Move over, “Survivor.” A new reality show is in the works atLSU.
“Question Everything” will film its pilot episode this monthbefore a student audience, said Wesley Shrum, a sociology professordeveloping the project.
On the new show, a panel of experts will review a number ofproposals and pick four to compete for fictitious grant money,Shrum said. The show’s purpose is to raise awareness about fundingresearch in different fields.
Each of the finalists will present ideas before the audience whowill then be allowed to ask questions. After all proposals havebeen heard and questions answered, the audience will vote for thewinner.
“The show’s purpose is to feature the reality of producingknowledge,” Shrum said. “The idea is that science and ideas comefrom somewhere and don’t just spring up without researchfunding.”
Shrum said he hopes, through the show, that people realize howmany more ideas there are than funding.
“It’s a little like Survivor, but people aren’t kicked off theisland — ideas are,” Shrum said.
The show is the brainchild of Shrum, Ph.D student Rick Duque,who is a former actor/screenwriter from Los Angeles, and JohnViscount, a songwriter/screenwriter from Hollywood who hosts theshow.
The show originally was Viscount’s idea, Shrum said.
The pilot episode will be filmed in Dodson Auditorium Oct. 21.If it is picked up by cable television, Shrum hopes viewers will beable to vote for the winner online.
Shrum, Duque and Viscount will send the pilot to PBS and variouscable channels.
“This is for an educated audience rather than a mass audience,”Shrum said.
Shrum said the show illustrates parts of the academic andresearch process most people know nothing about.
“When federal agencies fund research, they put all fieldproposals together — physics with physics, political science withpolitical science and so on,” Shrum said. “We want to make peopleexplain these ideas to those outside their fields.”
Shrum said putting scholars of different disciplines togetherwill eliminate complicated jargon and help them explain their ideasto the average student.
The panel will help determine the intellectual merit of theproposals and students’ questions will be used to determine theirpotential broader impacts, Shrum said.
“The students are there to ask, ‘What’s in it for me?'” Shrumsaid.
The professors scheduled to present ideas are Mohamed Noor fromthe Social Sciences Department, Marybeth Lima from the Departmentof Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Margaret Reams from theDepartment of Environmental Studies and William Blanford from theDepartment of Geology/Geophysics.
Several professors will bring their classes to the Oct. 21taping to be members of the student audience, Shrum said. It willtake about two hours to film the 24-minute show.
Tiger TV is considering filming the pilot. If they decline,Shrum said he and his colleagues can obtain the equipment to filmit themselves.
Other students hoping to participate can e-mail Duque atrickduque@yahoo.com.