High Q

Crommett · Post by **Crommett** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:07 pm

Now that a good majority of the initial High Q games have been played, how do you guys feel about the competition so far?

I created this thread to promote discussion about High Q since there seemed to be no thread pertaining to Georgia's televised quiz show.

Fire away!

Maxwell Sniffingwell · Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:40 am

Mods, please move this to the Georgia thread.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:42 am

cornfused wrote:Mods, please move this to the Georgia thread.

no

First Chairman · Post by **First Chairman** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:46 am

There are also other "High Q" or "High IQ" programs in the southeast too... but I think in terms of past precedent, we talk TV show competitions (technically it's one tournament) here, and can compare teams at multiple competitons in the state threads. I hope I state the rationale appropriately.

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:48 am

Crommett wrote:Now that a good majority of the initial High Q games have been played, how do you guys feel about the competition so far?

I created this thread to promote discussion about High Q since there seemed to be no thread pertaining to Georgia's televised quiz show.

Fire away!

So what happened with that first-round game between you and Norcross? I'm sure that had to be a good one.

I wish there were a way to see the show online, but failing that, I think it's basically going to come down to Brookwood versus either Alpharetta or maybe Lakeside in one semifinal and the Norcross/Walton winner against Chattahoochee (or maybe Woodward--it's a good format for them and they could pull the upset) fighting for the other spot in the finals. Seriously, that third group of Pace Academy, Coosa, Woodstock, and Northgate looks very weak to me, yet one of them will get a spot in the semifinals.

kCobain911 · Post by **kCobain911** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:02 pm

Byko wrote:
Crommett wrote:Now that a good majority of the initial High Q games have been played, how do you guys feel about the competition so far?

I created this thread to promote discussion about High Q since there seemed to be no thread pertaining to Georgia's televised quiz show.

Fire away!
So what happened with that first-round game between you and Norcross? I'm sure that had to be a good one.

I wish there were a way to see the show online, but failing that, I think it's basically going to come down to Brookwood versus either Alpharetta or maybe Lakeside in one semifinal and the Norcross/Walton winner against Chattahoochee (or maybe Woodward--it's a good format for them and they could pull the upset) fighting for the other spot in the finals. Seriously, that third group of Pace Academy, Coosa, Woodstock, and Northgate looks very weak to me, yet one of them will get a spot in the semifinals.

Walton won against Norcross. I watched Mary McPherson's high school last weekend, and they looked strong. Walton and Chattahoochee are in the same quarterfinal bracket.

AlphaQuizBowler · Post by **AlphaQuizBowler** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:44 pm

Byko wrote:I think it's basically going to come down to Brookwood versus either Alpharetta or maybe Lakeside in one semifinal

It's nice to see us predicted doing that well. This is our first time in High Q, but our first game went well. I was disappointed that I missed the Norcross-Walton match while I was on vacation. What was the final score? I'm sure it was a close match.

William Horton
Alpharetta HS

Crommett · Post by **Crommett** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:40 pm

I played in the game, and I can't remember the exact score. I am sure Kurt Cobain can hook me up with the numbers. 425-320 is my best guess.

AdamL · Post by **AdamL** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:23 am

Chattahoochee played in its first round game tonight (the last of the first round, I believe) against Rome High.

The questions were... interesting. They certainly weren't pyramidal, but sometimes they did ask some legitimate quizbowl-like stuff, albeit in strange manners. In any case, it clearly wasn't "quizbowl", but I think that was expected by pretty much everyone. Additionally, I thought a lot of the questions were on really easy subjects, which, coupled with the writing style, threw me off quite a bit. This wasn't helped when one of the head-to-head questions was on something I thought was relatively difficult (I suppose I shouldn't talk about the questions until after it airs this Sunday), after going through a bunch of easy ones.

I'm pretty sure this is the first time Chattahoochee has participated on HighQ within the last few years, so it was a whole new experience for us... it was pretty fun being in the studio.

Note: removed some info after realizing that some people might actually want to watch this match.

Ben_Dodson · Post by **Ben_Dodson** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:04 pm

The Norcross- Walton match was...interesting. Since the episode already aired I'll replay it back to those that may have missed the 7 A.M. programming time. Basically in round 1, Walton and Norcross was pretty even in score until Walton missed the higher Q question and lost 40 points. At the end of the round it was 30-70 in favor of Norcross. I think round 2 had the faceoffs, which Walton led thus catching them up, 100-110 in Norcross's favor. The 20 bonus type questions we lost big on. Walton got almost all of theirs while we missed about 5 which Walton picked up. They ended the round about 80-90 points ahead. Around 190-280 ish. The last round started with with Walton and Norcross battling for toss-ups, and then we hit another higher Q question. Both teams got it, but Walton wagered 0 while we wagered the full 100 points, thus making the score 340-360. At this point the 1 minute bell started. From then all it was a slaughter with Walton raking in about 6 consecutive tossups. Then ended up beating us by around 100-120. But meh, I got my 15 minutes. Congratulations to Walton and I'll definitely be watching that Chatt-Walton match when it airs.

