Double Date's grads survived

In the history of television game shows, few had ever disgusted as much as "Double Dare" did when I was a kid.

No matter how simple the questions wee, the producers were always able to find some idiot eleven year-old off the street who couldn't name the capital of the United States.

"Kevin and Stacy, for 10 points, what planet do we live one?"

"Uhhh ... (do you know Stacy?)(no, do you?)(no, I flunked astrology last year)(oh, we better dare then) .. Dare?"

"OK, Team Red, you can either answer the question for 20 or double dare back to the Blue Team."

"Ummm ... (what do you think)(I got no idea)(double dare them, I don't think they know this either) ... yeah, Double Dare!"

"All right, Team Blue, you can either answer the question for 40 points or take the physical challenge. What's it gonna be?"

"Uhhh ... we'll have to take the physical challenge."

Ever show was like this! Dunces who I'm surprised could even tie their shows were on the show day after day, publicly embarrassing themselves for prizes like free bicycles or simpleton board games like "Hungry Hungry Hippos."

I've often wondered what became of the kids who won big on those shows. Did they graduate high school? Did they ever even learn to read? Either way, they didn't do much with their lives.

Unfortunately, by watching Jeopardy!'s College Week recently, I found out.

Whereas regular, adult Jeopardy! is difficult enough to actually challenge great minds, the college weeks are designed for the same dummies that showed up at the Double Date tryouts ten years before.

Questions are "dumbed down" for the college students (a practice I find quite insulting) so that they don't feel overwhelmed or insecure. Instead of asking for the specific years of events (for example, the start of the Second World War), identifying the decade is good enough.

For example, one question (or answer, I suppose) did actually ask for the decade that preceded World War II, designating it by some literature clue.

As I watched this, I couldn't help grimacing, thinking Jeopardy! has really gone downhill.

The correct answer (or question) was, "What was the 1930s?"

(By the way, since a decade is a set of ten years, a truly correct response would have been "What were the 1930s?")

This makes me worry about how this generation's children will turn out.

At this rate, we'll be lucky if our grandkids score higher than cans of Spam on their college entrance exams.

Yet if nothing else, I know they'll at least be able to get jobs as game show hosts.