To cheese or not to cheese

This long interview with Jeff Foxworthy covers a lot of territory, including much political chitchat.

I try to keep this blog as nonpolitical as possible. But I really don't have much patience with Foxworthy's complaints that American politics has gotten so nasty lately. Come on, we once fought a civil war in this country that killed over a half-million people. Compared to that kind of storm and stress, our politics nowadays look impeccably polite.

But enough of that. Eventually Jeff gets around to his little game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader...

Mark Burnett asked me if I was interested in hosting a game show and I thought, "nope, too cheesy." But then I asked, what's the premise? Adults taking elementary school tests for a shot at a million bucks? That's brilliant! It allowed me to still be funny without being mean, and even if (a contestant) is doing well, you're only doing things an 8-year-old can do, so you can't get too cocky. I really enjoyed it, and you can shoot 'em all in a block. What I didn't like about doing sitcoms is they become so life-consuming.

Yes, a lot of people have noticed that you can tape a lot of game episodes quickly and cheaply. That's one of the reasons the genre has survived for seven decades on TV. Ask ABC about the zillion game show reboots they've done lately. Or you can even ask Nick about their own 5th Grader reboot.

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: