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Airdate: Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader (US)?

Summer or no summer, TEN needs to try harder than lame programming ideas like the American version of Fifth Grader.

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TEN deserves to go to the bottom of the class and try harder with news it is planning to slug us with the American version of Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

What were they thinking?

The show, hosted by Jeff Foxworthy, is due to replace the local Aussie version starring Rove McManus from 7:30pm Thursday November 20. It might be nearly summer, but this isn’t even a good idea for non-ratings.

How does this help the local version? It just creates unnecessary comparisons, and tires people of the franchise a lot quicker. In the last twelve months we’ve seen US episodes of Don’t Forget the Lyrics and Moment of Truth but neither has had any longevity.

Where’s the fun in watching Americans win American money? Now we have to sit through precious American kids too?

Seriously…

29 Responses

  1. Sorry but I disagree. i enjoy watching the U.S. versions of many programs.
    Ten have effectively already paid for the rights for this one – why not give the U.S. version a try if they want? They certainly need to try things right now and I doubt they have loads of cash to throw around. If the public don’t like it then it’ll be canned quick smart, right? TV’s a democracy like that. Let the viewers decide.

  2. Agree with others before me.
    bad idea Ten.

    They should never air the foreign series – unless used as late late night fill in.
    Midnight to 2 am slot…in my opinion

  3. if this is what we are seeing over summer i’ll be forced yet again to up my bandwidth….i hate summer programming at least put on shows that you have cancelled over the course of the year…eg. 90210 or Fringe

  4. Maybe i’m just too cynical of non-scripted shows, but i watched most of the first season of the aus version, and for the 5th graders to have such a ridiculously high strike rate – like only 2 wrong out of hundreds and hundreds of questions – is a tad far fetched for me. So the last ep last year was it for me.

  7. Hey, how about we have a US version of Neighbours made, just so TEN can air a US version of another show! [bashes head against desk]

    I don’t see the point in airing the US versions of shows like this. SYTYCD and American Idol don’t belong on Australian TV. And same with all of these contestant shows. Keep them in America!

  9. I think Monkeys are running the Ch10 network here in Australia, Crap Programming after Crap Programming.

    Insisting on running the Reality Crap everywhere they can!..
    Shoddy Programming after Shoddy Programming.

    I should buy some Bananas and go down to Ch10 and feed them Monkeys and them maybe we’ll get some Decent programming instead of the same old sh**

  12. God what next ten the US version of a test pattern come to think of it that would be more interesting than 5th grader

    why not show the US version of the biggest loser after all bob and Jillian have been trainers in our biggest loser so it would be interesting to see the US version

  13. CanWest may be majority shareholder but the govt cleaned up some foreign ownership issues last year. TEN’s headquarters must remain in Australia, its board must hold most of its meetings in Australia, and the majority of the directors of TEN must be Australian citizens. Therefore, Aussies run TEN, while Canadians own majority shares….

  15. gee Ten there are a heck of a lot of writers who could write a show that would need one location and be entertaining if you’d just um open the door to them they are called Australians and yes some of them if not most of them are talented and could write you a summer filler for the network. How about supporting your local industry?

    Yank versions of shows please lift your game!

  16. Neon,

    The US version features celebrities too.

    “Occasionally, an episode is aired where the contestant is a celebrity, playing for charity. Celebrities appearing thus far include Regis Philbin, Clay Aiken, Tony Hawk, Billy Bush, Kathy Ireland, Jill Mills, Lauren Nelson and Kellie Pickler.”

  17. The Australian version has really suffered this season with the constant “celebrity” contestants. I’ve turned the show off in disgust three times this season despite being a (very surprisingly) big fan of Rove’s work on this show.

    The “celebrity” contestant thing basically screamed “our ratings are tanking” to the world, but also subjected Ten viewers to Nine-style non-celebs-playing-for-charity-oh-yes-and-their-appearance-fee bollocks.

    Bet the US version doesn’t stoop to the non-celebrity stunt…

  20. Agree with you completely, David.

    Plus, it’s not as if the Aussie version has been rating so well that it’s worth airing the US version (which will inevitably bomb here).

  22. my god! who in the hell is making decsions at ten just now? the local version bareley manages to scrape 800K, what the hell makes them think the US version will do better..idiots

  25. I agree David.

    If an Aussie net airs an Australian version of a foreign reality series (Idol, Loser, 5th Grader) they should never air the forign series.

    As you say creates comparison and tarnishes the Australian version.

    Another stupid move by Ten.

    Aussie 5th Grader has been getting about 800,000k if i’m not mistaken – so the US stinker should get Ten about 600,000 or so.

    Great

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