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The "New and Improved" Challenge - March 2010

TV shows are a great idea. We need more MDC TV shows. And not only in English speaking tv channels (Spain and specially South America is in dire need of some skeptic awakening)

Someone should start a thread to brainstorm some ideas fot a tv show. The reality tv idea is great, and everytime they don´t win the price, it goes to a charity.
 
Get Simon Cowell on the job. Do an xfactor type show, wheel out the contestants one by one. Randi, Sylvia and a neutral as judges (Randi being the cowell of the show, Sylvia just a cow) Failure to pass the preliminary judging stage results in two heavies appearing, stage left, to beat the loser senseless.
Think of the ratings!
Possible winners go on to the final and controled testing. They also fail and get beaten, even harder.
Roll over the million and repeat.

A few minor tweeks and its a runner!
 
Would you watch a show where anyone with any talent would have been weeded out beforehand so that the prize would not be given out? That would be the rumour that people would say.
 
rjh01 said:
Would you watch a show where anyone with any talent would have been weeded out beforehand so that the prize would not be given out? That would be the rumour that people would say.
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I think other objections on my idea would be voiced before that. :)
 
I would love to see a show that de-bunks all the junk shows on SciFi, I mean SyFy (it should be PsyFy). How about setting up a house with no history of deaths or strange activities, feeding some false voodoo stuff about it into the internet, then invite the Ghost Busters in and watch them make fools of themselves. A different show can be picked on each week. There are sure plenty of them out there.
 
Nozzledog said:
I would love to see a show that de-bunks all the junk shows on SciFi, I mean SyFy (it should be PsyFy). How about setting up a house with no history of deaths or strange activities, feeding some false voodoo stuff about it into the internet, then invite the Ghost Busters in and watch them make fools of themselves. A different show can be picked on each week. There are sure plenty of them out there.
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Sadly it won't work for a simple reason - how many times can you watch the same stuff over and over again?

The truth of the matter is that woo-woo brings far more ratings because each new quak offers something new. Some sort of different style, some other idiotic tale etc.

John Edwards gives a different show than Sylvia browne.

But how would the debunking show go?
"Bla Bla Bla dishonest editing bla bla bla cold reading bla bla bla hot reading"
and it will be exactly the same for both.

Ghost hunting? Same notion.
 
Nozzledog said:
How about setting up a house with no history of deaths or strange activities, feeding some false voodoo stuff about it into the internet, then invite the Ghost Busters in and watch them make fools of themselves. A different show can be picked on each week. There are sure plenty of them out there.
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Do a Google search for 'The ******** Detective'. You should find a video fairly similair to the idea you described. Very funny!
 
Damn censor. The word above is the same as the title of Penn and Tellers show.
 
rjh01 said:
There was also this thread about a Australian TV show http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115415
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The only ounce of credibility that 'The One' had was that it featured Richard Saunders as it's "token skeptic". The show was heavily edited, biased and just plain bad. SWIFT reader Robert Matic wrote a comprehensive report on each episode of "The One" when it aired back in 2008, and he finishes his final report with a rather appropriate paragraph.


http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/209-swift-august-8-2008.html#i4
And the winner is… Charmaine Wilson – now “Australia’s most gifted psychic” – who couldn’t find a boy lost in the woods in episode one, couldn’t find a cargo of barrels in a shipping container in episode two, failed to identify the location of Ned Kelly’s remains in episode three, couldn’t match a piece of luggage with a passenger in episode four and shed no light on the location of the body of Peter Falconio in episode five. How can we doubt these results?
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rjh01 said:
But the one that appears to Chris refers to is this one
Thread http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131289
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Thanks for that link! I'd forgotten that I started that thread. Haven't been able to find much more about this show. Wish there was a DVD.
 
ynot said:
So where's - The "New and Improved" Challenge - March 2010?
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We may have missed it. After all, D.J. Grothe said on Monday, 04 January 2010:

"In the coming months, The JREF Million Dollar Challenge, (...) will not only continue but be revitalized. This is something I'm especially excited about, and I can't wait to announce our MDC plans in the coming weeks."

(As mentioned earlier in this thread.)

English is not my native language, so I assumed "in the coming weeks" would be a shorter time than "in the coming months", so it would mean something like 2 months/8 weeks? 10 to be generous? 12 because Americans think that is a round number? :p

Well, 12 weeks have passed, and I have not noticed any particular revitalizing. Maybe it will be announced at TAM? Or at Oprah (now, THAT would be revitalizing)?

"I cannot teach him. The boy has no patience." :jedi:

Oh wait, I know:

:lfault2
 
Ririon said:
We may have missed it. After all, D.J. Grothe said on Monday, 04 January 2010:

"In the coming months, The JREF Million Dollar Challenge, (...) will not only continue but be revitalized. This is something I'm especially excited about, and I can't wait to announce our MDC plans in the coming weeks."

(As mentioned earlier in this thread.)

English is not my native language, so I assumed "in the coming weeks" would be a shorter time than "in the coming months", so it would mean something like 2 months/8 weeks? 10 to be generous? 12 because Americans think that is a round number? :p

Well, 12 weeks have passed, and I have not noticed any particular revitalizing. Maybe it will be announced at TAM? Or at Oprah (now, THAT would be revitalizing)?

"I cannot teach him. The boy has no patience." :jedi:

Oh wait, I know:

:lfault2
Click to expand...

Thanks. Guess a better stop holding my breath then.
 
ynot said:
Thanks. Guess a better stop holding my breath then.
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I would like a "Steve Jobs introducing a shiny new gadget"-style presentation if it is as good as the hype says. TAM would be the perfect place to hold such a presentation. So that is my guess right now. A project delayed a few months is nothing new. :o

It is just a frustratingly long time to go with very little fresh challenge-meat.
 
ynot said:
So where's - The "New and Improved" Challenge - March 2010?
Click to expand...
As seen from our position, the JREF has always been a rather closed organisation, and it rarely happens that we are told anything about what is going on there. JREF employees seem to be more or less discouraged from participating in discussions on JREF's own forum, and we need to go back to the days of KRAMER in order to find information about how they handle MDC applications on a regular basis.

Perhaps D. J. Grothe has encountered internal resistance to his plans, or they have been blocked by their legal advisor. We may never know. Personally, I think mr. Grothe was planning some kind of TV show about the MDC, but has found that the task to make a scientifically, economically, and legally sound challenge show is more difficult than he anticipated.
 
Ririon said:
I would like a "Steve Jobs introducing a shiny new gadget"-style presentation if it is as good as the hype says. TAM would be the perfect place to hold such a presentation. So that is my guess right now. A project delayed a few months is nothing new. :o

It is just a frustratingly long time to go with very little fresh challenge-meat.
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Some more talking to myself here:

According to the TAM8 schedule, Grothe is never on stage alone for anything resembling a major announcement.

Is Banachek a "leading light in skepticism"? Could his "Live Challenge Event" on Sunday be a part of this?

Time will show. If nothing significant is at least announced at TAM8, I will have to assume that their great plans fizzled out. Fingers crossed for a few more days.
 
Another small droplet of information hints.

Jamy Ian Swiss:
-On Sunday we’ll hear news about recent developments with the JREF Million Dollar Challenge.

Refers to the Sunday (last day) of TAM8.

Source: Swift article "TAM8, FULL SPEED AHEAD!"

This only seems to fit with the TAM 8 Scheduled event called "Live Challenge Event with Banachek".

However, this event is also the only event to match up with the Anita Ikonen rumors in the "Live Challenge Event" thread.

I'm just happy that "the coming weeks" are coming to an end. Let's see what they've got! :)
 
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