The question was too easy. How far from earth to sum. 93 million,930 million or whatever. It was a cinch.
No, the question the guy that called his dad got was Which of these US President appeared on the television series Laugh In: Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Ford.
Here is a YouTube clip.
I think he’s thinking of this guy, the second million dollar winner, who got the (in my opinion) remarkably easy “the earth is how many miles away from the sun” question. Even without knowing off the top of my head, I know the approximate speed of light (186,000 miles per second), and I know that it takes about 8 minutes for light from the sun to reach the earth, so some quick math…480 seconds times 200,000 (rounding), and that’s 96 million miles, which is close to 93 million, so hey, I’m there.
So can I call you? 
What was the question?
It listed several pairs of keys and asked which were the ones not separated by a black key. I think the answer was E and F?
It would either be
E&F or B&C
Depending on which was listed.
As a point of information, Buck Rogers was a present day human who somehow got into suspended animation and woke up in the future. That was in Nowlan’s original story, in the TV show he somehow came to the future through some time portal while an astronaut.
At least in the USA, the “fastest finger” round has been eliminated in the new shows, which feature Meredith Vieira as the host. Contestants just come onstage one at a time as each previous one leaves.
One way is to word the questions negatively. Instesd of something like this:
What is former President Jimmy Carter’s daughter’s name?
A) Crystal
B) Kelly
C) Amy
D) Heather
you get something like this:
Which of these presidents had no daughters?
A) Richard Nixon
B) Lyndon Johnson
C) Ronald Reagan
D) James Buchanan
The correct answer is “D” – Buchanan, the “bachelor president”, had no children.
It’s obviously harder to search four possibilities than to plug “Jimmy Carter daughter” into Google and instantly get several references to Amy to come up.
Former contestant weighing in (the syndicated version with Meredith, not Regis’ prime-timer.)
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You get 5. Not only that, they have to be at a landline for the entirety of the taping day. So you need someone to be at home or the office from 10 am to 6 pm. No cell phones.
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One of the guys who went on before me did pretty much that. His one lifeline was the bartender at his local watering hole, where most of his buddies would be around during different parts of the day. The plan was that barkeep would yell the question and the NTNers would Google or just search their own brains for the answer. He actually used the lifeline in this manner and it worked.
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I didn’t promise any of my lifelines anything. People were frothing at the mouth to be a lifeline, but when they found out they had to be at the phone all day - and they might not get a call - that number diminished. It was further messed up by the fact it was a two-day commitment (in case you went on the last show of the day and had to come back the next day - which, of course, happened to me.) So I had my sports exec buddy, the brother of a friend who was a Regis contestant, my SAHM friend who knows arts like anyone’s business, my workaholic ex-boss who knows all about award shows and mythology. I called the brother of the friend as a lifeline at $100K - he didn’t know, so I walked away. Poor guy was crestfallen - he thought he’d failed me in some way. My attitude was, “Dude, I didn’t know the answer either… no biggie.” I would have gotten him a really nice gift, or some cash, had he given me the right answer and I went with it, though.
Last thought. You have exactly 30 seconds from the person being on the phone to repeat the question. Googling might work but it’s pretty hard to do that quickly. The system is pretty hard to game. The bar trivia strategy is probably best, especially if you have a loud assed speakerphone. The other issue, which I’m sure you’ve noticed, is that people tend to take forever repeating the question. Just bark out the bare minimum of what’s needed! Of course, if the question is complex, you’re probably going to use 15 seconds just reading it…
I wish I’d seen you…heck, maybe I did. It’s the Meredith Viera shows I’m watching. What was the question you missed? Congratulations, by the way! I’d be very happy to get as far as you did.
Thanks, Dung. Depends when you were watching… I think my show aired in October 2005. I wore an obnoxious Texas flag shirt one day. I’m a Black dude with a beard… that should narrow it down a little.
The $100K question was: what Germany city did the Hindenburg depart from on its final flight?
a) Berlin
b) Hamburg
c) Frankfurt
d) Bonn
Like any trivia buff I knew that the Hindy crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey. But I had no f***in’ clue.
The answer? I won’t post for those wanting to guess for themselves, but you can find it here.
As you state I was quite happy to end where I did and I went away quite pleased. No regrets!