Sports Geniuses

Last updated
Sports Geniuses
Genre Game Show
Presented by Matt Vasgersian with Lisa Guerrero
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
Network Fox Sports Net
ReleaseMarch 27 (2000-03-27) –
June 23, 2000 (2000-06-23)

Sports Geniuses is an American sports-themed game show that aired for 65 episodes from March 27, 2000, until June 23, 2000, on cable channel Fox Sports Net. It was the network's second game show ( Ultimate Fan League was the first, airing in 1998 and 1999, and only other). [1] The advertising campaign for the show won a Clio Award. [2]

Contents

Sportscaster Matt Vasgersian hosted, [3] with Lisa Guerrero as his co-host. [4]

Gameplay

Three contestants played a sports trivia game for big prizes.

Round 1 (1st Period)

The first round was played similar to Jeopardy! , with four categories each containing five questions that ranged in value from 10 to 50 points. Two questions in the round were designated "Panasonic Double Plays", and were questions that employed video clips and had follow-up questions attached which if answered correctly doubled the value of the question.

30 Second Blitz

After all the questions have been asked or until time was called, a speed round called the 30 Second Blitz was played. In this, the players would be shown a photo of an athlete and had to identify who it was. Each correct answer was worth 30 points; the round ended after seven photos or when the 30 seconds expired, whichever came first.

Round 2 (2nd Period)

The next round of play was almost identical to the first round, with the following exceptions:

In addition, a special guest athlete or other sports personality would appear to read all the questions from one category.

A new wrinkle was added for this round, called "The Shaft." The third place player was given The Shaft (which was a silver shaft of a baseball bat, hence the name) to start the round and could use it at any point in the round to force one of their opponents to answer one of the questions on the board (and effectively giving them the next "Shaft" usage). Each player could only be "Shafted" once, and once The Shaft returned to someone who had already used it, it was taken out of play.

At the end of this round, when all of the questions had been asked or until time was called, whichever came first, the two highest-scoring players advanced to the final round. The player with the lowest score was eliminated from the game. If the second round ended in a tie for second place, a tie-breaker question was asked and whoever buzzed in with a correct answer would advance to the final round with the first place player. However, if a player who buzzed in gave an incorrect answer or took too long, the other player automatically moved to the final round. If the round ended in a three-way tie, Matt would ask two tiebreaker questions and only the two players that answered correctly moved on the final round.

Final Face-Off

In the final Face-off, the two remaining players were given a category for each question (i.e., Super Bowl winners), and the value would start at 100 points and increase by 10 points for each correct answer given by the contestants, who alternated giving answers. If a player gave an incorrect answer or froze, their opponent would receive the points in the pot and play would continue, otherwise the value of the pot would roll over to the next question. Each subsequent question's starting value would increase by 25 points.

Play continued in this fashion until time ran out, at which point the contestant with the highest score was declared the winner and won a prize package.

Tournament

Sports Geniuses ended its run with an invitational tournament featuring the show's biggest winners to compete for a chance at a new Chevy S-10 truck and trips to each of the four major American sports' championships (the World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals). Daniel Katz won the tournament.

Play-Along

Before the final commercial break, co-host Lisa Guerrero would introduce, via webcam, comic "Cousin" Sal Iacono, and he would ask a question to a home viewer winner of an interactive game on the show's website about his/her favorite sports team. A correct answer to that question won a prize.

Related Research Articles

<i>Now You See It</i> (American game show) 1974 American TV series or program

Now You See It is an American television game show created by Frank Wayne for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. The object of Now You See It is to answer general knowledge trivia questions by finding the answers hidden in a grid, similar to a word search puzzle.

<i>Beat the Geeks</i> US television program

Beat the Geeks is an American television game show that aired on Comedy Central from 2001 to 2002. The show was rerun on The Comedy Network in Canada.

<i>The Challengers</i> (game show) 1990–1991 US television program

The Challengers is an American game show that aired in syndication during the 1990-91 television season The series was created by Ron Greenberg and was based largely on his 1969 production, The Who, What, or Where Game. Dick Clark presided over the show with Don Morrow announcing. The Challengers was a joint production of Ron Greenberg Productions and Dick Clark Productions, with Buena Vista Television as distributor.

Idiot Savants is an American television game show on the MTV network which ran from December 9, 1996, to April 25, 1997. It was created by Michael Dugan and Chris Kreski, directed by Steve Paley, and hosted by comedian Greg Fitzsimmons.

<i>Stump the Schwab</i> American sports trivia game show

Stump the Schwab is an American game show that aired on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic from July 8, 2004 to September 29, 2006. The show featured three contestants trying to defeat Howie Schwab, ESPN's first statistician, in a sports trivia contest. Stuart Scott was the show's host. The show also appeared on Canada's The Score Television Network.

Going for Gold is a British television game show that originally aired on BBC1 between 12 October 1987 and 9 July 1996. It was revived for Channel 5 from 13 October 2008 to 20 March 2009.

<i>The Einstein Factor</i> 2004 Australian TV series or program

The Einstein Factor was an Australian television quiz show that was broadcast on ABC1. The show's host is comedian and broadcaster Peter Berner. It was first broadcast in 2004 and in 2009 the show commenced its sixth and final season, with the ABC announcing the program would not be renewed for the seventh season in 2010. The final episode aired on 22 November 2009. It was broadcast on Sunday nights at 6:30 pm from 2004 until 2009 & also on Tuesdays at 1:30pm on ABC. The Einstein Factor was created by Australian television producer, Barry O'Brien, and was produced by Sparkz with Ian Duncan and Shaun Levin as Executive Producers.

