The World Series of Pop Culture (season 1)
Encyclopedia
The World Series of Pop Culture
is a VH1
game show
tournament
program. The first season was taped in New York City
from April 29 - April 30, 2006 at the Ziegfeld Theater (a movie theater named in homage of the former Ziegfeld Theatre
). The top prize was $250,000 provided by Alltel Wireless. The tournament first aired on July 10, 2006, concluding on August 3, 2006. The hosts for the first season were Pat Kiernan
and Lisa Guerrero
.
The inaugural competition was won by Atlanta
-area residents Mason Spencer, Jodi Roth and Alexandra Clark, collectively known as El Chupacabra. They split the $250,000 cash prize, and won an entry for Season 2
.
The World Series of Pop Culture
The World Series of Pop Culture was a VH1 game show tournament program sponsored by Alltel Wireless, based on Entertainment Weekly's Pop Culture Quiz. Sixteen teams, comprising three people each, compete to determine which team, collectively, knows the most about elements of popular culture...
is a VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
program. The first season was taped in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
from April 29 - April 30, 2006 at the Ziegfeld Theater (a movie theater named in homage of the former Ziegfeld Theatre
Ziegfeld Theatre
The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway theater located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1927 and, despite public protests, was razed in 1966....
). The top prize was $250,000 provided by Alltel Wireless. The tournament first aired on July 10, 2006, concluding on August 3, 2006. The hosts for the first season were Pat Kiernan
Pat Kiernan
Patrick Kiernan is a New York City news anchor, appearing as the morning anchor of NY1 since 1997. Kiernan has become widely known in New York City for his "In the Papers" feature, in which he summarizes the colorful content in New York City's daily newspapers, replete with his deadpan humor...
and Lisa Guerrero
Lisa Guerrero
Lisa Coles Guerrero is an American sportscaster, actress, host and model. The Los Angeles Times has called Guerrero the 'hardest working sports reporter'. The Hispanic Business Journal named her one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in America. President George W...
.
The inaugural competition was won by Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
-area residents Mason Spencer, Jodi Roth and Alexandra Clark, collectively known as El Chupacabra. They split the $250,000 cash prize, and won an entry for Season 2
The World Series of Pop Culture (season 2)
The World Series of Pop Culture is a VH1 game show tournament program. The second season was taped in New York City from March 22 - March 23, 2007 at the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center. The top prize was $250,000 provided by Alltel Wireless. The tournament began airing on July 9, 2007, with a...
.
Tournament Bracket
IQ = Internet QualifiersTeams
- El Chupacabra (Alexandra Clark, Jodi Roth, Mason Spencer) (Winner)
- The Boeghy Bunch (Jason Boegh, Jim Ghezzi, Amanda Jiggins) (Runner-up)
- Almost Perfect Strangers (Larry Brown, Kim Eaton, Molly Martin)
- The Velvet Rope Revolution (Dave Callaham, Alex Carter, Nne Ebong)
- Peanut Butter & Ginelli (Mike Ginelli, Matt Slocum, Brian Turtle)
- Cheetara (Erin Davidson, Katherine Gotsick, Amber Tillett)
- PDX 503 (Wil Olandria, Brian Panganiban, Paul Panganiban)
- I Heart Jake Ryan (Erin Freeman, Claire Johnstone, Martha Scales)
- Highly Effective People (Drew Hunter, Catherine Lamb, Adam Sass)
- We're What Willis Was Talking About (Angela Pacheco, Helena Pacheco, Joe Pacheco)
- The Men of Vision (Erick Krigsvold, Freeman Martin, Matt McCoo)
- Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky & Mike (MacArthur Antigua, Michael Garcia, A.J. Sustaita)
- Sexual Chocolate (Anthony Ashton, Jeff Yeatman, Natalie Zaidman)
- Team Smarty Pants (Collin Hattaway, Brianne Hattaway (Liss), Lauren Liss)
- 3 the Hard Way (Laurie Ewing, Dave Lerman, Drew Stepek)
- Lazer Wolves (Matt Ayers, Zach Braun, Joe Rahim)
Competition highlights
- Almost Perfect Strangers had an 'almost perfect' Sweet 16 round, in which they answered every question correctly, with the exception of a steal from the opposing team, Men of Vision.
- In one instance, two contestants from El Chupacabra and We're What Willis Was Talking About exhausted the list of possible tiebreaker answers (the category was American IdolAmerican IdolAmerican Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
finalists), which necessitated a second tiebreaker. Notably, they listed the Idol finalists in order from the first to the fourth season. The team members also provided an equal number of correct answers in the second tiebreaker, which led to a third tiebreaker. El Chupacabra finally broke through in the third tiebreaker, with one correct answer to zero. - Even though the Semifinals were to be continued along with the Finals, VH1 revealed the teams that would be in the Finals by showing a commercial with the teams following the first showing of the Semifinals.
- The final question of the competition dealt with the name of the fictional college attended by Denise Huxtable on The Cosby ShowThe Cosby ShowThe Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
. Both players failed to provide the correct answer, Hillman College.
Pop Culture contestants in pop culture
- Peanut Butter & Ginelli team members Mike Ginelli and Brian Turtle invented the Six Degrees of Kevin BaconSix Degrees of Kevin BaconSix Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a trivia game based on the concept of the small world phenomenon and rests on the assumption that any individual involved in the Hollywood, California film industry can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps. The name of the game...
trivia game. - Velvet Rope Revolution team member Dave Callaham co-wrote the 2005 feature film DoomDoom (film)Doom is a 2005 science fiction horror film, loosely based on the Doom series of video games created by id Software. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak....
. - Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky & Mike team member MacArthur Antigua was previously a contestant on an episode of The Weakest LinkThe Weakest LinkThe Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
. - El Chupacabra team member Alexandra Burris appeared on Who Wants to be a Millionaire on June 9, 2009. She won $50,000 before time ran out, carrying her game over into the next day.
- Highly Effective People teammates Drew Hunter, Catherine Lamb, and Adam Sass are all members of the LA-based sketch comedy group, Wet Cookies.
After the Tournament
- El Chupacabra, as defending champion, returned for the 2007 tournament, where they lost in the first round.
- The members of Cheetara would go on to replace Lisa Guerrero as backstage interviewer(s) for the 2007 tournament.
- Martha Scales, a member of I Heart Jake Ryan, appeared on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" during pop culture week, where she won $25,000