HOW WE WON:
THE WORLD SERIES OF POP CULTURE

By Pop Rocks

Three weeks of grueling trivia cramming and smiling for the cameras finally paid off, as the maybe-soon-to-be-on-VH1 trivia challenge The World Series of Pop Culture held its final pilot rounds on Saturday, October 22, 2005 and the Pop Rocks team emerged victorious. Manager Clive Young, Captain Dave Streich and Home Run King Steve “Broccoli” Cohn stepped up to the microphone and answered a series of movie, tv and music trivia questions of ever-increasing difficulty, never breaking a sweat, although Dave did break out a pimple from all the stress leading up to the contest. For Clive and Dave, this was a chance to change the bad luck and mojo that came sixteen years hense, when they each lost on MTV’s Remote Control in separate episodes.

Unlike Remote Control, where contestants buzzed in to answer, the World Series was a best-of-five series of sudden-death spelling-bee-style contests. After the first category was announced to the six combatants, the seated teams had thirty seconds to decide who would represent the team in the first head-to-head battle. There were ten rounds of questions per category, increasing in difficulty. Each player received their own question, and they were never asked to answer their opponant’s questions. Within each round, if both contestants answered correctly, they would move on to the next level. If only one answered correctly, he or she would be the winner of the round, and the other would leave the stage. If they both answered incorrectly, they would both continue with the next difficult level of questions. Once all three players on one team was eliminated, the team left standing was declared the winner.

Here's how it all went down:

SEMIFINAL 1

NJ Devils vs. Sparkle Motion

Sparkle Motion wins 3-2

More information to come. (Pop Rocks were in the Green Room at the time.)

SEMIFINAL 2

Mem Brain vs. Pop Rocks

GENERAL NOTES:

The Mem Brain team was a group of three fairly large men (self-described as an Oreo-cookie team) that made our team seem even more geeky/dwarfy by comparison. In addition, Mem Brain dressed in tuxedos that, while we joked before the show that their outfits made them look like waiters, penguins and so on, the threads definitely gave the team an ‘air.’ They had definitely planned on an intimidation factor, but for Pop Rocks, it was hard to be intimidated by an op-ed writer for the New York Post, a social worker and a financial planner who were all afraid of a cameras visiting their messy bachelor pad apartments for their B-roll reality segments. So sitting around together throughout the entire first semifinal round was quite beneficial to Pop Rocks’ confidence. Another boon to Pop Rocks' mindset: finding out that we were the top seed of all teams present—and therefore all teams that had tried out for the show in toto.

ROUND 1
STEVE vs. XXXXXXX
TV Families

Even though the Pop Rocks strategy was to keep Steve around as our anchor, for some reason, the team encouraged him to go up for Round 1: TV Families. Not knowing what types of questions there would be, the team felt it safest that they play the Home Run hitter as often as possible, and since the rule was that no one could go up two times in a row, if Steve made it, he would be eligible for rounds 3 and 5. But once the questions started coming, it was more than a little odd that most of Steve's questions were about African-American families (Claire Huxtable was an attorney; The Fresh Prince came from Philadelphia; Urkel was the annoying neighbor), while his African-American counterpart got questions about Full House, Growing Pains and Family Ties (Skippy was the annoying neighbor). These pros got those all correct. It was the "What instrument does Laurie Partridge play?" question that sent the Pop Rock slammer packing, as he incorrectly guessed "Tambourine" instead of "Keyboard." This would not be the last time that Steve's fate was decided because of a musical instrument in question.

ROUND 2
DAVE vs. XXXXXXX
Sci Fi / Fantasy

When asked by the host why Dave came up for the Sci Fi/Fantasy category, the Pop Rock answered bluntly, "Our Sci Fi guy just walked off the stage." Still, that didn't stop Dave from knowing that Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp both played Willy Wonka. (Incidently, Dave's high school yearbook has a quote from Willy Wonka, about dreamers of dreams.) Also, when asked about the Star Trek character Sulu, Dave gave the famous "Live Long and Prosper" hand sign, and as he did, he saw his wife lean in to their friend Hilary in the audience, whispering something in her ear. "Sulu pinched my ass," she must have told her, because he did. (see photo below). Eventually, The Team Mem Brain member had a brain fart and missed a question, although I don't remember what it was. Maybe Steve does. Steve?

