For the first time in its 79-year history, the final rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee were televised live during primetime on ABC television.  What does this say either about our culture or about the state of network television?  Let me spell it out.

It took two hours and ten minutes of primetime to deliver a champion, Katherine “Kerry” Close of Spring Lake, New Jersey, and I must admit that even though the broadcast followed a typical live sports script, it was compelling television that included kids with unique and quirky personalities and a building tension as one by one each contestant is eliminated.  It is obvious that the success of American Idol, which follows a similar format, made the powers-at-be at ABC/Disney look at the Bee as a possible primetime special.  The event’s second day has been televised on sister cable station ESPN since 1994, so it was an easy change to move the finals to the bigger stage.  As reality TV becomes part of our culture’s zeitgeist and these types of programs remain cheap to produce, the big broadcast networks will gravitate to them as their share of audience declines — the bottom line comes first.

But even if the bee was given a green light because of business reasons it is still deserving of its prime network spot, and after 79 years has become a competitive institution embedded in American culture, not unlike the Westminster Dog Show or the Kentucky Derby.  Thursday evening’s competition delivered all the essential elements needed in a top television show, including a sports-like image when the finalists spontaneously gathered in a huddle and chanted “One-two-three-spell!”  (It should be noted that the previous moment happened during a commercial break and had to be recreated by the kids for the live feed.)  

It’s my contention that if the bee ran for a whole season, audience members would most likely become attached to both the format and the contestants, just like they have with other reality-based shows.  I wouldn’t be surprised if next year you see a show called American Speller or even Celebrity Speller, where each week a different has-been celebrity is eliminated after trying to spell a series of odd words, most likely with a sexual connotation.  The only problem is trying to find how to incorporate the viewing audience — the key to Idol’s giant success.

The live show on ABC was hosted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts, with accompanying analysis by former bee finalist (1990) Paul A. Loeffler and sideline interviews from ABC News correspondent Chris Connelly. What I liked about ABC’s coverage was that it wasn’t too exploitative and kept mainly to the live drama, only peppering with Wide World of Sports-type, up-close-and-personal segments that took viewers to some of the finalists’ hometowns to find out just how they became spellaholics.  These well-edited mini-bios were just the right length to show not only how dedicated and studious these kids really are, but also the nuances of their personalities that drive them to compete.  One 13-year-old home-schooled boy from Scottsdale, Arizona, Jonathan Horton, even purported that if he spent the same amount of time at practicing basketball as he did studying words, he could be as good as Steve Nash or Michael Jordan.  With attitudes like that, these kids will no doubt succeed in whatever avenue they choose (except in Mr. Horton’s case, I hope he stays off the court).

Champion Kerry Close may not become a household name like American Idol Taylor Hicks, but at least her win doesn’t lock her into a multi-year spelling contract.  She’ll return to her schooling, though she says she may come back next year and try for back-to-back wins, never before accomplished at the bee.

Now that spelling bees have become popular (as subjects of movies, Broadway musicals, and documentaries), I hope that ABC continues to run the finals of the bee in primetime and keeps it as an annual event without exploiting the concept and turning it into something more than it is — a simple spelling contest.  It is nice to see something on television where kids can see other kids working hard and achieving greatness.  So much of television is filled with shallowness, violence, and a perception of kids as either little adults — participating in activities beyond their age — or as shiny, assembly-line boys and girls who seem to be manufactured in some warehouse in the San Fernando Valley (see Disney Channel).  If you missed Thursday night’s broadcast but want a glimpse into the world of spelling bees, you can always go see the new film Akeelah and the Bee, still in some theaters, or rent the compelling Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound or Bee Season, starring Richard Gere and out on DVD. Also, there’s the touring company of the two-time Tony award-winning Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  All I know is I couldn’t spell most of the words given to the contestants during the finals, so I hope they are given the respect and awe we give to star athletes who, as a culture, we worship everyday.  If the ratings prove right, The Scripps National Spelling Bee will truly be a revenge of the nerds.

Rich Burlingham