• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 16, 2018

No sooner did a new show about kids emerge as the year’s worst show earlier this week than this new kid-oriented series turns up on NBC to redeem America's children.

That other show, “The Secret Lives of Kids” on USA Network, was a relentless exercise in listening to unintelligible baby talk, while this new one is a celebration of pint-sized smartypantses.

Or as one contestant puts it in the premiere episode of this new one called “Genius Junior,” this quiz program intends to “show that America isn't as dumb as it seems.” And irony of ironies, the medium for this demonstration will be network television.

“Genius Junior” premieres Friday night on NBC, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, who once played a child genius on “Doogie Howser, M.D.”

On this one-hour quiz show, you will see a collection of smart children ages 8-12 whose prowess when it comes to complex math problems, international geography and the spelling of long words backwards will amaze you.

If you think the questions on “Jeopardy!” are challenging, then you are in for a big surprise. The questions on “Genius Junior” occupy a category all their own.

They are different than the ones on “Jeopardy!,” however. On “Genius Junior,” these children are indeed gifted in many ways, with extraordinary memories for facts such as international capitals and the abbreviation-designations of global airports.

Whether they would be able to answer the questions on “Jeopardy!” encompassing such a wide range of subjects they have not been exposed to -- such as world history and literature, for example -- is difficult to determine.

They will no doubt learn these subjects in due time. In the meantime, they are busy calculating multipart math problems and spelling words such as “mathematically” backwards in a matter of seconds.

A number of them speak several languages, and some are already Mensa members. In introductory segments seen on the show, they describe some of their feats of intellectual acuity and note that some of these were accomplished at ages as young as two years old.

The show is a proficient quiz program featuring kids in which nobody gets hurt -- although the potential exists for disappointment and even tears as these competitive children encounter peers who are even smarter than they are.

This show's principal drawback is its one-hour length. Quiz shows since the dawn of television have generally been easier consumed and better enjoyed in half-hour doses.

Today's game shows and quiz shows, particularly the ones in prime time, are all one hour these days. For those of us raised in different era when such shows were almost always half that length, a one-hour game show represents a test of fortitude.

However, where “Genius Junior” is concerned, it does live up to its promise of showing us an America that is smarter than we thought it was.

“Genius Junior” premieres Friday night at 9 Eastern on NBC.