Page 86 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

(NBC), contestants called upon a panel of experts to answer questions
on topics ranging from performing arts to natural history. On The G.E.
College Bowl, teams of college students competed by demonstrating their
mastery of history, literature, science, and mathematics.
However, by the 1940s, as quiz shows began catering to a broader
audience, the contests became less intellectually challenging. As an ex-
ample, Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge combined elements of
musical variety with a comedy quiz show. You Bet Your Life was another
popular quiz show, in which the quiz element was merely a pretext for
the wisecracks of host Groucho Marx.
Today, as part of this continuing effort to attract the largest possible
audience, questions on current programs are aimed at an elementary
school level of difficulty. For instance, one question posed by host Bob
Saget on the 2007 quiz show 1 vs. 100 was, “What is the most popular
topping on Domino’s pizzas”? This “dumbing down” of questions makes
everyone feel smart—in some cases, smarter than the contestants. Richard
Goodwin, who led a congressional investigation of television quiz shows
in the 1950s, comments, “In the fifties, we cited [quiz show] contestants
as examples of how we were intellectually ahead of the Russians. The
shows were designed to create heroes, people to admire and look up to
for their learning and knowledge. Now they’re trying to make audiences
feel better about themselves.” 11
In addition, the categories of quiz show questions have changed over
the years. Rather than posing questions about established academic
disciplines, quiz shows now focus on aspects of popular culture. As an
example, one of the categories that frequently appears on Jeopardy is
“Famous Country Singers.”
Even the format of the questioning has changed from the early days of
the quiz show to make it easier on the contestants. Instead of asking open-
ended questions, programs like Millionaire employ the multiple-choice
format, which gives the contestants (and the audience) the opportunity
to guess the correct answer.
Identifying the development of subgenres can also reveal areas of
cultural interest. To illustrate, Jason Chow traced the evolution of reality
show subgenres between 2002 and 2004:

The newest crop of reality shows reveals how much the genre has evolved
since Survivor I. Since those early days, producers have had time to exam-
ine the mundane lives of their viewers, and with . . . the premiere of The
Swan (Fox/Global), we see what they’re going to do about it.

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