ROUND 3
CLIVE vs. XXXXXXX
Music Videos

When Clive got the music videos category, the Pop Rocks team and the Pop Rocks boosters in the audience breathed a sigh of relief. The team's strategy of ‘holding Clive in reserve’ for the anticipated music trivia category paid off in spades. He sauntered up to the mic in a show of swaggering confidence, intrepid intimidation and sheer giddyness because the team's plan was aback on track and working so well. He was so sure about the category, in fact, that when he won the coin toss, he cockily remarked, “the way this game is going, I’ll go first,” as both the previous rounds had been won by the person who went first. It was duly noted by the host that out of that day's eight previous coin tosses, Clive was the first to choose "First".

Clive expertly answered the first few rounds of questions, ranging from who danced to "Opposites Attract" with cartoon MC Skat Kat, to which Nirvana video was filmed in a high school gym. At first, Cobain's “Come As You Are” popped into Clive's noggin, but he immediately shot that idea out; the correct “Smells Like Teen Spirit” showed up a microsecond later. After Clive answered the Paula Abdul question, the host joked ‘we know what happened to her; but does anyone know what happened to MC Skat Kat?” In his head, Clive was remembering a clever factoid about Skat Kat's planned album, but it was never released, and Clive decided against sharing this information, choosing wisely to instead remain focused for the remainder of the round.

And focus was surely needed. When the question about an obscure REM video came up, Clive was wondering what the frequency was. Back in his sturdy wooden schoolchair, Dave was thinking about how Clive probably can't stand Michael Stipe, and that Pop Rocks was doomed, but in reality, Clive has no beef with the vegetarian bald singer, it's just that MTV had stopped showing videos regularly by 1993, and Clive had not seen the one that was in question. But Dave had seen it and he tried to ESP the REM answer to Clive. In fact, several people in the audience were beaming the answer Clive's way, including his wife's brother's girlfriend, Arielle. To stall for time, Clive asked the host to repeat the question, and using the date clue (1993), Clive was able to amzazingly pull out of thin air the correct answer: “Everybody Hurts.” Later, Clive admits that it was the projected triangulation of ESP thoughts that kicked in and handed him the response into his brain. For whatever reason Clive got the frequency, the Pop Rocks team was stoked. Because if Clive could beat that question, he could do it all.

Clive's opponent was eventually knocked out by failing to answer “What band had a 1998 video for its song “Virtual Insanity,” where the singer was surrounded by walls and platforms that moved while he stayed still?” Clive would like to point out that it was Jamiroquai, and even though it wasn't asked, he would also like to note that the singer was Jay Kay.

ROUND 4
DAVE vs. XXXXXXX
TV Villians

When Dave stepped up to the mic for the "TV villains" category, he knew that it would be tough. In his mind, he ran through all of the various villains that could be in question. But when the first question was about Simon Cowell from American Idol, he realized that the definition of Villain was in question for him. A few Alexis Carringtons, BadaBings, and Fugitives later, he wished that he had gotten the question about Taxi's Louie DePalma, because Dave would have said that "he wasn't a villain, he was just misunderstood, and underloved; by season five, that all had changed when he met the blind lady." But what got Dave really Lost was the question about Lost. Earlier in the day, he had asked Hilary what the name and number of the doomed Lost airline flight was, but unfortunately for him, that wasn't the question. The question, "who took Walt?" was answered with Dave's silence, an admission that he didn't watch the show, and a guess: "The Monsters." DING. The answer was The Others. "I meant 'The Other Monsters." "Thank you for playing, David, you've been eliminated." On his way off the stage, Dave turned to Clive and said, "You can do it!"

ROUND 5
CLIVE vs. XXXXXXX
Action / Male Skewing Drama

This was the perverbial nailbiter. Clive walked back to the mic and heard the category: "Action and Male-Skewing Dramas" He expected a barage of damn Jean Claude VanDamme questions, and hunkered down. But Clive managed to hold his own in a category that he wasn’t well equipped for. Fortunately, his Mem Brain opponent got questions that Clive didn’t know answers to, while Clive managed to eek his way through the ones he had miraculously been aware of.

The toughest question for the Pop Rocker was the question about the Sopranos, as the show hadn’t been on in his house for 18 months, and Clive's mind was temporarly filled with other important knowledge. Even though he had every season's worth of DVDs, he couldn’t recall the name of Tony's shrink, and he certainly didn't know her name from Goodfellas, because Clive doesn't care for violent movies. Still, he knew it was something Italian. He’d recently been discussing Annabella Sciorra with Dave over lunch, so her name came immediately to his mind, but no, she had played Tony Soprano’s mistress, not his shrink. Hmmmm…. While many thoughts raced through Clive's mind, including ‘if I blow this, there goes the game and we lose… forever,’ he stared into the blue lights across the audience and tried to deep focus.

