Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? [TV Series] on AllMovie

The premise of this "generation-gap" game show was implicit in its title. Each episode featured adult contestants, who were asked question culled from acutual school textbooks aimed at Grades One through Five. The grownup contestants were expected to know the same things that were presumably common knowledge to 5th graders--and when they didn't know (which was often), they were helped along by the five schoolchildren who were on the show's regular "staff ": Kyle Collier, Alana Etheridge, Jacob Hays, Laura Marano and Spencer Martin. Ten "subject" questions were asked per game, for cash prizes up to and including one million dollars. When seeking help from the kids, the adults were allowed three "cheats": The Peek (in which they could look at a child's answer), The Copy (they could use the child's answer) and The Save (the adult who guessed wrong could take the kid's "right" answer). Those who lost not only missed out on the cash, but were humiliated before a nationwide audience, forced to face the camera and confess "I am NOT smarter than a fifth grader." Produced by Mark Burnett (Survivor) and hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? made its Fox network bow on February 27, 2007.