Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
- TheConfessor
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Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
A lot of people here suspect that TPTB try to weed out the best contestants who might have a chance to break the bank. If that's true, they let one slip through for Friday's show.
I just saw on tvgameshows.net that a "former child prodigy" doctoral degree student who is a quiz bowl veteran will be in the hot seat. Among his Phone a Friends are Kevin Olmstead and a couple other people who have PAF experience. The contestant's name is Michael Kearney, a student at MTSU, near Nashville. He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.
http://tvgameshows.net/bignews.htm
At the above link, there's an audio interview with further details. Michael mentions meeting me at a TRASH tournament. I assume that was last year in Maryland. I met a lot of people there, and I'm bad with faces and names so I need to dig through my old papers and see if I ever played against him.
Michael, if you find your way to this board, congratulations and (retroactive) good luck!
I just saw on tvgameshows.net that a "former child prodigy" doctoral degree student who is a quiz bowl veteran will be in the hot seat. Among his Phone a Friends are Kevin Olmstead and a couple other people who have PAF experience. The contestant's name is Michael Kearney, a student at MTSU, near Nashville. He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.
http://tvgameshows.net/bignews.htm
At the above link, there's an audio interview with further details. Michael mentions meeting me at a TRASH tournament. I assume that was last year in Maryland. I met a lot of people there, and I'm bad with faces and names so I need to dig through my old papers and see if I ever played against him.
Michael, if you find your way to this board, congratulations and (retroactive) good luck!
- MarleysGh0st
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Re: Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.
- Appa23
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Re: Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
I know that he is not the only one.MarleysGh0st wrote:He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.
- Rexer25
- It's all his fault. That'll be $10.
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Re: Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
Why would you do that? Didn't you trust your PAFs to remember how to answer a telephone?Appa23 wrote:So did I.MarleysGh0st wrote:He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.
Enough already. It's my fault! Get over it!
That'll be $10, please.
That'll be $10, please.
- The Huge Manatee
- Merry Man
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Re: Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
My goodnessMarleysGh0st wrote:He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.
- Rexer25
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Re: Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
How long have you been waiting to unleash this MM?The Huge Manatee wrote:My goodnessMarleysGh0st wrote:He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.
Enough already. It's my fault! Get over it!
That'll be $10, please.
That'll be $10, please.
- OhTheHumanity
- Merry Man
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Re: Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
The Huge Manatee wrote:My goodnessMarleysGh0st wrote:He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?TheConfessor wrote:He was in the pool for over a year after turning down his first invitation to the show, but they eventually called him back again.
Where is my attorney?
- The Huge Manatee
- Merry Man
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Re: Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
Your are my inspiration today!OhTheHumanity wrote:The Huge Manatee wrote:My goodnessMarleysGh0st wrote: He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?
Where is my attorney?
- Appa23
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Re: Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
You may recall that I had just returned from South Korea when I auditioned for the show. I already had decided that I would not travel for the first two months after she came home, in order to allow for a bonding process.Rexer25 wrote:Why would you do that? Didn't you trust your PAFs to remember how to answer a telephone?Appa23 wrote:So did I.MarleysGh0st wrote: He turned down an invitation to the show!?!?!?!?
Last edited by Appa23 on Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
- littlebeast13
- Dumbass
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Re: Coming Friday -- A Good Player!
The Huge Manatee wrote:Your are my inspiration today!OhTheHumanity wrote:The Huge Manatee wrote: My goodness
Where is my attorney?
This may be one of the first instance of someone other than me and mini playing off each other's MM's....
lb13
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I'm not surprised they put this guy in the hot seat. I don't think they are specifically trying to avoid good players, but they do want ratings. This guy is probably good for ratings no matter how he does. If he crashes and burns, people can laugh at the mighty having fallen. If he does well, that would be exciting also.
TPTB want hooks. This guy certainly has some awesome hooks.
TPTB want hooks. This guy certainly has some awesome hooks.
- PlacentiaSoccerMom
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- gsabc
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It is surely no coincidence that the May sweeps start today. What may be surprising is the apparent lack of publicity.slam wrote:I'm not surprised they put this guy in the hot seat. I don't think they are specifically trying to avoid good players, but they do want ratings. This guy is probably good for ratings no matter how he does. If he crashes and burns, people can laugh at the mighty having fallen. If he does well, that would be exciting also.
TPTB want hooks. This guy certainly has some awesome hooks.
I just ordered chicken and an egg from Amazon. I'll let you know.
- TheConfessor
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Why do you say that? From my perspective, I think he'll be a very worthy contestant. From the show's perspective, he might appear to be just another hard core trivia geek. Hundreds of people like that have auditioned, but very few of them have been invited to the show. If you consider the Kevin Olmstead PAF angle a good "hook," I doubt that the show knew anything about that before they selected Michael. Besides, they generally avoid any mention of the Regis era of WWTBAM. The "child prodigy" angle might be a "hook," but I didn't see any specifics about what that meant.slam wrote:TPTB want hooks. This guy certainly has some awesome hooks.
