College Bowl: Anyone seen College Bowl, featuring the Manning brothers? If I were a doctor, I think I'd have to declare the show brain dead. The complete emphasis is on pop culture...

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Anyone seen College Bowl, featuring the Manning brothers? If I were a doctor, I think I'd have to declare the show brain dead. The complete emphasis is on pop culture, and there are no questions requiring any academic knowledge whatsoever. I'm old enough to remember the G.E. College bowl. Those questions were so difficult it made your brain hurt. Those were serious students. You can still see several episodes of the G.E. College Bowl on YouTube.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I haven't seen it but I'm glad you pointed that out. Now I can pass without having to look.

Tom DePuy Loc: Waxhaw, N.C.

DWU2 wrote:

Anyone seen College Bowl, featuring the Manning brothers? If I were a doctor, I think I'd have to declare the show brain dead. The complete emphasis is on pop culture, and there are no questions requiring any academic knowledge whatsoever. I'm old enough to remember the G.E. College bowl. Those questions were so difficult it made your brain hurt. Those were serious students. You can still see several episodes of the G.E. College Bowl on YouTube.

I watched it long enough one day to not watch it.

therwol Loc: USA

DWU2 wrote:

Anyone seen College Bowl, featuring the Manning brothers? If I were a doctor, I think I'd have to declare the show brain dead. The complete emphasis is on pop culture, and there are no questions requiring any academic knowledge whatsoever. I'm old enough to remember the G.E. College bowl. Those questions were so difficult it made your brain hurt. Those were serious students. You can still see several episodes of the G.E. College Bowl on YouTube.

The equivalent of the College Bowl in the UK is "University Challenge." It has been licensed by the College Bowl since the 60s. The show has been a real treat on our visits to the UK. The questions on history, science, music, art and literature are very difficult. I think I can answer about 10% of them. The last time I looked, there were some episodes on YouTube.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

DWU2 wrote:

Anyone seen College Bowl, featuring the Manning brothers? If I were a doctor, I think I'd have to declare the show brain dead. The complete emphasis is on pop culture, and there are no questions requiring any academic knowledge whatsoever. I'm old enough to remember the G.E. College bowl. Those questions were so difficult it made your brain hurt. Those were serious students. You can still see several episodes of the G.E. College Bowl on YouTube.

I think you missed the point and direction of the show.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

kpmac wrote:

I haven't seen it but I'm glad you pointed that out. Now I can pass without having to look.

You should always make up your mind based on personal experiences, not someone else's prejudices.

Dannj

Watched it once, that’ll be it.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Just had a quick glimpse, bit like our University Challenge (which was based on College Bowl).
Couldn't get over the no. of times G.E. was mentioned before the show started, then team intro, and more G.E. stuff before the competition got underway.
Questions on our one do not seem to have been dumbed down but it seems to me that the Students are less able to handle such a wide range of subjects as there forebears.

Bret Perry

I used to watch every week as a kid.

bobbyjohn Loc: Dallas, TX

The "Dumbing-Down" of America continues!

therwol Loc: USA

bobbyjohn wrote:

The "Dumbing-Down" of America continues!

After this thread started, I decided to watch the first episode of the new show. You can stream all 10 episodes on Peacock. I won't be watching another. Not only did the questions seem dumbed down compared with those on earlier versions of this show, it seemed to me that the show is intended for a dumbed down audience. I could answer at least 90% of the questions asked. The show is on a huge, flashy set. I couldn't see any signs of a studio audience, yet there were constant audience sounds that sounded like canned applause, laughter etc. There were way too many football references, which seems predictable considering that Peyton Manning is the moderator. Nothing against him personally, however. Great quarterback.