Didn't work in the USA because... - Weakest Link (2001) Discussion

[–] kylepz 19 years ago

We get it. I watched it and just thought it was pointless in the end because the smart one gets voted off and the dumb people compete for the prizes. It doesn't pay to be smart is all that I get from that show.

reply

[–] MarionInAurora 19 years ago

No, it didn't work because the average American can't understand a nice crisp, clean British accent.

reply

[–] Im_Luvin_It402665 19 years ago

wtf does that mean? We understand your accents fine, after all of the piece of sh*t movies you be sending us. Maybe it just wasnt a good show.

"I heard he controls the weather and wrote the screenplay to Glitter!" -Lorelai Gilmore

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] stefannej13 18 years ago

Exactly, you don't get it.

reply

[–] TejasTeacher 8 years ago

Big time. I watched the show once and there was a middle school teacher, who was a complete idiot. She got everything wrong and Anne was incredibly cutting, "I certainly hope your students aren't watching this."

Well, guess what, she wasn't a threat so smarter people got axed and she stumbles her way into the finals where she misses every question.

Scintillating TV. Never watched again!

reply

[–] tedhbrown 19 years ago

It didn't work because you can't win good money on this show, and because the smartest person is always voted off. No matter how good of a host Ann was, this show was flawed from the get go and didn't have the winning formula that Millionare did/does. I don't know how many times I saw a dumbass be the weakest link 3 rounds in a row, and yet STILL wasn't booted off.

reply

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] chrishartley946 18 years ago

Yeah that's a good point. Look at U-571. A blatant rip-off by Hollywood to make America look good. Never mind the fact it was OUR men who captured that Enigma machine. And that fact alone means the film sucks.

But back to Weakest Link. It's not surprising if some Americans "don't get it", especially considering some of the things they watch on tv over there. There's a reason why the smartest ones usually don't win: it's not how much you win, it's how you play the game.

reply

[–] Im_Luvin_It402665 18 years ago

Oh, no. Hollywood makes stinkers, too. I guess that comment was a little biased, considering I had the movie Trauma stuck in my head when it came to mind. I went a little off when someone was wrapping all american citizens into understanding a TV show.

Bop It is something we use for social engagements that are in serious need of some mouth to mouth

reply

[–] SipteaHighTea 18 years ago

We Americans failed on the show because we do not know the answers to not only our culture but as well as the rest of the world. The actor Dean Cain was the only guy out of all the people who appear on the show who got the almost all the questions rights. He was the most knowledge guy.

reply

[–] Norma_Snockers 18 years ago

Well the Star Trek bunch did brilliantly - they seemed to know how the game was played, when to bank etc, and it makes sense to keep the strongest player if you want to make the most money - hence Levar Burton making off with the most money ever on the show for his charity.

Kath

IKEA! Swedish for Sh*te!

reply

[–] bregund 18 years ago

But it DID work. It was just a novelty that wore off quickly, though, like Urkel's "Did I do that". This show was far from a failure, it was successful for what it was. I love Anne Robinson, she's one smart cookie, and I had the pleasure of seeing her new talk show in London when I was there this summer. I wish we could see more of her here in the U.S., she's every bit an acerbic pundit as Arianna Huffington, whom I also admire. I'd love to see both of them go head-to-head in some political talk show, where they constantly try to outdo each other. I'd pay to see that.

reply

[–] schizam2001 18 years ago

It didn't work because, like most game shows, it got old.

reply

[–] Shattering_Illusions 18 years ago

ROTFL!I loved this show, I don't know why they canceled it :(. I still say "Goodbye, you are the Weakest Link". Yes, I know I'm a loser.

reply

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] McLovin101 18 years ago

(I'm in America) This show was good until we got an American host. That guy instead of Anne. Then it went downhill.

reply

[–] Zazabar 18 years ago

omfg where is germany when ya need them? :(

reply

[–] IWFTriplehGame 17 years ago

The Trek episode was bulls---, they got rid of Q in the first round, what crap!

reply

[–] irishm 9 years ago

It's an interesting paradox... I loved the celebrity editions because the people are from shows I enjoy, but then I kinda hated 'em because the formula for the show didn't work as well when the people all knew each other and had pre-existing relationships, what with the voting-off component. Celebrity teams on shows like "Family Feud" worked out much better.

reply

[–] jaurrgu6 17 years ago

Celebrity overkill was what did it for Millionaire and apparently NBC didn't do their homework on this either.

I hated this show from the start, anyway. Dumb contestants can dodge bullets by helping to eliminate the smarter people.

reply

[–] kcfan-3 17 years ago

It's still running in the UK and has been for donkey's years.

I'm just surprised that Jeapordy's lasted as long as it has. I'd have thought you'd have got bored with that after three shows.

Not on the rug, man....

reply

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Milkybarkidd 17 years ago

This show didn't work in the US because the Americans didn't understand that basics of the show.

1. You are supposed to form alliances to ensure you last longer in the game

2. You are supposed to vote the weakest player off at the end of each round (ie the person who answered most questions wrong)

3. If you survive to the later stages by following the rules above, you need to either decide if you are going to take the easy way out and vote off your biggest rival or face them in the final

In short, its a game of intelligence, strategy and back-stabbing.

reply

[–] Doc110894 17 years ago

I liked it at first, but it got old too fast. Faster than Millionaire.

reply

[–] MichaelMovieLoft 17 years ago

I liked it, but I think there are two things that killed it: Celebrity Episodes and 9/11. After 9/11, a lot of the game shows ran nothing but celebrity episodes to show a charitable side. And it got boring. When they had a regular person episode, it was usually a theme like Christmas or Anne Robinson lookalikes. I think NBC also purposely killed the show with this formula.

MM

reply

[–] mickfly718 16 years ago

I liked this show when it was on just for the fact that it had so many questions fired off one after the other. It was fun to play along with, much like Jeopardy. I can't stand Who Wants to be a Millionaire because it can take an hour to just get through 15 questions.

One problem I had with The Weakest Link was that it doesn't reward intelligence. Most of the other trivia shows give the money to the person who gets the most questions right. This one punished that person almost every time. It was frustrating to see some morons make the final round and miss some relatively easy questions (not to mention take a long time on them). I would have rather had the contestants earn points each round (for getting questions right and not wasting time) and then have the person with the lowest score eliminated. Throwing in the Survivor element cheapened the intelligence of the game.

reply