Pop Culture Test

Yesterday, I participated in my first multiple choice test since graduate school. This test was conducted by VH-1 and was the first step towards participating in their wildly popular game show, The World Series of Pop Culture. I was in Afghanistan during the application phase of the program, but yesterday they conducted a one-day only on-line exam that would determine eligibility as a wild card team on the show. All I had to do was successfully land in the 95th percentile of applicants...and then get picked as one of the 50 selected from that pool of culture nerds. Suffice it to say, my chances are pretty slim. I did dominate the program questions when I watched it on TV last year though, so I went for it anyway.

The test consisted of 6 sections, 10 questions each. The test was posted at 7pm EST yesterday, which meant that not only was I under the gun to recall answers to some of the tough questions, I had to take the test discreetly while at work. Not the most successful test-taking strategy, but my only option.

I think I did ok, but there were definitely some questions that I had to absolutely guess at. For example, one tricky section was called "Numbers" or something. These 10 questions asked you to answer equations based on pop culture trivia. For example,

(# of straight kids Angela had on Who's the Boss) + (# of T.V. shows in the 1980's featuring a talking car)= ?

This was not an actual test question, but in this case an answer of 1 would be correct(0+1=1).

One of the tougher questions in this section was to multiply the number of seasons of Gilmore Girls with the number of seasons of CSI as of September 2006. Now, I've barely heard of Gilmore Girls and the only thing I know about CSI is that its the most watched show in TV (that's what every sports announcer tells you during CBS Sports). So that's definitely 1 of the 10 in this section that I likely got wrong.

Another section gave you a paragraph describing a show, with a few words underlined, and you had to choose the incorrect one. For example,

Arrested Development was a show about the Bluth family that owned a real estate business and is the most hilarious show ever with great characters including Bob Loblaw, Andrew Ridgely, and Tobias Funke.

Again this was not a real question, and I was forced to answer a similarly written statement about the Newhart show. No chance. I remember the show, but that's about it. At this point, I don't even remember what the statement was about, but knew whatever I put down was an absolute guess. (For those readers who haven't watched Arrested Development, shame on you. The correct selection above is Andrew Ridgely. There is a character named George Michael though. Trust me the hilarity on the show only blossoms from there.)

I feel fairly confident that I got about 70% of the questions right overall which means that I need about 10-12 of my absolute guesses to come through in order for me to get summoned to NYC. Keep your fingers crossed for me, but don't waste too much of your time. Its not looking too likely.

I will say that when the show comes on and you want to watch with someone who will absolutely dominate from the couch, I'm your guy.