Brain Games

Perhaps one of the best documentary series ever created for TV about human psychology / behavior and certainly one of Nat Geo's best prodution series, ever.

The show is pretty good and educational for most of its run. Sometimes the games were dumb but most of them were good. The show did get a little repititive but I enjoyed the first seven seasons. The show changes alot from seasons 1-7 but I still like all of those seasons. The show can teach you a lot of cool things In season eight they made it more of a game show with celebrities every episode and a magician whose tricks were obviously fake like guessing which random person in the crowd had a hat, which is statistically impossible but he guessed it because they faked it. Would recommended just skip season eight.

This show should be used by every HR department. My biggest problems with new employees can be revealed through some of these shows. Ex not noticing double words in common sayings or over compensating knowledge. If I could screen new hires on just these two skills it would save thousands of dollars. What I have always blamed on reading comprehension, may be the way people's brains work In my area of responsibility millions of dollars can be decided on detailed review of contract language, which can sometimes be compared to an illusionists slight of hand. It's very difficult these days to find candidates that can focus quickly on the text at hand. It's like no one has the focus necessary to perform this task. I have asked new employees to review hard copy text to find a specific string of text and after hours they cannot. This is the product of online education which renders old logical thought useless.

The first set of shows with host Silva are vastly superior to those with later host Key. The tone is more cerebral in the earlier shows, whereas the later ones are done with more of a game show attitude with shrieking audiences, etc. Interesting stories about the brain and perception.

Always a good idea to get people thinking more. At a time when having a brain isn't highly valued, this show gets you thinking. It's fun and fast paced. The topics are primarily visual, but so are our brains.

The brief length of episodes is a good idea for two reasons- 1. You don't burn out. and 2. so you have some chance of retaining the helpful tips given.

Only one complaint and that's the gratuitous TnA. It's subtle, but throughout every episode you get little flashes of breasts, buns, and cute girls sprinkled throughout. It's sinking a little low for Nat Geographic to pander like that. It detracts from the quality. Is that what the producer's felt was necessary to hold people's attention? I only mention it because so many advertisements are already targeting people with sex. It could even be a topic for Brain Games.