Idiot Savants (game show)

Format

Four contestants competed through an entire week of shows (Monday through Friday), answering questions in a variety of categories. In each of the first four shows of the week, contestants were eliminated one by one, and the day's top scorer played a bonus round for a prize. However, all four contestants returned to start each new episode, and each contestant's scores from all episodes throughout the week were added together to create a grand total. The contestant who had the highest total at the end of the Friday episode won the week's grand prize, usually a vacation or a car.

Before appearing on the show, each contestant chose a specific topic in which he/she was particularly knowledgeable as his/her "savant category." These categories covered a broad range of fields such as entertainment, academics, and popular culture.

Many of the questions were asked (or performed) by the "savant contestants", a group of actors who acted out comical sketches that led to the questions. Many of these actors were also writers on the show, including senior writer Tom Cohen, along with Jason Nash, Paul Kozlowski, Eric Friedman, and Shonda Farr.

Monday–Thursday

The contestants' scores were set to zero at the start of each day.

Round 1

The contestant in control chose one of eight categories from a board. A toss-up question was asked, and the first contestant to buzz in with the right answer received 100 points and the chance to answer a bonus question worth 200 points. If that contestant answered the bonus correctly, he/she then had the right to try for a 300-point "Big Gamble" question, the last in the category. No points were deducted for a miss on the toss-up or bonus questions, but an incorrect response on the Big Gamble deducted 300. Whenever a contestant answered a question incorrectly or ran out of time, the other contestants could buzz in and give the correct answer to steal the points.

The round ended when either time ran out or all eight categories had been used. At this point, the lowest scorer was labeled as the day's "dunce" and made to sit in a corner of the stage, separate from the other contestants.

As soon as any of the following occurred, the category went out of play and the last contestant who gave a correct answer chose the next one:

Initially, at the start of each Monday episode, a toss-up "control question" was asked to determine who chose the first category in Round 1. More often than not, the correct answer to this question was the same as the category to which it belonged. The control question was soon replaced by a straw draw. On Tuesday through Friday episodes, the previous day's dunce chose the first category.

Round 2

The question format remained the same, but all point values were doubled (200, 400, +/-600 points). Also in this round, the "Brain" (an on-stage over-sized brain featuring a monitor showing a close-up of Matt Price's face) chose the categories, and if the three contestants could not answer a question, the dunce could steal the points (after which the category ended immediately). At the end of this round, both the dunce and the lowest scorer of the other three contestants were eliminated for the day.

Round 3: Brainstorm Round

The category was retrieved by Fitzsimmons from "inside the Brain", and rapid fire questions from that category were asked for a period of 60 seconds. Contestants earned 200 points for a correct answer, and lost 200 points for an incorrect answer. The contestant in the lead after this round advanced to the Grand Savant Round.

Grand Savant Round

The winner of each day's contest played the bonus round for a mid-level prize, such as a vacation or a television set. For the Grand Savant Round, the contestant was placed into a device called the "Cylinder of Shush", a clear tube somewhat reminiscent of the "Cone of Silence" from Get Smart, but covering the entire upper half of the contestant's body.

The contestant was then asked a series of rapid fire questions from his or her savant category, and had to answer 10 of them correctly within the allotted time to win the bonus prize. Win or lose, 200 points were added to the contestant's weekly total for each question answered correctly. The time limit was originally 45 seconds, but was soon increased to 60 seconds.

Friday Finals

On Friday, the four contestants' starting scores were set to show the total points each had accumulated during the week. Point values for the first two rounds were doubled (200/400/600, then 400/800/1200), and the low scorer at the end of each round was eliminated from the game. There was no dunce on Friday episodes, and no Brainstorm round was played.

The two remaining contestants after round two then competed for the weekly grand prize in the "Double Grand Savant" final round. The contestant in second place was placed in the Cylinder of Shush and answered questions from his or her savant category for 60 seconds, at the rate of 1,000 points per correct answer.

The other contestant was then placed in the Cylinder and given 60 seconds to try to regain the lead. The contestant in the lead after this final round was declared that week's champion and won the high-level prize. Four new contestants appeared the following Monday.