F.C.C. Opens an Inquiry for a Game Show on Fox

[alp227]

Source: Edward Wyatt, The New York Times

LOS ANGELES — The Federal Communications Commission is looking into whether the producers of the planned Fox game show “Our Little Genius” gave potential contestants the answers to some questions before taping episodes of the program last year.

In December, the parent of a child who was recruited for the quiz show sent a letter to the commission. The letter alleges that a few days before a planned taping, a member of the program’s production staff reviewed with the contestant and his parents a list of potential topics and gave specific answers to at least four questions that the child either did not know or about which he was unsure.

The letter, dated Dec. 17 and received by the F.C.C. on Dec. 22, was released Friday by the commission in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The New York Times.

“Our Little Genius” was withdrawn from the Fox schedule on Jan. 7, six days before its premiere. Already heavily promoted by Fox, the program was to feature children 6 to 12 years old answering multipart, open-ended questions about specialized subject matter for the chance to win what the producers called “life-changing money.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/business/media/20genius.html

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Hmm, I'm thinking about that movie Quiz Show.

[Newsjock]

1. Newsjock predicts the outcome

Producer and FCC agree to a settlement in which the producer does not admit guilt but pays a "fine" of $20,000 (i.e., petty cash) and promises to "mend its ways." Fox does not have to pay anything.

All part of the cost of doing business.

[defendandprotect]

2. Sound familiar --? What was the name of Redford's movie . . "Quiz"?

This actually opens up a subject that has long bothered me --

and I didn't pick it up when my kids were little, unfortunately --

but it really bothers me that so many movies and TV shows put words

in kids mouths that make them sound older and more intelligent --

had I thought about it then, I would have pointed it out to my kids.

But, I can't imagine what kids think of themselves when they see other

so much "brighter" kids than they are --

How many kids even know about laugh tracks???

[nolabear]

19. It's the same in advertizing. Kids look up to bigger kids

so ads very often show kids that are really too old for a toy playing with it. The subtle manipulation of the psyche, sadly, starts very early. It's a good reason to follow President Obama's advice and limit and monitor TV consumption, and when they're old enough explain to them what's going on.

[Tx4obama]

3. Just like how Fox gives Sarah Palin answers to the questions they ask her n/t

[4lbs]

4. Of course those little twits needed the answers. When's the last time you saw a kid reading a book

instead of texting on a cell phone or jerking around on a GameBoy device?

[piedmont]

5. Darn kids these days. nt

[quakerboy]

6. Hey you!

You there... gedoffa my lawn with yer baggy pants and tennis shoes with wheels. yer upsettin my digestion with yer rappity music and yer sideways baseball cap.

[mac56]

30. goldang kids with their hippety hop music

When I was their age, I was twice their age!

[1monster]

13. Quite often, as a matter of fact. There are always children who have been utterly

entranced by books as there have always been dhildren who wouldn't read even if their lives depended on it.

And there are the in betweens. Kids who will read a Harry Potter series or a Twilight series because they want to know what the hype is all about, but who don't read much as a general rule.

In any regular classroom of thirty children, two will be avid readers who devour five to fifteen books a month; ten casual readers who will read one or two books per month; ten reluctant reader readers who will readers who will read one or two books in six months; and the rest will read (poorly because they are unable to focus enough to get into the story) only if they are forced to read.

[nolabear]

22. Thanks! You're far more eloquent than I.

[nolabear]

21. Aw c'mon. The children are innocent here, and if Harry Potter and Twilight are any indication

some kids are reading a lot. And those books, while not high art, capture the imaginations of kids who are trying to make sense of being sexual and fairly powerless in the world. If they're on Gameboy ad nauseum, they're not getting something in the real world, but it's not their fault. Texting is nouvelle mating behavior and can't be compared, in my opinion.

I'm bothered by the anger and namecalling at kids. It never helps, and often does harm.

[John Kerry VonErich]

23. So they're no different than most adults then.

:P

[Arkana]

28. Durn kids with their kung-fu and their skate-boardin'

and their Snapples and their Chee-tos. BAH GAWD

[tom_paine]

7. Well, thank God we've got our priorities straight

I mean, to allow this to pass would be quite an injustice which cannot be tolerated by a Free Society.

