ended each game with a similar decision point. In game theory, this scenario is best known by what two-word name?

Q4. In one 1972 episode of this classic sitcom (based on a stage play), the title characters play as teammates on Password—but unsuccessfully, as one attempts to convey the word "bird" with the clue "Aristophanes." Name the sitcom.

Q5. In a 2012 interview, Ted Allen described what show's unaired pilot as "pretty trippy" and "a little too weird for" its network? He explained, "The show was originally a lot more elaborate. It was set in a mansion, the host was a butler, the butler held a Chihuahua, and when a chef was [REDACTED] the losing dish was fed to the Chihuahua."

Q6. Hosted by Wink Martindale, what quiz show, a hit for the Lifetime network in the '90s, was notable for having its contestants begin the game with scores that were negative dollar amounts?


Answers:

1. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
2. Colin Quinn; Adam Sandler
3. Prisoner's Dilemma
4. The Odd Couple
5. Chopped
6. Debt.

[trainman]

So I thought this was going to be a one-day event and not a continuous thing.

Yeah, it's a "mini-league" (register in advance, 11 regular days of 6 questions each followed by a 1-day 12-question championship round) as opposed to a "one-day special" (play if you feel like it, a single 12-question quiz).

[SuperMatch93]

I really need to find someone to sponsor me in so I can give LL a try. I really want to get back into doing competitive trivia (my bar trivia team made it to the city championships a couple years back) and I feel like it would be a good way to prep for the J! online test.

[TLEberle]

LL does feel like six Daily Doubles or Final Jeopardies every day. Send me your e-mail addres via PM and I can put in for you if the deadline hasn't passed.

[Matt Ottinger]

The Thursday set (the last one of the week) had several questions that I was worried the entire quiz would have.  Namely, questions about other elements of pop culture (books and movies) that happen to have references to game shows in them.  If you've not read that particular book or seen that particular movie, it won't matter how much you know about game shows, you'll come up empty.  I'm hoping when the event continues tomorrow that those will be at a minimum.

[TLEberle]

I do not have any fore-knowledge of any of the material. I am friendly with one of the Smiths but was not invited to playtest.

The Thursday set (the last one of the week) had several questions that I was worried the entire quiz would have.  Namely, questions about other elements of pop culture (books and movies) that happen to have references to game shows in them.  If you've not read that particular book or seen that particular movie, it won't matter how much you know about game shows, you'll come up empty.  I'm hoping when the event continues tomorrow that those will be at a minimum.

I hesitate to call it an argument because we're just so danged civil and friendly to each other, but I have been having this conversation with Kevin Prather.

I wonder how much could be mined from just straight up trivia, and in a group that self selects as part of Learned League would they play well? Can you go into Richard Dawson as Damon Killian? Game shows are certainly fodder for sitcoms (cf: Felix Unger and Cliff Clavin), but where's the line of game shows, or does it indeed matter?

I can see someone saying "this isn't what I signed up for", though it is spelled out there. I happened to read the book by D.F. Wallace during James Holzhauer's run so I had put myself in position to be right, but I imagine lots of other people might raise an eyebrow. Q1 from Thursday seemed quite a stretch.

[Kevin Prather]

The Thursday set (the last one of the week) had several questions that I was worried the entire quiz would have.  Namely, questions about other elements of pop culture (books and movies) that happen to have references to game shows in them.  If you've not read that particular book or seen that particular movie, it won't matter how much you know about game shows, you'll come up empty.  I'm hoping when the event continues tomorrow that those will be at a minimum.

I hesitate to call it an argument because we're just so danged civil and friendly to each other, but I have been having this conversation with Kevin Prather.

And a good conversation it was. As you remember, the counterargument I made was that a few tenuously connected questions here and there served as equalizers to prevent a barrage of 9(6) ties. I do however agree with Matt that I hope these questions make up a small percentage of the questions overall.

[TLEberle]

Playing in the final challenge with several hundred other people, I always approach the assigning of "moneyball" questions a bit randomly, but I surely did not expect so many people to have a row of zeroes for their answer sheets, given that they too were in the championship.