television
Brent Noel describes his appearance on leopardy! as "polka dots and moonbeans. It was everything good in life."
By Sara Bennett
Kansan staff writer
In other words, it was a nerve-racking experience.
Noel, Lawrence graduate student, is one of many KU students who have appeared on national television. Most said their brushes with fame had been full of surprises and more than a little embarrassing.
"It was kind of a traumatizing experience," said Philip Larsen, Indianapolis, Ind. freshman about his appearance on MTV's "Like We Care," a traveling show that features interviews with students about subjects ranging from their most embarrassing moments to favorite weekend activities.
Trebeck: A heraldic charge called a label often represents the eldest one of these in an English family.
Noel: What is the Pure Food and Drug Act?
Noel: What is the son?
"I was watching it, and I was talking about hickeys, and there was this kissing noise, and all of a sudden they had this computer graphic of a huge hickey on my face. I was on another day that week talking about pick-up lines, and
KU graduate student Brent Noel answered these questions correctly when he appeared on Jeopardy!:
A Television Experience
Alex Trebeck: This "pure" 1906 act followed complaints about harmful chemical food additives.
Treeback: Some species of this insect obtain their cellulose from grass and humus in the soil other than from wood.
Noel: What are termites?
Trebeck: The government of this empire was sometimes called the Sublime Porte after a gate in Constantinople.
Noel! What is the Ottoman Empire?
they edited it to make it sound like these lines were ones I would really use. I got teased about it for a long time afterwards, said Larsen.
Shawn McClaren, a Dallas
junior who was a finalist for Stuns, an entire audition process was embarrassed. He said, however, that he had known what he was getting into because he understood the show's premise.
"It was the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen," he said. "They had you stand onstage in this bar, and they'd call girls out of the audience, and you had a card full of stupid things you had to do. I had to make up a chant to get the audience going and make up three pick-up lines with characters from Universal Studios."
One of his winning lines? "If you were Pebbles,
and I was Bam Bam. I give you a bone."
"Everything had sexual overtones," he said. "They were looking for that."
They were very hard on Joepardy was dealing with his nerves while waiting for his show to be taped.
"They get you there at 10 in the morning, and I immediately went into nervous shock," he said. "I was on the last show, so I spent the day drinking coffee and getting nervous."
"When it came time for Final Jeopardy, I knew I couldn't win so I made up a gag answer," he said. "After the show Alex Trebek had like my sense of humor."
Noel said his nerves settled once he got on the set, where he found himself competing against two lawyers in categories he knew nothing about.
Getting on television can be as easy as being in the right place at the right time or as complicated as a drawn-out audition process. McClaren, who has yet to be contacted by Studs, was on spring break in Los Angeles when he was provided to participate by family and friends. Noel went to California, took a 50-question test, played a mock round complete with buzzers and had an interview.
No matter how they got their breaks, most students felt that luck also played a role in their
*Almost all the guys there had bleach blond
hair and sunglasses, and some of them were actors," said McClaren of the Studs audition. "I thought 'there's no way.' All of these guys looked like they knew they were going to make it. But when they called names, I heard 'and from Kansas ...' and I was up onstage before they even said my name."
Although Noel and McClaren have different opinions about their experiences, both said positive things happened as a result. As a Studs finalist, McClaren won $75 in prizes and an invitation to Studs host. Mark DeCarlo's penthouse party, where he met Miss America. He also sat in the front row at the show's taping with the other Studs and Studettes.
"It was a ball," he said. "It made my spring break."
Noel got a part in a local movie as a result of his appearance on Jeopardy, and he said an on-air conversation with Trebek helped KU's theater department.
"He asked about my work in theater, and I told him I was interested in audience participation. He told me I should look into children's theater. KU has an excellent children's theater program, and since then, I've been told people have seen it and contacted the department, "Noel said.
Both Noel and McClaren said their television experiences were memorable.
"It was an adventure," said Noel. "The only regret I have is that I didn't win."
McClaren said, "If you're not afraid of embarrassing yourself, it's a great experience."
Students' favorite game show? It's Jeopardy!
By Sara Bennett
Kansas staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Students may grumble about having to go to class and memorize facts, yet many race home every evening to watch and play along with their favorite trivia show.
"Jeopardy" overwhelmingly beat out "Studs" and the "Price is Right" as a favorite game show, an informal poll of KU students revealed. Most
said they liked the show because it challenged them intellectually.
"It's not mindless," said Erich Timkar, Concordia senior. "It actually requires some basic education to play."
"Actually, he just watched it because he liked to see Diane Parkinson in a swimsuit."
said she was impressed by the people on the show.
before five, then act like you know all the answers when it comes on later." Kristi Lundy, Lawrence senior, said watching "Jeopardy!" was more challenging than many shows.
Stefanie Moore,
Lawrence
sephorae
"It makes me feel so stupid to watch 'Jeopardy!'," she said. "So I always feel great when I get a right answer."
"The Price is Right" is a close second among students' favorite game shows. Dave Fisher, Leawood senior, said he watched the show a lot during
"Alex Trebek is hysterical. He's so pompous," she said. "And the people on it are so remarkably intelligent, it blows me away."
