h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Last night, they had a special Weakest Link in which the winners of some other show ("Fear Factor") who had to endure all sorts of frightening events (falling off buildings, eating sheep eyes, lying in a tub filled with worms, etc.) had to compete. Let's just say these people aren't known for their smarts (frankly, it made me embarrassed about my country). Anne Robinson was in top form of course. She railed against a 5 of them for voting in a block for the previous rounds and being the "gang of cowards." When there was a round with only a single question right and no money banked (not the first either), she shot off that she was "neither surprised or disappointed," and told one of them (an actor) that his next film would be "From Here to Obscurity". All in all, it was a terribly poor showing for this show, and it's contestants like this that make the show appealing. Who doesn't want to see the smirking idiots chastised?

The final round was the two dumbest contestants. One of them lost in a sudden death overtime (each got 1 right in the final round) on the question of when the US Tricentennial would be. He answered 1897. Man, that was embarrassing.

I saw that.
Boy was that pathetic.

I saw one that was shown in the UK today, and I thought the questions were getting harder - maybe because I know almost nothing about US history, whereas in the US they cram it down your throats at school, don't they?

Anyway, I was stunned at the end by the disclaimers that come on the screen before the credits. Surely they don't seriously think it's necessary to tell people those stunningly obvious facts, do they?



Ah, America...

Irony again...

"A traffic jam when you're already late"

Not ironic, just annoying, how about:

"A traffic jam when you're already late for a meeting on how to solve traffic problems in your area"

That's a little more ironic I think.

Perhaps doesn't scan as well though.

Oh well,

Rama

What disclaimer is that. I tend to block them out, there are so many of them. My favorite is the ones that they have on buckets saying someting like - CAUTION - if bucket is filled with water a child could stick their head in and drown. DUH!

So to answer your question, yes, corprit America likes to tell us stunningly obvious facts.

Look! I have a disclaimer on my pencil - Warning - sharp object - do not jam into eye - may cause dicomfort and blindness.

It's okay, we don't really know much about other country's history. What shocks me is how many questions in the US version are based on knowledge of commercial products or sometimes even blatant plugs for other shows on NBC (one question asked who a cohost on Saturday Night Live, an NBC show, was). But I suppose it's also part of American culture. We probably know more about products than British history for example.

even so if the question has been repruced correctly above ie "When will the tricentennial be celebrate" I don't know the answer (2070s?) but I do know it will be in the future.

ChawkE

2076 or 300 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence (the reason we celebrate July 4th). For an American, this is pretty embarassing not to know. For people in other countries, it's not a big deal.

I also shouted at a contestant for flubbing a question on what the reciprocal of one-eighth is and what the annual festival in southern Germany founded by King Friedrich is (he answered "The running of the bulls").

Well I'm afraid I've only studied 20th century German history, and no US history at all, save for parts of the Cold War.

The reciprocal of one-eighth is silly though. Everyone should know that!

Yeah, and anybody who would confuse Oktoberfest with running from angry bulls also needs to get their priorities straight... Of course, we learn everything about the world from the International Village part of Disneyworld.

Err...

I do hope you're joking.

That was irony - according to the definition above!

Recently in the New Yorker talking about changing food trends in Britain, there was the following aside about modes of public communication: "The British start [everything] with irony, much as the French do with insouciance and the Americans with earnestness." Or so is the best I can remember it. It made me laugh a little bit.

BTW - if you're interested, they've got WL in Germany too, now, but they've totally missed the point. It's just a plain quiz show, with a pathetic girl asking the questions. She doesn't make any comments at all.

The main difference between the US and UK versions?

In the UK the post walk-of-shame interview often includes something along the lines of "Wow! I really deserved to be voted off then. My friends are going to rib me endlessly about how stupid I am".

In the US version a contestant who's answered one question right out of half a dozen will complain "There's no way I should have been voted off then."

Amazing how quickly this programme has been forgotten. Used to be all over the newspapers. Is it even still on?