Side stage, Dave couldn't believe that Clive was at a loss, and hoped that the whole team wasn't going to be at a loss. It was not like Clive had no idea. Dave remembered the day Clive went to Best Buy to get his Sopranos DVD signed by Lorraine Brocco to increase its value on the resale market! He turned to Steve and bemoaned, "This is bullshit! He has her autograph!" Steve bemoaned back, "Clive and I took a Sopranos tour together!"

Towards the end of Clive's minute, host Pat Keirnan interrupted Clive’s stalled train of thought. “Time is running out, Clive, and I need to press you for an answer.” Clive expertly postponed even more with “I know. This is really frustrating, too, because I have her autograph; she signed my Sopranos DVD box set for me.” Dave felt somewhat vindicated, and knew that if he only kept talking, he'd get the answer. On stage, an aggravated Clive unwittingly stamped his foot twice, and realizing this was odd behavior, joked “I’m going to stamp out the answer like a horse.”

Again the host asked for an answer, but it slowly started to emerge in Clive’s head. “It starts with an L,” he said. A moment later, he got the name “Lorraine,” which wasn’t very Italian, but with no other choice and no time to spare, he spit it out and waited to see if he got ‘dinged’ by the judges. There was no ding, so his mind raced through famous Lorraines. Fortunately, there aren’t many, and “Lorraine Newman” was definitely incorrect. “Brocco” came up from the recesses of his mind, and, after all,  it ended in a vowel,  so his assurance locked into place--that must be it. “Brocco,” he said out loud. The audience gave up a round of applause, acknowledging his effort. After that, having pulled that one way out of his you-know-where, Clive’s confidence in the category grew exponentially and he was ready to kill the rest of the category. After that question, “Elliot Ness” came to Clive's mind quickly when asked next about The Untouchables.

Clive's opponent was stumped by the next question, which was about the bank robbing gang in the movie Point Break. The Mem Brainer guessed the Dead Benjamins, but the answer is Ex Presidents.

Before Clive’s final question, the host tried to crank up the tension and state the obvious: “Clive, this is your chance to defeat your opponent, win the game for Pop Rocks and head to the finals to compete for $5,000.” Nervous but game, Clive returned, “No Pressure,” which garnered a laugh from the audience.

Clive's final “Fight Club” question would never have been answered correctly if not for the fact that Clive’s DVD of Fight Club, which  he won in an online contest, features a bar of soap with the movie’s title on it. Clive found it extremely humorous that winning something helped him win something else. Upon answering correctly and winning the game, he turned to the opponent and smilied and truthfully said, “My question was much easier than yours. Sorry about that.” His kindness and sincerity may be in part be why the Mem Brain hung around sidestage to not only to see who won the finals, but also cheer on Pop Rocks. After all, everybody who gets beaten wants to be beaten by the best! That’s the first rule of World Series of Pop Culture!

FINALS

Sparkle Motion vs. Pop Rocks

GENERAL NOTES:

There was very little time between the SemiFinals and the Finals, but there was enough time for Dave to go to the bathroom for the eighth time that day. He hoped the lavaleir mic that was on his tie wasn't still hot. Incidently, a note about the ties that Pop Rocks wore that day. The three ties were Nichole Miller knock-offs of colorful images swirling on a sea of black. They were all Dave's, from his collection of pop ties, which number in the dozens. Steve selected the Bugs Bunny tie, which featured eight or so movie posters of actual Looney Tunes from the 50s. Steve commented that he could look down  to get the answer  to a Bugs Bunny question if one was asked. Clive selected a tie that had all different kinds of candy on it, which was perfect considering the confectionary name of the team. And Dave's tie was his favorite baseball tie, which he usually only wore on Opening Day, or when he went to a MLB game at a stadium. But being that this was the World Series of Pop Culture, and it also just so happen to be on the same day as the opening of the 2005 World Series featuring the White Sox and the Astros, it was perfect.

ROUND 1
DAVE vs. Gary
Saturday Night Live Alumni at the Box Office

When the category was announced, Saturday Night Live Alumni at the Box Office, Dave looked at Clive and Steve and knew what he had to do. He used to stay up when he was eight years old, watching the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. This category had Dave all over it, and while the cast itself was extremely broad, he knew it best out of the three.  Dave was a little cocky in the beginning of his category. When asked by the host, "What do you think of this category?" He was thinking of a snappy comeback, but instead answered "I'm looking forward to hearing question ten." That received a series of hisses from the audience, but also a few laughs, just like Saturday Night Live today. Again, the questions were skewed to the reverse, as Dave got questions about Tommy Boy, Anchorman, and Waterboy, while his younger opponent received questions about Caddyshack and Vacation.

