TVSquad

This is why I hate most of the network game shows now. A.Y.S.T. a 5th Grader, Deal or No Deal, 1 vs 100... they play best with dumb people. The problem is it makes it rather unfulfilling to play along when you're playing along with someone dumber than a third grader or who makes poor snap judgments when large amount of money are shown on large projection screens, but scream uncontrollably and are convinced they're leaving with $1,000,000. I'll take my Lingo and Chain Reaction (and Camouflage too), thank you.

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Who are you?

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How dare you blaspheme TV Geek from "Beat the Geeks" with such a question? Just search the show beat the geeks, paul was the tv expert on the show and he rocked

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@1...

If they got smart people, the networks would go broke!

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Jeopardy rules!

Everything else is mindless drivel.

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Will there ever be another Beat The Geeks? I loved that show... seriously any DVD release of the show or re-airings? Gimme something.

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I don't get it. The title of the post is "How the WSoPC stacked the deck". So - how did they?

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while i agree with the thought of the article... that most of the people they get for deal or no deal are idiots. I also understand why they would not invite you and your friends to be on the show. Hell you guys basically hosted the same show with a different name (beat the geeks, not a big fan of either show so excuse me for missing the subtle differences). You should probably be auditioning to be a question writer not a contestant. To say you guys would be ringers would be the understatement of a lifetime.

Do you want me to act equally surprised next when when stephen hawkings writes a guest editorial on his feelings about not being invited to play "are you smarter than a 5th grader?"

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I think Paul's point was that you shouldn't think that being the best at these things will necessarily give you a guarantee in. In fact, it could (and likely will) hurt you.

But wouldn't viewers be a little ticked off if they recognized Paul and saw him cleaning up? Someone would think something was afoul.

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Let's see...you acted like obnoxious asses throughout the process and didn't get picked? Shocking! How did VH-1 stack the deck? Not choosing you did not benefit them in any way. They still gave away the same amount of money.

Can you say "sour grapes"? I knew you could.

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Paul,

I was in LA for graduate school during the debut of the WS when I saw a notice for auditions. I had exactly the same experience as you. A friend of mine from school and I grabbed a gal we knew (so our team wasn't a total sausage party) and spent some time practicing...it helped that he and I really knew specific things, him being from the record business and me not having a life outside of TV between 1987 - 2002. While I didn't think we were anywhere near the best team, I figured we could at least be competitive.

We didn't have any booing when we were selected for the interview, but I remember thinking that there were a lot of people not being selected for the interview round. In thinking about it, I assume they picked the teams that did well in the test, and I figured there were a lot of people that just didn't know as much as they thought they did. We went to the interview, which was staffed by a bunch of HOT chicks (shocking) and we tried to charm them a bit. We thought for sure we were a lock, but disappointingly didn't make it.

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Well, if you watched the show last year, acting like obnoxious asses certainly wasn't a hindrance to getting on. I'm guessing that Paul and maybe one of the other guys has a SAG card, and that was a disqualifier.

All last year I watched the show and had the reaction "I wish I was watching Beat the Geeks instead. That was a great show."

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"Beat The Geeks" is seen daily on G4 TechTV here in Canada. I certainly hope Paul and the others are getting residuals - those pennies pile up and after a few years of reruns can be worth something.

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Maybe a better way of describing your experience is that it's not all about skill or aptitude or even being the smartest guy in the room.
I've auditioned for Jeopardy three times, twice in person and once online. In person, I made it past the written test and into the simulated game, in which I think I did pretty well (managed to get in and answered correctly most of the time). Online, my answers qualified. But have I ever been on the show? Nope.
I think with TV shows there is definitely more than what's on paper- it's appearance, perception and even some producer's whim - something that a revered TV geek like Paul ought to know. And I know you know because you guys had a schtick that you thought would help - the guys everyone loves to hate.

I agree with Keith that maybe the producers thought that viewers might think you guys had an unfair advantage (though, is being knowledgeable necessarily an unfair advantage?)

Better luck next time...

http://thecourier.typepad.com/popgoestheculture/

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I think it would have been fun if you were chosen to be on the show and then failed miserably like Cartman when he competed in the Special Olympics (Episode 8.2). It's nothing personal, but I have a thing for underdogs.

From the title I was expecting to hear that you received tougher qualifying questions than the rest of the applicants, but instead I read an article that reminded me of that episode of The Golden Girls where Dorothy gets all the qualifying questions correct, but isn't chosen because no one would be interested in seeing her on TV, or so the producers think (Epsiode 7.17).

Better luck next time.

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Paul, you're number one on my version of Jay's list of coolest TV Geeks ever.

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Ok, maybe I'm showing my stupidity, but my team did pretty poorly taking the test. I think our problem was that we maybe TOO specialized. I don't know popular music from adam, and the music guy didn't know much TV, etc etc.

Of our test group in Chicago, only one team made it to the interview.

The group of folks I went with regularly compete in local pub trivia kind of contests, and we do pretty well. The WSoPC test proved to us that we definitely weren't as smart as we thought we were.

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I liked "Beat the Geeks", but honestly I found the "insult the contestants every single time they choose you" bit REALLY tiring after the first day. If there's ever a next time (and if you have ANY kind of control over it), I think it'd be better with just ONE insult at the beginning per episode. Just my two cents.

As for the topic getting rejected for being too good, yeah I can see that happening. After all, suppose you're trying to organize a fun game for everyone, and some ringer joins in and completely obliterates it, how much fun would it really be? Not many would want to be in an arm-wrestling match with Arnold Schwartzeneggar. heh

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The caption of the photo that accompanies this article identifies the fellow on the left as "a douchebag host." But nowhere in your article do you ever mention the host or his behavior. I'd be curious to know why you identify him that way. His name is Pat Kiernan and he's the morning anchor on NY1, a 24-hour NYC news channel on Time Warner Cable. I start every weekday morning with NY1, because Kiernan is so sane and dry and low-key. It's pretty startling to see him referred to as a douchebag without any corroborating evidence whatsoever.

So, what's the story?

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I guess I can add some realism to this batch. Like Paul, I was a contestant on TV Land's Ultimate TV Fan Search. I won the Chicago qualifier which earned me the right to be on the TV show. There was a written test whcih I aced, I had to play several simulated games.

After the first round of games, the on-site producer asked me to start clearing my schedule for travel as he did not forsee anyone beating me that day.

By the final game, it was down to me and a nice looking woman (if looks had mattered to getting on the show, she's in hands down), we were both told that because of scheduling snafus the Chicago qualifier was taking place a mere 24 hours before the final taping of a first round show in NY and that we needed to be able to travel that evening, otherwise we could take a buy out and they would use a standby from the NY tryouts a few weeks earlier (NY and LA contestants always have that extra advantage as being 'stand bys' in case something happens).

Anyhow I won and after many starts and stops thanks to bad weather, I did get to NY on time (barely) for my episode

My ears were lierally still popping as I was whisked from the airport to the studio, handed a few papers to sign, was told what I was wearing was fine (to them maybe, but I had been on a plane for 4 hours and in an airport for 4 more before flying out and would have loved to tchange) and was onstage in moments. The did the coin-toss while I was on the phone in the limo heading to the studio and it was off to the races.

After all that, I was out at the first commercial break (lost a tie breaking question because I hesitated).

But at least now I have 1099 form that says my "worthless TV knowledge" is actually worth $4,399 in 2001 dollars.

dave

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