In all, the match was pretty fun. I gotta say though, Chuck Dowdle, not a fan. Other than that, great time and glad I got to do it before I graduated. So yea...for anyone who's never been on T.V., I highly recommend it. =)

Ben_Dodson · Post by **Ben_Dodson** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:07 pm

Oh one more thing though I forgot.

The thing they have with the "This Day in History" should be done away with. Really, having the teams know HALF the answers ahead of time is ridiculous. One tossup I got started as "He born in India...*Buzz*!!!" Me:" Kipling." Chuck: "Correct!". I mean, come on. That's not quizbowl, that's just comparing how fast people move their fingers.

AlphaQuizBowler · Post by **AlphaQuizBowler** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:54 pm

Its not completely a test of buzzer speed because you do have to study the things beforehand. Even though at normal tournaments they wouldn't tell you what to study, it is not completely a buzzer race because it is not common knowledge who was born or what happened on a specific Sunday in the year. It is more a test of how well you prepare, and is probably included for the entertainment of viewers who like to know that Al Harrington was born on February 17, 1980 or other things like that.

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:40 am

AlphaQuizBowler wrote:Its not completely a test of buzzer speed because you do have to study the things beforehand. Even though at normal tournaments they wouldn't tell you what to study, it is not completely a buzzer race because it is not common knowledge who was born or what happened on a specific Sunday in the year. It is more a test of how well you prepare, and is probably included for the entertainment of viewers who like to know that Al Harrington was born on February 17, 1980 or other things like that.

Yes and no. Back when I was on the show (in 1994), they had some of those questions--in fact, for several weeks, the first question of the game was always one of those. So some of them might be more likely to be able to be studied and some of them not so much. For example, on an April 23 airing, the first question began, "He was born on and died on the same day." That's as far as they got: William Shakespeare. The previous week, there was a question about John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World because Synge had been born on April 16. That's not quite the same level.

Now I don't know how the show is today (heck, the game format sounds quite different from what I remember: there weren't any Higher Q questions, whatever those are), but it sounds like this is something they've kept close to the same. I'm personally not a fan of these because it can easily degenerate into a buzzer race, but it is something that they might do because it's televised and, in theory, interesting to the audience.

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:43 am

AlphaQuizBowler wrote:
Byko wrote:I think it's basically going to come down to Brookwood versus either Alpharetta or maybe Lakeside in one semifinal

It's nice to see us predicted doing that well. This is our first time in High Q, but our first game went well. I was disappointed that I missed the Norcross-Walton match while I was on vacation. What was the final score? I'm sure it was a close match.

William Horton
Alpharetta HS

I haven't seen you all play, unfortunately, but my estimate is on a combination of two things:

1. You seem to be having a good season.
2. You are, far and away, on the easier half of the draw.

AlphaQuizBowler · Post by **AlphaQuizBowler** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 3:48 pm

The Brookwood-Galloway Schools match this morning was definitely the most exciting of this season. Both teams played well, especially during the speed round, which was amazing to watch. Now with Brookwood out, it makes the tournament more interesting.

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:33 pm

AlphaQuizBowler wrote:The Brookwood-Galloway Schools match this morning was definitely the most exciting of this season. Both teams played well, especially during the speed round, which was amazing to watch. Now with Brookwood out, it makes the tournament more interesting.

It doesn't make anything more interesting. Lloyd Bush needs to learn to write pyramidal questions that reward the best team. A team like Brookwood should not be getting eliminated this early in the tournament.

ragnarok2012 · Post by **ragnarok2012** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:45 pm

Xerxes wrote: It doesn't make anything more interesting. Lloyd Bush needs to learn to write pyramidal questions that reward the best team. A team like Brookwood should not be getting eliminated this early in the tournament.

Like many trivia shows, you can't have long in depth pyramidal tossups for the common public. High Q is not quizbowl and it is not meant to be. the fact that you have quirky tossups like flying chaucer is meant to entertain not test knowledge.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:51 pm

If its not parading around as quizbowl then why are we discussing it in a quizbowl forum?

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:53 pm

ragnarok2012 wrote:
Xerxes wrote: It doesn't make anything more interesting. Lloyd Bush needs to learn to write pyramidal questions that reward the best team. A team like Brookwood should not be getting eliminated this early in the tournament.
Like many trivia shows, you can't have long in depth pyramidal tossups for the common public. High Q is not quizbowl and it is not meant to be. the fact that you have quirky tossups like flying chaucer is meant to entertain not test knowledge.