Almost all students interviewed admitted to testing their own knowledge by playing along with "Jeopardy!"
Dave Fisher Leawood senior
"All the guys sit around and try to answer the questions," said Jeff Nichols, Topeka junior "The thing to do is watch the one that comes on
the summer.
"Me and this little kid I baby-sat for had this competition going." he said. "Actually, he just watched it because he liked to see Diane Parkinson in a swimsuit."
For Craig Kenkel,
Denison, Iowa,
sophomore, watching
"The Price is Right"
is a nostalgic
experience.
"It's the one thing that's always been there," he said. "I've
Although some KU students watch game shows to be entertained or intellectually stimulated, others, like computer science majors, aren't as knowledgeable about them.
watched it since I was really little, and it's neat to think Bob Barker has been on forever."
Other favorite game shows were "Supermarket Sweep," "Studs" and "Golf."
"Do they still have that one with the whammies?" he said.
That's "Press Your Luck," Steve.
Here's how to apply for moment of fame
Sara Bennett
Do you think you have what it takes to be on television? Here's what some of the most popular shows are looking for and how to get on to them.
Kansan staff write
jeopardy! is looking for full-time undergraduate students to compete in its annual college tournament. Names of interested students will be drawn at random next month for interviews to be held around the country. Those chosen must pass a 50-question test, play a mock round of the game and complete an interview. Fifteen students will then be chosen to compete in the college round that will be taped in February and aired two weeks in May.
"We're looking for game-playing abilities and degree of nervousness," said Susanne Thurber, head contestant coordinator for Jeopardy. "We're certainly looking for different people from different locales and mix of juniors, seniors and so on."
Interested students should send a postcard to:
Jeopardy College Tournament P.O.Box 931417
Los Angeles. CA 90093-1417
On "The Price Is Right," all audience members are potential contestants, so those interested in being on the show should be prepared to get up early and wait in line. The lines start at 8 a.m., and people are let in on a first-come, first-served basis.
For tickets, send a self- addressed, stamped envelope along with potential show dates to: Phone No. Fight
The Price is right
Los Angeles, CA 90036
If MTV'S unscripted soap opera "The Real World" goes into a third season, casting will begin in February. Producers and cast directors will conduct interviews in random cities where they will be looking for seven outgoing and outsoken young people.
"We don't want seven robots," said Scott. Acord, a publicist for MTV. "We're looking for people who could get along without killing each other, yet create interest."
Interested people should send letters and applications to:
The Best World
10 Universal Plaza, 33rd Floor
Universal City, CA 91608
Issues and Trends at the University of Kansas.
Lead Story
South African Kwazalu leader Mangosurthu Buthelezi began his annual state-of-the state policy address to the Kwazalu Legislature on March 12, spake continuously during weekday business hours, and finished on March 30. He read 427 pages of text which had to be translated from English to Zulu.
Inexplicable
In Julky in Elkton, Va. Jarrette Arlo Dean, 43, gnawed the head off a rattlesnake that had bitten him on the hand while he was transporting the snake on his motorcycle. Dean apparently became exasperated because of the bites and took pre-emptive action by biting the snake's head. Dean was hospitalized in intensive care with severely swollen lips and tongue.
*The Chicago Tribune* reported in June that lawyers for William Carlson, 19, who is serving a 90-year sentence in Illinois for killing his parents, were optimistic that Carlson would be awarded the parents' estate. In a plea bargain, Carlson confessed to killing his father, who died first. At the moment of his death, Carlson's father's estate passed to the man's mother, whose beneficiary is Carlson. He was not convicted of killing her.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Historical Association announced that it is raising money this year by offering Internal Revenue Service gift ornaments for sale at $11 each. The ornaments commemorate the 80th anniversary of the 16th Amendment, which authorized the income tax. The ornaments are 24-carat, gold-finished, three-dimensional models of a 1913 tax form.
Weird News
■ In a June profile, the New York Times reported that the New York City Sanitation Department's artist-in-residence, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, had accomplished the following: she built an archway made of gloves discarded by city employees and a structure made of piled steel shavings from subway car wheels; choreographed a dance of street-sweeping machines and conducted a performance art piece in which she shook hands with all 8,500 employees of the department. On the side, the self-described maintenance artist conducted a ballet of garbage barges in Pittsburgh.
Police in Gonzales, La., arrested Garrick "Lucky" Lewis, 20, in April after a 21-year-old woman complained that Lewis broke into her apartment, lectured her about the need to lock her windows and doors, and left. A half-hour later, Lewis broke in again and allegedly tried to rape her.
District of Columbia Superior Court Judge John Bayley was forced to declare a mishair in a child-bearing case in July when, in the middle of the trial, the defendant's lawyer casually informed the judge that he was leaving on vacation that evening. Lawyer Clayton J. Powell Jr. cited a commitment to his family and to his non-refundable airline tickets. Another lawyer said Powell was committed "professional suicide."
The Hill and Cormier families, neighbors in Kittery, Maine, have been feuding for years about the noisy Cormier family dogs. The Hills have complained that police never take action to stop the constant barking. In April, the police issued the first summons in the feud — to the Hills' son, Henry Paradis, for creating a nuisance by barking back at Cormiers' dogs.
1993 Universal Press Syndicate