For a category that Dave was the best suited, he was having a difficult time when asked about Spade and Farley. He knew that there were two movies with the pair, but "was it Tommy Boy, or the other one, and what was the other one's name?" Eventually, he did select Tommy Boy, and the host asked him why it was so difficult. "I'm more of a fan of Abbott and Costello than Spade and Farley," he admitted.

One newer question about Old School went to Sparkle Motioner Gary. What was Will Farrell's nickname? Gary correctly and quickly answered Hank the Tank, which Dave did not know, and the host asked Gary if he had an old school nickname. Gary laughed and said "Yes, actually, they called me Sweet G-Love." Then, the host asked Dave. "Yes, actually, they called me Sweet Glove!"  That elicited a heartly guffaw. Oh, how clever that Dave…

But cleverness will only get one so far. Dave's next question proved his downfall, as Adam Sandler appeared once again in Dave's game show career. In 1989, Sandler played Colin Quinn's cousin, Stick Pin Quinn, the Trivial Delinquint, on Remote Control, and he appeared on Dave's episode, asking about what song The Fat Boys did with the Beach Boys. That answer was Wipe Out. And that's what Dave did when he was asked in 2005 about The Waterboy. If the question were reversed: "In what Adam Sandler movie did he appear as Bobby Buecher?" Dave might have had a fighting chance, but instead, Bobby Buecher was the answer, and that was a problem. Gary's winning question was quite easy to Dave, as he had seen Vacation only 100 more times than he saw The Waterboy. Of course Clark Griswald drove The Family Truckster! Every answer is easy if you know it, and every answer is hard if you don't.

On his way off the stage, this time, he turned to Clive and Steve, "Avenge Me!" he said.

ROUND 2
STEVE vs. Maura
Catch Phrases and Movie Quotes

The next category was Catch Phrases and Movie Quotes:  Steve elected to go and go first against Maura.

The host asked Maura if she had a favorite phrase or quote, and she said something random from Arrested Development that cracks her and her friends up. Then, he asked Steve if he had a favorite Catch Phrase, and Steve simply replied, "No."

On with the game. Steve was asked about Clara Peller's Wendy's catchphrase. "Where's the Beef." Steve asked back. Next, Steve was asked what Richard Dawson said on Family Feud before revealing answers. Steve revealed his answer with some pinache: "Survey Says...!"

Fast forward to the fourth round for Mora and it's "what adjective follows this phrase: "Wayne's World, Wayne's World, Party Time, blank..." And that's just what happened to Maura: she drew a blank. From the side stage, Dave was trying his newfound ESP skills, directing the word "Awesome" to Maura. Meanwhile, Steve was also praying don't get it, don't get it, and Maura eventually guesses "Gnarly". Steve thought, "Excellent"! And just like that Steve knocked one of the Sparkle Motion players out of the game.

ROUND 3
CLIVE vs. Jen
Romantic Comedies and Female-Skewing Dramas

Everybody thought it was funny that Clive could answer so many questions about Chick Flicks, although, to his defense, he is married, and the one he eventually got wrong is from 1988, when he was still in college, and needless to say, not yet married. He really gave Sparkle Motioner Jen a run for her money… all the way to question nine, the furthest anyone got all day.

When the host remarked his surprise that Clive knew all these answers  (“I had figured this category would be a gimmie”), Clive poofily put his hand to his chest in an attempted ‘oh my, you flatter me’ look. It probably looked really stupid, however. A few questions later, the host again remarked his surprise, to which Clive joked, “And you wondered why I had trouble with ‘Lorraine Bracco.’ Still later in the category, the host suggested that Clive and his female opponent should discuss afterwards about going to a romantic comedy together; Clive mentioned that his wife might want to be a part of that conversation.

Some of this category’s questions were answered correctly purely on deductive reasoning. The Righteous Brothers only had two hits, and they surely wouldn’t use “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” over a romantic scene, in Ghost, so it had to be “Unchained Melody.” Likewise, Clive didn’t remember much of Working Girl at all, but recalled that everyone in the flick except Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith was portrayed as a rich poseur--so what’s the big cliché way that rich people break their legs? Skiing. That was the guess and it paid off. Also, Clive knew that the Muriel's Wedding soundtrack was lousy with Abba tunes, so there you have it.

