Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

I really hate this show. I am a high school senior with a 4.0 and I couldn't even answer half of these questions. Most schools (especially public ones where most attend) don't teach mythology until seventh grade, animal science until seventh grade, geometry until sixth grade, world history until seventh, ancient history until tenth, chemistry until high school, and physical science and physics until high school. That's not to say that teachers may touch upon these subjects in elementary school, but they do not delve into them deep enough to answer most questions. I would love to know what schools teach these subjects at such a young age and what textbooks the questions come from. Also, I find the kids and Jeff Foxworthy extremely annoying.

This show is just formulaic crap with too many commercials, an annoying host, ridiculous contestants, and irritating questions that very few people would learn in there lifetime. I honestly can't believe it's still on the air.

Silly but engaging game show that has adults answering grade school questions. A team of well-groomed grade schoolers are on hand to help the contestants. Jeff Foxworthy hosts, although he seems to spend the bulk of his time firing off one-liners. Not much more to be said about this, other than to note that it is the best new game show since DEAL OR NO DEAL. And like that show, it revels in exposing the typically American greed of many of the participants, who often do not seem to know when to call it a day and chance losing large sums of money. Just like many of them do when they gamble in Las Vegas, I'm sure. The questions are relatively easy, but often have little to do with day-to-day adult situations, so it can be funny (or conversely, cringe-inducing) to see adults stumbling over questions more or less readily answered by a bunch of grade schoolers.

In Fox's 20 year history, the network has been the home of the NFL, Major League Baseball and hit shows such as American Idol, The Simpsons and Beverly Hills 90210 but never a major game show hit until Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader.

What makes the show stand out is the combination of the youngsters helping the contestant win lots of money until they run out of cheats, a witty first time host in Jeff Foxworthy and the home audience like me likely to shout at the screen if a contestant gets stuck on a very simple question. It's a very important element for a hit game show to have viewers involved.

Foxworthy proves that stand up comedians can host game shows without upstaging the contestants and he is very good at building drama and suspense. Fortunately, he doesn't make any redneck jokes on the show.

My only complaint about the show is when a losing contestant has to tell the world "I am not smarter than a fifth grader." I find it humiliating but it makes a great T-shirt saying.

This is a great show because it can be watched in two ways: First, you can watch it with kids. That was the key to "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" and it works here as well. The kids love it, especially if the adults don't know the answer (it doesn't matter whether it's the adults on the screen or at home).

Second, this show is sufficiently predictable that, without kids around, you can watch it in ten minutes or less on TIVO. Like "Deal or No Deal," the interesting part is watching the contestant mess up by going for a question they don't know or risking $425,000 on the $1,000,000 question. Since the questions come about every 6 minutes, you just skip forward. And unlike "Deal or No Deal," there's no incentive to stop to watch the banter between the host and the regulars.

Additionally, there are enough questions on subjects that we never use that most adults have a Paul Simon moment every couple of shows (realizing just how much they learned in grade school but forgot).

Finally, although Foxworthy's not at the top of his game (and probably cannot be on a family show); he's far more entertaining than Howie and probably as good as Regis was. Likewise, even though some of the kids' comments appear strained and were likely fed to the kids (through their ear pieces), the ids are still funnier and more articulate than the "Deal Or Not Deal" supporting staff.

The idea is fun. See what you remember of the knowledge you may not use on a daily basis. Jeff Foxworthy is a decent host. The set is elaborate and nice. But the questions come along way too slowly. I almost get the feeling that the guests are delaying their answers in order to expand the time, perhaps there is an off-camera indicator. I can only imagine what the contestant screening must be like, because I'm sure there are many people that could whip thru the questions with ease and take home the money. Anyone that knew they were going on the show could probably cram, I mean, the jackpot is a million dollars. So overall, to the producers, we want a number of questions equal to that of Jeopardy per episode or something. Of course, given the limited pool of questions they may run out pretty quickly, and the reason they move slowly could be the amount of money that is offered as a prize.