Dumb it Down

Lets just combine karaoke and guessing! that's a WINRAR formula!

I don’t really have much time to watch the telly these days but from time to time I would surgically excise myself from this keyboard for some telly time. I usually kept my channel surfing within the range of 551-555. If I’m really bored out of my mind I would venture out to 712 or 703. Yesterday was an exceptionally boring day and I found myself stuck on 104 (Astro Ria) and I was gob smacked by the shear idiocy on show. They are showing “Jangan Lupa Lirik!” (JLL) which is the localised version of “Don’t Forget the Lyrics!”. The premise of the show goes something like this. Contestants are required to complete a line from a song. If your lyrical IQ is up to scratch you can win RM 1,000,000.

Before JLL there was Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Millionaire). And before that we have other good general knowledge shows like Teka Ria and Angka-Angka. In all these shows no one ever won the top prize. If I am not mistaken the most someone ever won on Millionaire was RM 250,000. I won’t go out and say Malaysians are dumb. This is just isn’t true. My main gripe with Millionaire is the inconsistency of their questions. If you watched the US or UK version of Millionaire you can see that the questions in the show are localised. This means that they won’t ask a question about the history of Zimbabwe on either show. In the Malaysian show, the RM 500,000 question goes something like this;

Manakah diantara kapal berikut tidak ada didalam flotilla Christopher Columbus?

A)Nina
B)Pinta
C)Santa Maria
D)Santa Anna

Now how many of you guys learn about Chrissy Columbus's discovery of America in school? I don’t see how they can justify plugging North American history in a Malaysian show. Simply put they just don’t want anyone winning the million dollar price! This is akin to Regis Philbin asking the American contestants this question;

Who killed Altantuya Shariibu?

A) Najib C4
B) Rosmah Tua Vogue
C) Raja Petra Kamaruddin
D) Depends on who you ask!

In case you are wondering, the answer to both questions is D. HA HA

JLL is another example of the dumbing down of TV shows over the last ten years. In the US they have Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader. This show further enhances the stereotype of stupid American. Just Youtube the word “Stupid American” and you will laugh your ass off. Here we just bypass "Darjah 5" and went for the lowest common denominator which is crappy karaoke lyrics recalling game! Hey Malaysia why bother flexing your brain and learn about facts in Millionaire when you can learn about stupid rock kapak lyrics! Do you know that in the XPDC's “C.I.N.TA” ,after “ C.I.N.T.A K.I.T.A” the next line of the song is “Satu rasa” ? . Now you know! Please add 5 into your collective IQ now. It’s simpler and less taxing! We even put your favourite host Aznil Nawawi to entertain you!

‘Nuff said. Now please enjoy this song from Lupe Fiasco. It sums up the problem with entertainment industry these days wherever you may be.