Thursday, May 28, 2009

Keep the Spelling Bee ... And Keep It Off My TV


I get it. The Scripps spelling bee is a big deal to some people. I'm sure that the kids who compete in it are excited (they should be). It's something cool for those kids who rarely have the word "cool" attached to them.

Still, that doesn't mean it needs to be on TV. At least TV that I actually watch.

I don't need SportsCenter to move to ESPNNews because ESPN decides to show a spelling bee. I don't need ABC to wipe away their array of reality shows to show it, either. Put it on CSPAN or Oxygen or Nickelodeon or any place that it may belong.

I mean, how exciting is it to watch a freaking spelling bee? When I was in school, spelling bees were the most boring thing we did. Again, kudos to those who put a ton of time and effort into getting to the Scripps finals, but it isn't good theater. I mean, I get to sit down and watch a 13-year old kid sweat over a word that I've never heard and no one would ever use! And the word is spelled right there in front of me on the telecast so I can't even play along (it's the same concept of watching the $64,000 Pyramid). I get to hear the kid ask for the word's origin and how it is used in a sentence! Wowsers!

I'm not saying that Spelling Bees are some big nerd-o-rama event that should be mocked. Again, it is quite an accomplishment and those kids bust their tails to get there. But please keep it off the channels that is also showing NBA Conference championship events.

The 2009 champion correctly spelled "laodicean". I mean, that's a word I used almost daily. They should have just had the finalists just spell their own names: Kansas' Kavya Shivashankar, Virginia's Tim Ruiter and Illinois' Aishwarya Pastapur. That may have been more interesting.

No comments: