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May 05, 2008
Typical Buffalonian
Sunday night, I was flipping channels when I discovered Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was on. I figured I'd watch it for a bit, but then I heard the contestant was a lady from Buffalo. I had to watch.
She breezed through the early questions, including some I didn't know. Guess I should've read Oliver Twist. She gets to the $32,000 question, which is always important in Millionaire because if you win $32,000, you get to keep that even if you miss any subsequent questions. Naturally, I always kinda felt those $32,000 ones were tougher.
Her question was this: In the movie "Elmo's Adventures In Grouchland," what is Elmo searching for? A, his blanket; B, a picture; C, something I don't remember; D, Big Bird.
I think we all had the same response: wtf? I had no clue, nor did the intrepid contestant. She used her first lifeline, wherein she asked the audience. The response came back as 32% said blanket, and 52% said Big Bird. The other two choices got about 8% each. That's not the overwhelming response you want, though I probably still would've gone with Big Bird at this point.
However, this contestant was an accountant. She liked to doublecheck things, and be absolutely sure. I don't blame her. She used her second lifeline, the 50/50, which gets rid of two wrong answers and leaves the right answer and one wrong answer. Naturally, the "random computer" kept blanket and Big Bird, the two most popular answers, as the two choices.
I could start to feel the weight of being a Buffalonian pile onto her. She used her third, and last, lifeline: phone a friend. She called her brother, who had a ton of kids. Surely he must've seen "Elmo's Adventures In Grouchland." He said he thought the answer was Big Bird, but he wasn't entirely sure... He said he was about 60% sure.
After much hemming and hawing, she went for it: "Regis, I choose Big Bird. Final answer."
Regis selected Big Bird on his screen, and her destiny was fulfilled. The correct answer was "blanket." She would go with a pitiful $1,000.
Now, I don't want to suggest the New York City audience conspired against the lady from Western New York, but it was pretty odd. Only 1/3 of the people in the audience knew what Elmo was looking for? And the rest picked Big Bird? All randomly??? My foot!
Even the choice of question leaves me puzzled. Who the hell has seen Elmo's Adventures In Grouchland? That was a question designed to be missed, a nifty piece of Disney/ABC corporate synergy. The victim off all this? A hard-working, erstwhile Buffalonian, all in the name of ratings. Typical.
Am I saying Buffalo once again got screwed by the authorities? Let's put it this way: history suggests they did.
entry no. 1141
Posted at May 5, 2008 12:15 AM