Another
fine example of
typical Fox programming. Could they get
tackier than When $foo Attack 17? How about
tackier than
Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? The answer is,
unsurprisingly,
yes. Basically,
Fox took forty child prodigies--many of which were musical, not
mathematical or
science prodigies--and jammed them on a stage where half of the contestants were immediately disqualified. The
competition proceded until two
children were left battling for some $300,000. I think all the contestants got
Palm Pilots, too. Questions ranged from the now famous "What is the square root of negative one?" to history to logic problems. Note: This information was for
Battle of the Child Geniuses 2. I have seen both, but the first one has been so
long ago that I can't even remember much about it.
If the above information doesn't seem to be written with enthusiasm, keep in mind that it wasn't. Like child beauty pageants, I consider Battle of the Child Geniuses and its ilk to be a atrocious exploitations of children. Sure, the prizes were nice, and maybe some of the kids did have fun, but what about that one contestant who didn't? No one ever wants to think about this hypothetical child, about his or her pain and tears. For a moment, imagine that you were mentally far beyond all of your peers. Now imagine being introduced to people within your age group who apparently surpass your mental prowess (after all, a game show proved that you weren't as smart). Humbling? Yes. Psychologically traumatic? Highly probable. Children endowed with incredible capability--mental or otherwise--have enough problems just being themselves; introducing yet another major event into their lives at such an early age has the possibility of doing some major emotional damage.