Maybe we all should have paid more attention in elementary school.

Fox’s new hit game show, ‘Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?’ has jumped out to an impressive start, following ‘American Idol’ on Thursday nights. The series premiere scored FOX its highest ratings for a premiere in 13 years and prompted the network to add another four episodes to the season.

The premise of the show is to show how much adults have forgotten from their grade-school days. The contestants are asked 10 questions, ranging from first to fifth-grade-skill levels, from a variety of topics, including history, math, geography and grammar. If the contestant answers the 10th question correctly, he or she will take home $500,000 and will be asked an additional question that could be worth $1 million.

All the contestants have to do is be smarter than a fifth grader. They even have three lifelines to help them stay in the game. The contestants select a player from the group of fifth graders to be their partner in crime. They can peek at their partner’s answer one time and decide whether or not to use it. They can also choose to copy the answer, but they have no choice but to follow their partner before they see it. Lastly, if the adult answers incorrectly, but their partner has the right answer, the fifth grader can save the contestant and keep them in the game.

Sounds easy, and frankly, it kind of is. The most entertaining part of the show is watching the adults struggle through the simplest of questions and look like absolute fools. In one episode, a player was asked how many E’s are in ‘pledge of allegiance.’ He proceeded to tell the host, Jeff Foxworthy, that there were two in ‘pledge,’ one in ‘the’ and two in ‘allegiance,’ much to the delight of the giggling fifth graders.

There are some tougher questions that can trip anyone up if they haven’t been studying for the show. In the last episode, a contestant was asked which layer of the earth’s atmosphere is the lowest. Go ahead and laugh if you’re some kind of science major, but that’s not an easy question for everyone else. The contestant got the question wrong and was eliminated in the first round.

If the shame of being outsmarted by fifth graders isn’t enough, the show puts up contestants’ academic information while they are struggling on stage. It will show where the player went to college and what the contestant’s GPA was while there. All the while, the contestant is trying to figure out how many teaspoons are in five tablespoons.

Everyone should watch this show at least one time. Either you will find out you are not as smart as you thought you were, or you will realize that people in this country are just plain dumb. No matter what, you will definitely get a kick out of watching fifth graders laugh at defeated adults.

Top 5 shows to set your TiVo for

1. The Sopranos – 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO

HBO’s wildly successful mob drama returns for its final episodes.

2. Entourage – 10 p.m. Sunday on HBO

Part of a blockbuster Sunday doubleheader on HBO, the network’s movie-star drama finally sees some new episodes.

3. NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship Game – 9 p.m. Monday on CBS

Florida looks to win back-to-back titles for the first time since Duke won it all in 1991 and 1992.

4. Dancing with the Stars – 8 p.m. Monday on ABC

Americans sure do love watching their washed-up celebrities tango and waltz their way to fame again.

5. Gene Simmons Family Jewels – 9 p.m. Sunday on A&E

The legendary rocker and KISS member tries his hardest to be Ozzy Osbourne in this reality show about his family life.

Published on March 31, 2007 at 12:00 pm