American TV has taken a lot of abuse (justified IMO) about dumbing down the content. Well, like the sci-fi people say, we are not alone.
On the German version of "Who wants to be a millionaire", the question was "What is George W. Bush's first name?" After narrowing it down to two choices and the studio crowd voting two to one for "George"
, the contestant chose Edmund.
We are not alone, indeed.