The dumbening

Last Christmas, my brother introduced me to a brand new show on television that, at the time, marked the nadir of the intelligence-insulting trend on network television--a game show called Deal Or No Deal. He showed me this mind-sucking waste of time because it really is something you have to see to understand just how stupid it is. It's got all the drama of watching a group of old ladies play Bingo, but with more shiny things and pretty girls.

Sadly, this show has inexplicably become a huge hit, and now other networks feel a need to compete with it. Last night, I read about a new show on Fox that just might challenge Deal Or No Deal's moron crown: it's called Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader? Really, the title of the show says it all, doesn't it? It's a game show where they ask people questions from various fifth-grade textbooks and see if they can answer them. Jeff Foxworthy is the host; this is probably a good choice, given that he is roughly as intelligent as a fifth-grader.

The really sad part is that, merely by asking the question, you know that the answer will be "no" more often than not. I guess people will have to watch this until Ow! My Balls!is created.