A Word Game of Fanciful New Television Shows

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

And joining us now on the line from New York City is our quiz guy, John Chaneski.

Hi, John.

Hi, Martha.

Hey, buddy.

Hi, Grant.

What’s up?

Hi.

Well, you know what?

I was thinking about, so this is something I’ve been saying to people lately.

As I get older, I say things to the younger people.

I don’t want to be that old guy that says this, but I do.

When I was growing up, you could watch all of television.

All of it.

You could watch shows in the fall and then catch reruns of shows you missed.

You could learn the theme song for every single show.

Now, there’s just way too much television.

Lucky for me, though, because that means that there have got to be shows that very few people have heard of.

Oh, boy.

For example, I’ll give you an example.

I’m going to give you a show.

Cloak and Dagger.

Now, is that a series about spies in the 1940s or about two superheroes named Cloak and Dagger?

It’s a very, very, very good Marvel television show.

Right.

That’s exactly right.

In the following quiz, you only get one joint answer.

Okay?

I’m going to give you a 50-50 on this one.

Oh, boy.

Odds are you’ll get some of them right.

Now, here we go.

I’m going to give an interview.

So we’re like manacled together and neither one of us can escape unless we both escape?

Sort of, yes.

It’s like, oh, brother, where art thou?

Here we go.

Now, the first show is called The Resident.

Is it a medical drama about a charming and arrogant med student or a horror anthology series about a haunted house?

It’s the med student, I think, Martha.

I would agree with that.

That sounds right.

It is the medical drama.

Yes, very good.

Here’s another one.

Altered Carbon.

Is it a sci-fi series about interchangeable bodies or a drama about a down-on-his-luck chemistry teacher?

Grant’s nodding his head.

It’s the interchangeable bodies.

It is the first one.

Yeah, though the down-on-his-luck chemistry teacher, I think somebody already did that.

It was called Breaking Bad.

Yeah, I didn’t hear very much about that.

No.

How about Life Sentence?

Is it a drama about a woman who beats a terminal cancer diagnosis

Or a gritty tale about an English professor wrongly jailed for murder?

Oh, that’s a harder one.

I think it’s the second one, Martha.

I’m going to guess the second one.

It is the first one.

What?

She beats cancer, and then she has to try to find a way to deal with the life

That she didn’t think she was going to have.

Oh, my.

Life Sentence.

Okay.

How about Child Support?

Is it a drama about a private eye who rescues kids in dangerous circumstances?

Or a game show where contestants can look to kids for help?

Oh, no.

I have no idea on this.

I like the second one.

I like it.

Let’s choose it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good.

You got it.

It is a game show with kids where the kids can support you.

Child support.

Yeah.

This one is called Disenchantment.

Is it a magazine-style show about people who fell out of love?

Or an animated sitcom about an alcoholic princess and an elf?

Princess and Elf.

Yeah, I’m going with the Princess and Elf.

It is A Princess and Elf by Matt Greinig.

It’s a new series from Matt Greinig.

Oh, cool.

I can’t wait.

Adult animated series.

How about this one?

Paid off.

Is it a comedy game show that draws attention to the student loan debt crisis?

Or is it a detective series about corruption in a small Canadian town?

Well, given that I personally know and am very good friends with one of the writers of that show.

Really?

Yeah, really.

I would choose A.

It is A, yes.

A comedy game show that draws attention to the student loan debt crisis.

Yes, I did work unpaid off, and it’s on Shoe TV right now.

Yeah.

And it’s a lot of fun, so I hope you watch it.

Yeah, it looks great.

It looks like a top-notch show.

Congratulations.

You guys did good stuff.

Way to go.

Thank you very much, guys.

Thank you.

All right.

Thanks for the quiz, too, John.

We really appreciate it.

Okay.

Thanks, guys.

Take care.

Bye.

Bye, John.

Well, Wait With Words is where we talk about language, and not just the boring stuff, but the fun stuff, too.

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Email words@waywordradio.org.