Well then it shouldn't be an indicator of any school's abilities. But seriously...who is most of High-Q's audience anyway? I'm sure most of them are not middle aged couples that set aside thirty minutes a week to watch. The main audience of High-Q are probably players/coaches/parents/former players etc. If somebody wants entertainment, tell them to watch Jeopardy.

cdcarter · Post by **cdcarter** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:35 pm

Deesy Does It wrote:If its not parading around as quizbowl then why are we discussing it in a quizbowl forum?

Because it is still a regular season academic tournament being played by high schoolers who want to discuss it, and there are also others on the board who want to discuss it. KMO is also discussed on this board, along with many other things that I don't consider 'quizbowl'.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:49 pm

That was kind of a sarcastic point I was trying to make that apparently was missed.

AlphaQuizBowler · Post by **AlphaQuizBowler** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:53 pm

Xerxes wrote:
AlphaQuizBowler wrote:Now with Brookwood out, it makes the tournament more interesting.
It doesn't make anything more interesting.

What I mean is that with last year's runner up and champion eliminated this season, the tournament's results are less predictable than before. Whether you like the questions or not, this unpredictability makes the outcome more interesting. Also, I'm not saying this unpredictability is good quizbowl, just that it makes me interested to see who will win.

cdcarter · Post by **cdcarter** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:58 pm

Deesy Does It wrote:That was kind of a sarcastic point I was trying to make that apparently was missed.

I would be my coach and say "the burden of communication falls on the sender." But no, I'm just going to say I shouldn't post when I hadn't slept the night before.

jrbarry · Post by **jrbarry** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:41 pm

I do not like High Q. I did not like it when my teams did well there and I do not like it when they do not do well there. I have never liked High Q dating back to its inception in 1986.

Now, I feel much better. :-)

PS Brookwood played abysmally in losing to Galloway. It was the worst match I have seen my team play this year. We did not play well in any quarter including the speed rounds.

Gunnells · Post by **Gunnells** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:47 am

I want to like High Q, but it is horribly mismanaged.

I don't get the reasoning behind adding questions to appeal to the viewing audience for a show that airs at 7:00 am Sunday morning. Obviously the audience doesn't find it that appealing. Since their idea's don't seem to draw anyone, why not ask people who really know quiz bowl for suggestions? They could could keep some mass appeal elements and still make it a much better tournament.

For example, it is ridiculous the way they assign spots. Basically every private school in Atlanta is invited, and one school from each public system (Gwinnett got an extra spot this year because Brookwood was automatically qualified as defending champ). Some schools that never play in real competitions get to go every year, while some of the best teams in the state rarely appear because most of the top programs are concentrated in a few systems.

For the four or five years preceding this one, Parkview was unquestionably one of the top 10 teams in the state, but never appeared on High Q. Norcross has been one of the top 10 or 12 teams for the last half decade, but never appeared til this year. Central Gwinnett was one of the top 40 or 50 teams in the nation last year, but they lost to Brookwood at County and couldn't get on High Q. Meanwhile, random private schools get on every year so they can be served up to a good team for a beating.

Once the teams get there, they are haphazardly assigned to brackets, resulting in ridiculous early round matches like this year's Walton-Norcross pairing in the first round.

It would probably help the ratings to try to get good teams and good matchups as late as possible, and it would definitely help to get more AAAA/AAAAA schools that represent large communities and average viwers flipping the dial have heard of from every other sport. Since they obviously don't have a clue about seedings, let the GATA coaches or someone seed the teams. People like good competition, and they like pulling for the underdogs. Someone might grumble about their seed, but it's mostly sour grapes. You can bet the Galloway kids knew they weren't expected to beat Brookwood regardless of format.

If you put a number by each teams' name, get the best teams while still representing a cross section of Atlanta, write some decent questions, educate the people on the game, and try to structure it better, I almost guarantee it would draw better ratings than it gets now. It couldn't draw much worse.

AlphaQuizBowler · Post by **AlphaQuizBowler** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:33 pm

A great question from today's match:

The Seven Years War lasted 7 years. In what century?

And the Sounds Irish category was just people with names starting with O, including Shaq and Oprah.

Ben_Dodson · Post by **Ben_Dodson** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:30 pm

WSB-TV does not care enough to conduct any reforms regarding High-Q. All that matters is that the station can claim they "care" for the education system in Georgia by doing something like hosting an academic tournament that offers a scholarship. By doing this, they are obviously doing their part in supporting the community and promoting "academic prowess".

*vomit*.

rchschem · Post by **rchschem** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:06 am

Could be worse. You could have our local TV quiz competition here in Raleigh. Highlights of past questions include "Humphrey Bogart is a...". Though they were prescient in that in the spring of 2007 they stated that Al Gore had won a Nobel Peace Prize.