(unlike torture, trumped up invasions like 1939 Poland and 2003 Iraq, Stolen Elections and Black-Box Voting, and other minor trifles that don't really hurt anybody)

Our Empire...a Free Society :rofl:

sometimes I crack myself up

[AsahinaKimi]

8. They go after Fox for a game show?

How about going after them for their so called "News" ?

[RC]

10. They can't. Fox has already been to court and won the lawsuit that allows them to lie

while presenting the 'news'.

They present, you figger it out.

[AsahinaKimi]

14. Then here is what I would suggest

The FCC would require them to continually have a streaming message across the bottom of the screen of all their broadcasts saying this:

WARNING: THE NEWS YOU ARE WATCHING MAY OR MAY NOT BE FACTUAL. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT WHAT YOU SEE AND HEAR IS PROBABLY FAKE AND CREATIVELY MADE UP BY OUR STAFF OF WRITERS ~FOX NETWORK

[RC]

20. Works for me. But like that will ever happen.

[onenote]

26. personally, I prefer for the government not to mandate speech

as a unanimous supreme court (including William O Douglas and Justice Brennan) concluded in Miami Herald Pub. v Tornillo:

A responsible press is an undoubtedly desirable goal, but press responsibility is not mandated by the Constitution and like many other virtues it cannot be legislated.

[AsahinaKimi]

27. Fine

FOX NEWS still sucks.. HOW about this..someone spend money on billboards across the nation saying in large letters

FOX NEWS SUCKS!

[greiner3]

9. How about;

Kids say the darnedest things?

[Bitwit1234]

11. So folks, it's Fox did anybody expect something like a quiz show

to be fair. LOOK AT THEIR NEWS.

[jmowreader]

12. Another proof Jonathan Krohn is full of shit

That little turd claims conservatives are the only ones cognizant of history. Well...Fox is full of conservatives, and this liberal remembers the Quiz Show Scandals (the subject of Robert Redford's movie "Quiz Show"--upthread someone called it "Quiz").

The scandals (where the more-popular contestants were given answers, similar to the subject of this thread) killed game shows for years, and the first real "big money" game show after the scandals wasn't a quiz show at all--it was a big money bowling show.

[HopeHoops]

15. (GASP!) Rupert's child CHEATED! Who would have THOUGHT! I'm just shocked.

:sarcasm:

[fatbuckel]

16. If you believe that television shows are`nt phony.....

you`ve got to be kidding.....98% of television is complete BS.And Fox....you can`t be serious if you think Fox has any morals about what they put on....

[bc3000]

17. Why do game shows have to be real, but wrestling is allowed to fake it?

Is there a specific game show law or something?

[nolabear]

18. Poor kids. What an awful thing to put them through.

First there's the "You're special" concept, then the "your specialness can wiin us a significant amoun of money" thing, whether it's for college or whatever, and then "Well, maybe you're not so special; we'll feed you some answers," followed by "It's okay to cheat since you're not smart enough" and finally "well, we can't do the show because we had to cheat because you're not capable of answering the questions honestly."

This is the way children think, that everything is about them. It's normal and healthy until adults collude with it rather than saying "You're a really special kid, but you're a kid and the adults have the responsibility for making the money and taking care of you while you figure out what to do with your specialness."

It's easy given Fox's transgressions to blame this on them but it happens in far too many places, and often results in adults who crash when the world doesn't support their efforts to remain "special" at any cost.

[marybourg]

24. History repeats itself (for those of us old enough to remember ) :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiz_show_scandals

[lsewpershad]

25. What is so frustrating

is that Fox gets away with all this and no on seems to be able to do shit about it.

[Javaman]

29. Oh man, will this investigation spawn another Dr. Joyce Brothers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Brothers

"Brothers gained fame in late 1955 by winning The $64,000 Question game show, on which she appeared as an expert in the subject area of boxing. Originally, she had not planned to have boxing as her topic, but the sponsors suggested it, and she agreed. A voracious reader, she studied every reference book about boxing that she could find; she would later tell reporters that it was thanks to her good memory that she assimilated so much material and answered even the most difficult questions.<4> In 1959, allegations that the quiz shows were rigged began to surface and stirred controversy. Despite these claims, Brothers insisted that she had never cheated, nor had she ever been given any answers to questions in advance. Subsequent investigations verified her assertions that she had won honestly.<5> Her success on "The $64,000 Question" earned Brothers a chance to be the color commentator for CBS during the boxing match between Carmen Basilio and Sugar Ray Robinson. She was said to be the first woman to ever be a boxing commentator."