How Many are with Me in Loving Identity?

How Many are with Me in Loving Identity? by Roxanne McDonald

I loooove this show. Of all the straight-up (whatever that means these days) game shows, “Identity” has got to be the most at-home fun.

No offense to “1 vs. 100,” which is great because of the play-along-able questions and the dreamy host; and similarly, no offense to the show I watch every single week, “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” for the content as well as the jokes of the smart-mouthed Mr. Foxworthy.

But I am just absolutely compelled by and then riveted to “Identity”.

Maybe it’s because of the hulking genius of a host who with his booming presence and very tactful manner. Penn Gillette is a babe—all mystery and brain and jocularity.

Maybe it’s because of the fact that I taught advanced composition/critical thinking for a few years at the local community colleges and an art institute, and I become

fascinated by the methods of discernment, the order in which the contestants play their guesses, and how their reasoning powers—when narrated aloud—work for or against them. [And ever the instructor, I still think of ways the show would work so nicely in a practice session in class—as the students learn inductive and deductive strategies, inferencing, and whatnot.]
Last time, the strangers were as follows:

Chewbacca (the guy who played him/it in the 70s)
Most Downloaded Woman on the Internet (Cindy Margolis)
Pro Drag Racer
PTA Mom
Born in Japan
Age 35
Home Design Guru (Christopher Lowell)
Stem Cell Researcher
Rock and Roll Drummer (formerly with SkidRow)
Clown
Magician (Lance Burton)
EMT

So what was/is fascinating is how, for instance, the experts helped Toni Purry, who seemed to be winging it a lot and still guessing correctly, with the Stem Cell Researcher…parsing out the logical characteristics of stranger #? by noting her comment about being a Democrat if she could vote, and noting that political issues prevent a lot of stem cell research here in the U.S. and the stranger clearly had a European accent, etc., all point to her being the best choice.

The “famous” strangers, as I have said before, are identifiable only if the player knows them to begin with, so Toni got the Home Design Guru using prior knowledge.

And, of course, assumptions (taking X for granted) don’t work, for someone could be born in the back of a surrey to a Caucasian mother and not have slanted eyes; likewise, the

rancher could be the one in the beauty pageant banner and bikini and the manicurist could be a man.
The tricky tricks are of course what hinge the show and hook us at the same time.

Okay, so I just checked some recent Nielsen ratings, and discovered that between March 12 and March 18 (2007), “Identity” was #30 and drew 9.0 million viewers.

Good to know. (Though both “1 vs. 100″ and “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” outrank my fav, in 12th place with 12.6 million viewers and in 28th place with 9.1 million viewers, respectively…. Oh well.) Also good to know now would be how in the hell they (at Nielsen) know the number of viewers? Big Brother style surveillance techniques, or what? I thought the only ones to be counted were those with a Nielsen box attached to their sets.

Well, I will just have to use my own critical thing skills…or do some research.

For now I am off to watch another installment of the greatest game show on my planet.

SirLinksAlot Identity links

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