Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Tuesday's Overlooked TV: G.E. College Bowl

So, how big a nerd was I when I was a kid? Well, I watched this academic quiz show on Sunday afternoons for years and years, if that gives you a hint.

10 comments:

Patrick Murtha said...

Me, too! I absolutely loved the show. And when, years later, I was an undergraduate at Yale, I was a member of a very good quiz bowl team representing my residential college.

Scott Cupp said...

I also loved this show! We are just one big nerd family here.

Walker Martin said...

I remember this show also. But something went tragically wrong for both of us. We became interested in pulps and vintage paperbacks. Not to mention crime digests like MIKE SHAYNE and MANHUNT.

Todd Mason said...

Well, it's not an accident that GE's owned and operated NBC stations were for decades the home of a successor series, IT'S ACADEMIC...the most telling moment I ever saw on this quiz bowl series, which drew in cheerleading squads from their high schools on the only obvious simultaneous appearances of cheerleaders and quiz teams, involved a cheerleader caught by the cameras in the audience, while the quiz team was in the heat of the scholarship competition...as each question was asked, you could see her subvocalizing the correct answer, and you knew how much she wanted to be on that stage as part of her school's team, or just to demonstrate her ability...but Wasn't.

You tell me who was feeling it that day.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Oh, boy, I sure remember this. And the high school version, which I was almost on until my school decided we were too small to be respectable in play. Good choice, if I was on the team.

James Reasoner said...

Both of my daughters competed on their school's academic team when they were in middle school. It was called Whiz Quiz and there were about eight schools in the area that took part. It was a lot of fun.

Anonymous said...

I watched, and loved this one too. Looks like there were a lot of us bloggers tuned in!

David Cranmer said...

What's wrong with the color? (bad joke, I know.)

Patrick Murtha said...

By the way, that's future rock critic Ellen Willis (who passed away in 2006) playing for Barnard in the clip.

Cap'n Bob said...

I watched in the mid-sixties and the host was Robert Earle.