Press Your Luck

One thing I've always wanted to do is to be a contestant on a game show. Most people would probably consider any show to be as good as another, but I've been partial to Millionaire for its abundance of pop culture questions. I've taken the in-person test for the syndicated Millionaire twice. The first time I passed and was interviewed by a guy I could tell was not interested in another doughy white guy landing in the Hot Seat. The second time I thought I'd done well but didn't make the cut, which has made me wonder since whether I have the right stuff. Remember how we all thought multiple choice was the easiest type of test there was?

Last week I received two mass-mailing e-mails about game shows, one from Jeopardy announcing their first web test, the next from VH1 looking for contestants for a new pop culture tournament. I ran both tests this week, Jeopardy on Monday, VH1 on Tuesday. Let's just say if I get a call from Jeopardy, I'll be very surprised, as surprised as I was when I pulled Sinclair Lewis' name as the author of "Babbitt" out of a fusty corner of my brain. After taking the VH1 test, I'm really hoping to get a call from them. I took their test twice. The first time through, I goofed and thought there were six questions in six categories and almost neglected to answer four questions in the first category. Yes, I'll work on my reading comprehension. I think I got 54 or 55 out of sixty correct. The second time, after having broken the ice, I aced five of six categories and went either eight or nine for ten on the sixth. They'll average the scores, they say, and drop all the top fifth percentile entries in a pool, pull 50 names at random and select three contestants from that bunch. Considering the tournament will be held at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York, a spot I bear a lot of sentiment for, I'm counting off the ten-day period they'll make their selections during.

I'm glad this distraction came at the right time for me as I'm still awaiting word back from the producer I mentioned last week on whether I'll get the nod to write her feature project. I've been on a lot of job interviews and learned from them not to hang my hopes on the timeframe interviewers give on when they'll contact you. I've had offers and denials both come fast and slow, so when the producer told me she'd read my samples over last weekend and get back to me, I wasn't sitting by the phone Monday. Now it's Friday and as each day passes, I'm thinking the differences between what I've written and what she's referencing as films similar to what she's looking to do will be too great to hand this project off to me to write.

I'd been thinking it would be funny to land a gig within a month of starting this blog. Looks like I've still got eleven months to go =).