Eric

First Chairman · Post by **First Chairman** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 9:06 am

Just making sure that I clarify... it's not the station management, it's the production management for the program. Sorry to jade all of you, but the TV producers do care about keeping the audience involved and not embarrassing the kids. It does no good to have a large number of questions left unanswered, but just as Rick rails against the tedious tossup/bonus format, I would hope that High-Q offers the variety that most Georgia coaches/quiz bowl programs have said they wanted. (Of course, I haven't watched the show in ages to know.)

And we won't go into BrainGame details here. Gosh.

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:34 pm

Pin-tailed Manakin wrote:Just making sure that I clarify... it's not the station management, it's the production management for the program. Sorry to jade all of you, but the TV producers do care about keeping the audience involved and not embarrassing the kids. It does no good to have a large number of questions left unanswered, but just as Rick rails against the tedious tossup/bonus format, I would hope that High-Q offers the variety that most Georgia coaches/quiz bowl programs have said they wanted. (Of course, I haven't watched the show in ages to know.)

And we won't go into BrainGame details here. Gosh.

Yeah, I never got my copy of an episode of BrainGame that someone was going to acquire for me. Fine. No sharing other horrible high school quiz shows from Toledo and other places for you!

rchschem · Post by **rchschem** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:46 pm

Byko wrote: Yeah, I never got my copy of an episode of BrainGame that someone was going to acquire for me.

I have some in HD. Really. I'll burn you a DVD.

Eric

theblitzer · Post by **theblitzer** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:40 pm

What I find most interesting about High Q is that they have probably over a dozen people on the credits, yet I only see 1 cameraman, Lloyd, Chuck, and one assistant. Maybe one producer or something, but are all the rest really there editing the footage?

First Chairman · Post by **First Chairman** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:00 am

rchschem wrote:
Byko wrote: Yeah, I never got my copy of an episode of BrainGame that someone was going to acquire for me.
I have some in HD. Really. I'll burn you a DVD.

Eric

Yeah... it's weird: I don't have a VCR/DVD burner.

I'm just surprised an episode still hasn't been uploaded to YouTube. (Internal reference: let's rotate the board!)

rchschem · Post by **rchschem** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:18 am

ILoveReeses wrote:
I'm just surprised an episode still hasn't been uploaded to YouTube. (Internal reference: let's rotate the board!)

Hmmm. YouTube...I'll see what I can do about that.

BTW--the new Brain Game producer is great. I have met with her several times regarding reforms and good things are happening. Of course, there's hardly anywhere to go but up...

Eric

First Chairman · Post by **First Chairman** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:34 am

rchschem wrote:
ILoveReeses wrote:
I'm just surprised an episode still hasn't been uploaded to YouTube. (Internal reference: let's rotate the board!)
Hmmm. YouTube...I'll see what I can do about that.

BTW--the new Brain Game producer is great. I have met with her several times regarding reforms and good things are happening. Of course, there's hardly anywhere to go but up...

Eric

Great! I obviously wish I could be around to help.

rchschem · Post by **rchschem** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:15 am

You can now watch Brain Game episodes on-line. Go to http://www.wral.com and do a keyword search for "brain game". That's really the only way to find it. Progress is slow, but there. The sad thing is that since they have improved the question quality and difficulty, some schools are allowing themselves to be humiliated.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:40 pm

rchschem wrote:The sad thing is that since they have improved the question quality and difficulty, some schools are allowing themselves to be humiliated.

This isn't just sad, it's a real problem. As a television show, they cannot allow the schools to be humiliated. That isn't what the public wants to see. To be a success, they need to make the students/schools look good to the public. Unless you can get the other schools to improve, I'd suspect that the questions will begin to devolve to where no one humiliates themselves.

theblitzer · Post by **theblitzer** » Sun May 04, 2008 10:44 am

Well, the championship match was on this morning: Walton vs. Alpharetta- In the first three periods Walton was exactly one question ahead (They were ahead 10 points in the first two periods, and 20 points in the second). What clinched the game was the second Higher Q Question- Alpharetta was leading by 40 points and bet 100, while Walton bet 60. Alpharetta got it right and Walton missed it, after which there was a 200 point difference with about 30 seconds to make it up.

theblitzer · Post by **theblitzer** » Wed May 07, 2008 6:42 pm

WSB had a story on High Q on its website. http://www.wsbtv.com/video/16176676/index.html

AlphaQuizBowler · Post by **AlphaQuizBowler** » Wed May 07, 2008 9:16 pm

WSB wrote:Which high school has the smartest kids in Georgia?

AlphaQuizBowler · Post by **AlphaQuizBowler** » Sun May 25, 2008 11:27 pm

If anyone missed the High Q finals and wants to watch it, it can be found in this article.

The Quizbowl Resource Center

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