My unhealthy interest in TV game shows led me somewhat hesitantly to another new summer reality series. But ABC's The Scholar turned out to be a little different from the norm.
Ten high school seniors compete for a "full ride" to the college of their choice. The competitions involve a series of interviews with college admissions professionals, team-oriented tasks that test leadership skills and trivia challenges (last night's "19th and 20th Century Literature" challenge felt ridiculously easy).
Each week one person secures a slot in the finals and is guaranteed at least $50,000 in scholarship money. Five students will make it to the final showdown while the other five will leave with at least $20,000 in scholarship money. Basically everyone's a winner.
The contestants don't have to eat bugs, attempt to sing or pretend they're looking for their soulmates. And none of the judges mock or belittle them.
So, uh, what the hell is this doing on network TV right?
I guess it's part of the "feel good" movement in reality TV (although I think Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is the only bona fide success in that genre). The Scholar does have a few Real World elements, the kids all live together during the competition and in the first episode there was already groundwork laid for potential relationships and feuds (Real World producer Jonathan Murray is also a producer here), but this is still one of the nerdiest reality shows I've ever seen. And that's what makes it unusually charming.
Despite the noble intentions last night's ratings, somewhat predictably, were not so hot. It was up against Fear Factor and Hell's Kitchen after all (although everything was beat by reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and Two and a Half Men). It's hard to make noise in the bottom-feeding world of reality TV when your gimmick is giving away scholarship money to smart kids.
2 comments:
Very nice review. I haven't seen this show but I want to, despite Brian Lowry's snarky-ass comments about the fact that it was all shot at USC. (Stupid Bruin.)
Oh, and we need to talk about "Batman Begins." Sneese tells me you liked it, as I did.
Yeah I neglected to mention the USC angle, but that would've gone right over my head if not for my Trojan girlfriend anyway. And I checked Lowry's review and he did like the show, Bruin or no.
I liked Batman but I'll write more about that in a couple days.
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