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A wee bit of a hook
Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.
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Having a good hook doesn't mean that someone wouldn't be a worthy contestant. Nothing that I said implied that this guy wouldn't be a worthy contestant. Sure, from the show's perspective he might be "just another hard core trivia geek". Look at his wikipedia article. There are certainly a handful of things in there that make him more than just that, any of which could be a good enough hook to get on the show.TheConfessor wrote:Why do you say that? From my perspective, I think he'll be a very worthy contestant. From the show's perspective, he might appear to be just another hard core trivia geek. Hundreds of people like that have auditioned, but very few of them have been invited to the show. If you consider the Kevin Olmstead PAF angle a good "hook," I doubt that the show knew anything about that before they selected Michael. Besides, they generally avoid any mention of the Regis era of WWTBAM. The "child prodigy" angle might be a "hook," but I didn't see any specifics about what that meant.slam wrote:TPTB want hooks. This guy certainly has some awesome hooks.
I see that Michael has posted saying that TPTB didn't know that he was the world's youngest college graduate. Nonentheless, they had to know at least some of the details that would constitute a good hook.
Oh, and welcome to the Bored, Michael. Good retroactive luck tomorrow.
Last edited by slam on Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- MarleysGh0st
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- TheConfessor
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Re: A wee bit of a hook
Hi, Michael. Welcome to this board. A lot of the people here have been avid fans of WWTBAM since the early days, though most of the discussion is far from the original topic that brought us together. I hope your appearance gives us something memorable to talk about.MKearney wrote:Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.
I didn't know about the world's youngest college graduate angle. That's a great accomplishment and an excellent hook. Congratulations! What is your major?
Stick around and I'm sure you'll have lots of opportunities to compare notes and strategy with people who really know and love WWTBAM.
By the way, did you play in the TRASH finals this year? Weren't they in Chattanooga, or am I imagining that? The subject matter doesn't really fit my knowledge base, but it's always a fun weekend of competition.
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Oh, in Michael's wiki article is a link to this article which says he was interviewed by none other than Meredith Viera when he was 10. Wouldn't that alone be enough of a hook?
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1303853
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1303853
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The only thing that TPTB knew was that I was personable, talkative, and a big pop culture dork. I passed both Movie Week and the regular test, and they liked that. After I got the call, we went through the pre-interview stuff about being a child prodigy, but I wanted to make my way onto the show without using my "hook".
And considering I was being selected for Guest Week, my previous interview with Meredith didn't come up.
Ed: Actually, we won TRASHionals this year, and are now the reigning champs. Woo!
And considering I was being selected for Guest Week, my previous interview with Meredith didn't come up.
Ed: Actually, we won TRASHionals this year, and are now the reigning champs. Woo!
Last edited by MKearney on Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- earendel
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Re: A wee bit of a hook
Welcome, Michael. It's a privilege to have you join us here. However I should warn you that we post transcripts of each day's show and some of us (myself included) make comments about how we would have done given your stack of questions.MKearney wrote:Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.
"Elen sila lumenn omentielvo...A star shines on the hour of our meeting."
- MarleysGh0st
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Re: A wee bit of a hook
Yeah, but now that he's a Bored Buddy, we'll go easy on him.earendel wrote: Welcome, Michael. It's a privilege to have you join us here. However I should warn you that we post transcripts of each day's show and some of us (myself included) make comments about how we would have done given your stack of questions.
Although I get the feeling that he won't need that!
- earendel
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Re: A wee bit of a hook
Maybe I'll get the honor of transcribing a million-dollar winner.MarleysGh0st wrote:Yeah, but now that he's a Bored Buddy, we'll go easy on him.earendel wrote: Welcome, Michael. It's a privilege to have you join us here. However I should warn you that we post transcripts of each day's show and some of us (myself included) make comments about how we would have done given your stack of questions.
Although I get the feeling that he won't need that!
"Elen sila lumenn omentielvo...A star shines on the hour of our meeting."
- NellyLunatic1980
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Re: A wee bit of a hook
A very warm welcome to you indeed. I also make daily comments on the day's questions, and I very frequently express disgust over missed questions, lifeline usage, etc. We're way overdue for another great contestant (like fellow Bored member Lyn Payne from a few months ago), and you may just be that one. I can't wait to watch you!earendel wrote:Welcome, Michael. It's a privilege to have you join us here. However I should warn you that we post transcripts of each day's show and some of us (myself included) make comments about how we would have done given your stack of questions.MKearney wrote:Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.
- Bob78164
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Re: A wee bit of a hook
Welcome aBored, Michael, and congratulations on making the show. I'll be looking forward to seeing your appearance. Retroactive good luck to you. --BobMKearney wrote:Ed, you might remember me better as the young guy on the second-place team from that Maryland tournament. As far as hooks go, I suppose I'm pretty personable...but I don't deny the much more interesting fact, that I'm the world's youngest college graduate. However, that has nothing to do with WHY I was picked, because the contestant coordinators didn't learn of that fact until after I had gotten the call.
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson