[Carolyn Duncan]

1.) I like Robot Wars and Junk Yard Wars, I do not like Battle Bots. I'm not all that excited about Battle Bots IQ, it just doesn't interest me. The reason I like Robot Wars and not Battle Bots is because of the strategy involved in Robot Wars. Although the robots get destroyed, there is much damage to be avoided. When the robots get into the pinball aspect tof the game there is strategy much like FIRST. Before a match starts there must be a game plan. JYW, has the time limit and other aspects relative to FIRST. The show also teaches the viewers about what's going on in the show. To me BB is nothing but destruction. It makes me think of wrestling in a way. People watch to see who will defeat whom, and they follow it the same way as wrestling fans follow the wrestlers.
2.) Given the mentality and activity level of most Americans, based on statistics, I think that TV is vital to the longevity of anything. Without TV there is very little knowledge of existance. It's much like underground music, only people who search for or already know about it will ever know about it. It spreads by word of mouth. That's not to say that without TV nothing will ever get spread around, but would people want to be Crocodile Hunters or Jack Hannahs without having watched National Geographic at some point?
3.) Based on what has been brought up about competition in the game this year, I think there will be head to head. As far as designing a game that is viewer and TV friendly: if FIRST does do that they better make darn sure that they figure out away to handle way more people than they ever had because there will a mad rush of people who want to jump on the band wagon. They won't know what hit them and they'll get some bad press if they start telling people they can't handle the numbers. I will now avoid a rant.