<i>Play the Percentages</i> 1980 American TV series or program

Play the Percentages is an American game show hosted by Geoff Edwards which aired in syndication from January 7 to September 12, 1980. Jay Stewart announced for the first six weeks, after which Bob Hilton became the permanent announcer.

<i>Game Ka Na Ba?</i> Philippine television game show

Game Ka Na Ba?, formerly Million-Million Na! Game Ka Na Ba?, Next Level Na! Game Ka Na Ba?, and Pilipinas Game Ka Na Ba is a Philippine television game show broadcast by ABS-CBN and Jeepney TV. Originally hosted by Kris Aquino, it aired on ABS-CBN's Primetime Bida line up from October 8, 2001 to February 27, 2004, and was replaced by Star Circle Quest. The show moved to the Bigtime Trio line up from November 15, 2004 to October 23, 2009, and was replaced by Showtime. The show was revived to Jeepney TV from October 12, 2020 to November 19, 2021 and on Kumu from February 19 to June 18, 2022. Robi Domingo serve as the final hosts.

Fandango is an American television game show. It aired on The Nashville Network from March 8, 1983 to August 26, 1988, with reruns airing through March 31, 1989, when it was replaced by Top Card. Contestants competed to answer trivia questions about country music. The show was hosted by country music singer Bill Anderson, who was joined by Blake Pickett as co-host in 1987. Disc jockey Bill Robinson served as announcer and the voice of the show's setpiece, an oversized jukebox named "Edgar the Talking Jukebox".

<i>2 Minute Drill</i> (game show) 2000 American TV series or program

2 Minute Drill is an ESPN game show based on the general knowledge UK game show Mastermind. The program aired from September 11, 2000 to December 28, 2001. ESPN Classic aired reruns of the series daily at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

The Krypton Factor is an American game show based on the UK series of the same name. Contestants on the program were tested on their mental ability and physical skill.

Turn It Up! is a musical game show that aired on MTV from June 30 to December 7, 1990. It was the second game show to be produced and broadcast on the network after Remote Control, produced by Albie Hecht, Alan Goodman, and Fred Seibert, of Chauncey Street Productions in New York City.

Game On! is a Canadian sports trivia television game show that was a variation on Jeopardy!. It ran from 1998 to 2000 on Global and was shown on GameTV. The show was hosted by Tim Steeves in season 1 and David Merry in Season 2, with Jennifer Hill as the female co-host. Three male contestants compete in this game. The set was designed to resemble a sports enthusiast's wood-paneled basement recreation room decorated with posters, trophies and other sports memorabilia. The host stood behind a 1970s-style wet bar while the three contestants sat in leather lounge chairs. To answer a question, a contestant pressed a button on a device that resembled a TV remote control.

<i>A Question of Genius</i> British game show

A Question of Genius is a game show hosted by Kirsty Wark and produced by BBC Scotland. The show was broadcast on BBC Two. It was recorded at BBC Pacific Quay in Glasgow. It ran from 16 March 2009 to 4 June 2010.

Ranking 1 is an Indonesian game show. In this show, 80 contestants are competed to answering all questions correctly to become 2 strongest contestants to win Rp50.000.000,00 as a grand prize. This show is aired on Trans TV since 5 July 2010 until 8 June 2012, every Monday-Friday at 7.30 - 8.30 AM (UTC+7), and hosted by Ruben Onsu and Sarah Sechan.
On 28 February - 4 March 2011, Sarah Sechan as a host changed by Ruth Sahanaya. On 21–25 March 2011, Cynthia Lamusu changed Sarah Sechan as a host.
On March 27, 2012, Ruben Onsu has chosen as most favourite quiz host in Panasonic Gobel Awards 2012 event.

Download is an Australian children's game show which aired on the Nine Network from 2000 until 2002. Scott McRae hosted the first two seasons of the show in 2000–2001; he was replaced by Nathan Lloyd for the third season in 2001–2002, while Emily Jade O'Keefe hosted the fourth season of the show. The co-host for the fourth season was Miss Bytes.

Challenge of the Child Geniuses was a series of two Fox television specials aired in May and November 2000. Dick Clark hosted both specials and Mark Thompson announced. Both specials were produced by Dick Clark Productions. This was the last game show that Clark hosted in his lifetime.

<i>Ask Me Another</i> (radio program) Radio show

Ask Me Another was an hour-long radio puzzle game show that was produced by WNYC and National Public Radio. It was hosted by Canadian American comedian Ophira Eisenberg and featured as its "in-house musician" or "one-man house band" independent rock musician Jonathan Coulton. Episodes of the show were usually recorded at The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York, however the show did go to various states across the country and recorded one or more episodes from those locations. The show was produced by WNYC Studios. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the show continued taping episodes from the homes of the participants, without a studio audience.

<i>Master Minds</i> (game show) American game show

Master Minds is an American game show airing on the Game Show Network. The show debuted on June 10, 2019, under the title Best Ever Trivia Show, hosted by Sherri Shepherd and regularly featuring Ken Jennings, Muffy Marracco, Jonathan Corbblah, Arianna Haut, and Ryan Chaffee. The series was renamed Master Minds on April 6, 2020, with Brooke Burns replacing Shepherd.

References

  1. ↑ "The Big Picture: Genius comes up big with answers for new sports TV quiz show". Old.post-gazette.com. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  2. ↑ Clio Awards: The 42nd Annual Awards Competition." Rockport Publishing, 2002, pg. 90.
  3. ↑ "TV SPORTS: Fox's 'Sports Geniuses' game show kicks off today". Products.kitsapsun.com. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  4. ↑ "Guerrero Leaves Fox for Acting". Los Angeles Times . 8 April 2003. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.