Our Little Genius

Game Show on FOX hosted by Kevin Pollak and created by Mark Burnett which involved a single child genius answering questions in various categories. Questions were worth $1,000-$5,000-$10,000-$25,000-$50,000-$100,000-$175,000-$250,000-$350,000-$500,000, with a wrong answer dropping him/her back to the safety net of $10,000 (assuming they reached that).

The child's parents had final say in whether their son/daughter continued in the game, with a panel of three experts also present to assist in this decision based on how difficult the remaining questions were.

And when did this air, you ask? Simple — it didn't, and chances are it never will.

Genius was scheduled for a 45-minute debut on January 13, 2010 at the best timeslot of all — 9:45 PM, right after American Idol — then have a regular hour-long slot on Tuesdays. A few days before its debut, however, Burnett shelved the eight completed shows after hearing that some players may have gotten "information" from his staff; as a result, AI ran for 90 minutes and a repeat of The Simpsons aired at 9:30.

The show wasn't helped by audience reports that players who missed one of the first four questions were allowed to retry with new questions. It was hurt even further when Hollywood Junket witnessed a game where the child said he didn't know the given category and taping was halted; once taping resumed, a new category was given which the child knew. A staffer said that it was a "technical error", and the categories were "mixed up by mistake".

It Got Worse in late February, when it was revealed that the FCC got a complaint on December 17, 2009 by a parent stating that his child had received a list of potential topics and gave the answers to at least four questions that the child either didn't know or about which he was unsure; when the child said he didn't know the British system of naming musical notes, the staffer gave the names of four specific notes that the child "needed to know". Said FCC launched an investigation, and the show was permanently shelved.

That's right — 50 years after it was made a felony, Our Little Genius had all the hallmarks of a rigged quiz.


 * All or Nothing: Should have been the case on the first three questions, but apparently never happened.
 * Lifelines: Two were used — one to let the parents see a question before deciding whether to continue, and another to let the experts preview a question.
 * Personnel:
 * Game Show Host: Kevin Pollak.
 * Studio Audience
 * Rules Spiel
 * Unexpectedly Obscure Answer: For most viewers, considering this show tested child geniuses.
 * Who Wants to Be Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?: Dark set with mood lighting, a money tree with low-value safety point, and questions hardly anybody will know the answers to.


 * Child Prodigy: The whole point of the show.
 * Missing Episode: Eight episodes were recorded before Burnett scrapped them all, opting to do "reshoots" and pay the families who already participated.
 * Title Drop: Each child's parents were apparently coaxed into dropping "our little genius" wherever they could.