Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

I really hate this show. I am a high school senior with a 4.0 and I couldn't even answer half of these questions. Most schools (especially public ones where most attend) don't teach mythology until seventh grade, animal science until seventh grade, geometry until sixth grade, world history until seventh, ancient history until tenth, chemistry until high school, and physical science and physics until high school. That's not to say that teachers may touch upon these subjects in elementary school, but they do not delve into them deep enough to answer most questions. I would love to know what schools teach these subjects at such a young age and what textbooks the questions come from. Also, I find the kids and Jeff Foxworthy extremely annoying.

This show is just formulaic crap with too many commercials, an annoying host, ridiculous contestants, and irritating questions that very few people would learn in there lifetime. I honestly can't believe it's still on the air.

This is a great show because it can be watched in two ways: First, you can watch it with kids. That was the key to "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" and it works here as well. The kids love it, especially if the adults don't know the answer (it doesn't matter whether it's the adults on the screen or at home).

Second, this show is sufficiently predictable that, without kids around, you can watch it in ten minutes or less on TIVO. Like "Deal or No Deal," the interesting part is watching the contestant mess up by going for a question they don't know or risking $425,000 on the $1,000,000 question. Since the questions come about every 6 minutes, you just skip forward. And unlike "Deal or No Deal," there's no incentive to stop to watch the banter between the host and the regulars.

Additionally, there are enough questions on subjects that we never use that most adults have a Paul Simon moment every couple of shows (realizing just how much they learned in grade school but forgot).

Finally, although Foxworthy's not at the top of his game (and probably cannot be on a family show); he's far more entertaining than Howie and probably as good as Regis was. Likewise, even though some of the kids' comments appear strained and were likely fed to the kids (through their ear pieces), the ids are still funnier and more articulate than the "Deal Or Not Deal" supporting staff.

it's so weird to me that people speak so strongly about a program they hate, yet continue to watch.. "..fifth grader?" must be the show you guys love to hate, and can't miss an episode.. about the pace of the show: if it appears to move slowly, it's because the contestants are given time to calm down and become comfortable.. how many of you have appeared before on TV before a studio audience of hundreds which was being televised to millions? fox worthy's jokes, while sometimes lame, are another tool for calming the contestant.. laughter displaces anxiety and concern over how one appears before a crowd, and the fear of appearing foolish from something that was said or done.. about general dislike of the show: so, why watch it? or, maybe you watch it a lot, and get few questions correct? so? join the club; only one contestant won all the money.. more people failed than succeeded.. so? about a student-contributor to the these comments who disliked an ?? or answer: here's something you can fix: get an education, join the team at a quiz show (jeopardy?) and write the questions you feel are better than what you've seen up to this point.. you earlier commenter's are so big on criticism and put-downs, could you do better? so, why don't you? how good does it have to be to meet your criteria? should it be read directly from the encyclopedia Britannia? should the host be an m.i.t. professor? maybe you commenter's forgot the first rules of TV: attract an audience; retain their interest; insure their return for the next episode.. the first rule of watching TV is: if it isn't fun, change the channel.. okay, so it's not everyone's idea of fun-- what is? you like bikini mud wrestling? great! how about basket weaving? great! how about watching shopping networks all day? great! everyone has their preferences and everyone has their idea of what's fun.. do you resent another's enjoyment of a program you don't like? so, find something else! but, get off others' back about what they like!! nobody put a gun (or remote) to your head to keep you watching "..fifth grader?" change the channel or turn the set off, but knock off the knocking of others for the sake of enjoying yourself.. it wastes energy and time.. or do you purely enjoy diminishing another's enjoyment?

Ever wanted to know if you still knew everything that you learned in school as a adult? With a million dollars at stake and the chance to prove that you were that smart, this is that show in a nutshell!

The objective is simple: you pick a subject on whatever grade you choose, with 1st grade being the easiest and 5th grade being the hardest, answer a question correctly and you climb up the money ladder, and if you're stumped on a question at any point in the game, you have help from your fellow classmate standing next to you, by using 3 cheats, but after 10 questions, it's all up to you to either win the $1,000,000 grand prize or flunk out!

The host of the show was stand-up comedian Jeff Foxworthy, who does a decent job as host, delivering his unique humor and chemistry to the students, which change every season. A few students later became famous, like Laura Marano and Sierra McCormick, who both became Disney stars, starring in Austin & Ally and A. N. T. Farm, respectively.

So, if you want to know if you're smarter than a 5th grader, watch this show to find out.

The concept of the show is actually not half bad although the title is a bit of a misnomer. The real title ought to be "Are you smarter than all 5th graders put together?" Apparently only a few people are.. Of course, if you put even the smartest 5-th grader as a contestant on this show that 5-th grader would likely get clobbered. Still, the show demonstrates, and I think fairly convincingly, that most adults in the U. S. don't remember much from their K12 education beyond 4-th grade. It was also entertaining to see that the most universally dreaded category of questions by far was "World history".

But as many critical reviews have noted, the execution of the concept was pretty poor. The pace was too slow and the incessant commercial breaks were insufferable. The weakest point, though, was that the show used professional actors as the kids and they were clearly heavily prepped for each show's questions. The show would have been much better off using real, non-actor, kids and rotating the cast of kids from episode to episode. The show would have been much more authentic and relatable. I hope that at some point in the future the show will come back in a different format.