Clive didn’t know the answer to the round eight question, "For what magazine did Robert Kinkade take photos of the Bridges of Madison County?", guessing Life instead of National Geographic, but fortunately, his opponent didn’t know the answer to her question, concerning The Notebook, which was her favorite movie! ("What college did some character leave to go to?" It was Sarah Lawrence, not St. Marys.) So play continued into round nine. The host remarked “This means you’ll have questions even harder than the two you didn’t know in round 8,” to which Clive replied, “This means we’re both in way over our heads,” which got a moderate laugh. Unfortuneately, this was only true for one contestant, Clive.

Clive's ninth question was "What animal shape was the groom's cake in Steel Magnolias?" With a  good guess, Fox, Clive got a ding. There was no way that Armadillo would have been a good guess, but it was the correct answer. The ninth question that his opponent got right could have been a level two question for Dave: "What was the shape of the coffeetable that Harry and Sally's friends had a fight over?"  It was a stupid wagon wheel coffee table, and that wagon wheel rolled right over Clive, as he joined Dave on the sidelines.

ROUND 4
STEVE vs. Gary
Reality Television

Ready to avenge his partners demise, Steve got a great category—Reality Television, especially because his wife forces him to watch all this reality crap. Good for him!

Steve versus Sparkle Gary. Steve win the coin toss and elects to go second. They go four rounds back and forth. Steve is asked what wickedly awesome name does Rob from Survivor go by? Boston Rob he guesses correctly.  What VH1 show were Omarosa and Janice Dickenson forced to live in a house on? Surreal Life.  "What shameless cross-promotion!," Dave thought, be in reality, he didn't care, as long as Steve knew the answer. "Surreal Life," he said, and he was

In the 5th Round Gary is asked what songbird won the last version of American Idol?  I'm so glad it's not me cause I'm drawing a blank..  I just know it's not Fantasia who won the 3rd one.  Gary takes a long pause and guesses Fantasia.  Right answer: Carrie Underwood.  Now I just have to get it right not knock him out with my 5th question.

I'm asked in NBC's Tommy Lee goes to College what University does he attend?  I venture a strong guess of Nebraska and I'm right.  So I've just knocked out my second opponent.

ROUND 4
STEVE vs. Gary
Reality Television

A perfect end to a tense day. Once the category was announced, it was in the bag, as Steve was competing against a girl who didn't know a trumpet from a sax-u-ma-phone. Even if the judges ruled him her favor after she immediately corrected herself (What instrument does Lisa Simpson play?), Steve would have won in round four, five or six… or so we hope. Once Steve guessed Papa Smurf correctly, Clive and Dave ran from the side stage, and Dave lifted Steve up over his head in celebration. The victorious Pop Rocks team raised their arms, and Clive proclaimed, "We're going to Disney World," to which Dave replied, "or at least the Disney Store!"

The game play proved to be quite intense, and we hope that VH1 picks up the contest so we can win even more money with our highly useful trivia knowledge. Thanks to all our supporters, as well as the producers of the show for picking us!

Now it's down to this Me versus Jennifer for $5000 for my team or $1666.33 1/3 each.

We're waiting for the category to be revealed to us and it's ANIMATION!   I can't believe my luck and Jen looks scared.  I win the coin toss and choose to go second.

First question: She is asked an easy one as am I.  I get what kind of poisoned fruit does Snow White bite into?  Apple.

Second question to Jen: In the Simpsons what kind of instrument does Lisa play?  Jen says A trumpet, no wait a saxaphone.  They have to stop the game.  On one hand she corrected herself, on the other hand she gave a complete wrong answer first.  The judges and lawyers confer and after a few minutes they rule that she answered incorrectly.

Now  I just have to get a level 2 animation question right:  No pressure.  

I get: On the Smurfs, who is the only Smurf to wear red?  I work through it in my head and figure it has to be Papa Smurf. And it is.   My team comes running out and hoistes me up and drops me back down.

SO WE WON.  And we get paid.  Plus if the show gets picked up we get to come back and represent in a 64 team tournament

The producers by the camera montors were laughing every time the coin toss happened as the inside joke was that it took a while to figure out if Joanie or Chachie came up heads first as they looked alike!!!

Somebody was picking his nose right behind Pat Kiernan in the first game and once again the producers by the monitors were scrambling to get the camera angle changed. It got worse when the guy started to double finger it before they had a chance to re-position the camera.

The Jersey Devils mom kept on mentioning God being on her side and that Angels from above were helping her. Probably not good for ratings. She had the audience laughing but not in a a good way.

And despite it feeling like everyone was getting more than a minute, there was a clock on the production table's screen.