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Show PARDON MY PLANET Bee spells reality lor ABC Johanna Neuman Ul WM''H W mate niche talent contest. Then in 19S5, Balu Natarajan. a that "American Idol" bowed out for the ABC is betting that the show's formula ner vous civilians performing live y will turn the Now an overnight sensa as.a passport to acceptance in U.S. culture, encouraging their kids to compete. As a result, the list of competitors is often as much of a spelling challenge as the words. . When ESPN began broadfinals in casting the two-da- y Washington, D.C., in 1994, the allure of television did the rest, cementing the bee as a cultural right of passage. ' "When ESPN picked it up, they really dressed up the image," Maguire said. "There's nothing glamorous about spelling, but there is something glamorous about being on tele- once-stddg- 79-ye- letes." The emotional angst of youngsters sweating in the . floodlights as they try to conjure the language root or meaning context of a word to divine its correct spelling has already drawn Hollywood's attention. docuThe 2002 mentary "Spellbound" kicked things off, followed by a Broadway musical and this year's film charmer "Akeelah and the Bee," which tracks a Los Angeles girl Oscar-nominate- d as she overcomes adversity to compete in the event. The Beealso has attracted its share of writers. Myla Goldberg's 2000 novel"Bee Season" was made into a movie last year starring Richard Gere, and Rodale Press has just released a nonfiction book by pop culture writer James Maguire called "American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds." Maguire. author of a biography of Ed Sullivan, said he us drawn to "all the odd subcultures that make up American culture." He went to his first Bee in 2003 and was struck by the event's natural drama. "These are 'tween spellers and it adds an emotional component." he said. "The audience gets so involved, they cheer when the kids get it. and whim they strike out, they sigh with them. It adds an extra element of vulnerability." For much of its life, the bee was an acquired taste, the ulti IpA VCVI TV rP!! M sLy fftTi Awl " J V , -- s--r 1 OUT SMALL, CRITICIZING STACTO I HS ANNOYING LIRE HANTS AW SUCH after seven years of regimented wt J !?-- 7T I TRAINING WAY IVE SUCCESSFULLY WORKEP HIS UP TO CRITICIZING m his MY POSS. HIS poston red sox. tion and many first generation Americans came to see the Bee Nat ional Spelling Bee into the ' latest reality TV phenom. For the first time in its history, the Bee is going live in prime time with the final rounds today. Robin Roberts of "Good Morning America" will host the event, broadcast in high definition with surround sound. "We're really excited about this," said Andrea Wong, ABC's executive vice president . for alternative programming. Wong, who brought the British hit "Dancing With the Stars" to the U.S. audience last year, said she's been eyeing the Bee as a network TV prospect for years. "These are amazingly de? termined kids who have spent hours and hours every day practicing for this one moment of the year," she said. "They're all incredibly likable kids that you're rooting for. These aren't nerds; they are intellectual ath fy ti son of Indian American parents, beat out all comers by spelling the word "milieu." " , THE BORN LOSER real-tim- I " TINS i . Tlftt!) - THE WIZARD OF ID vision." This year ABC notched things up even further by asking the Bee's organizers to move the finalfew hours to 8 p.m., and rolled the dice that it could manage the production woes of handling some 10 to 15 kids juggling words, expecta- - tions and parental pressure. Sponsors were thrilled. For television, the gambit is not without risk. The - bee 's an unscripted pyramid. 7 'r' f rk sign of.: V ' I I IN ORPER TO BE FAIR TO ALL SOCIAL V LEVELS, I'M CREATING hf f$ H SMIPNI&ftT WrrATSX THAT ? ) j s j e ' Some 10.5 million school students participated in bee competitions in their home towns this year, but only 275 are being summoned to Washingtoa On Wednesday, they began a spelling marathon to winnow down the elite even further, leading up to the championship tonight. The problem for television is that, like any live sports event, there is no way to predict the ending. After the spellers are winnowed down to the last 10 or 15 today (with ESPN on hand beginning at noon Eastern time), bee officials will stop the daytime event and delay what ' ABC is calling "the title rounds" until 8 p.m. Once the lights dim and the cameras zoom, any- MUTTS r is Pet "Little MV Vour. snail ) earl boov... y y ww ktngteBHKM com A SHNAIL MAIL atto v w-- 1 , rn Imumtomict t om j X w I EXCEPT... He HATES I (TPosTfYWN) tVEKT FRIENDLV V ? loves r L I MOTHER GOOSE VOUMEEl I ...0FWUR1 I .$ thing could happen. A lot of kids could fade early. Or two could keep battling off words such as "kigorrhea" (excessive wordiness) and "smaragdine" (the color of emeralds) until long past the network's planned signoff. "It's going to be tricky," Wong said. As for the audience, neither ABC nor ESPN will offer predict ioas. but Wong is optimistic. "We want to feel creatively about this show." she said. "The ratings are not that important. We're building a franchise, and that will require momentum over time." Take that . Simon Cowell. SALLY FORTH SEVERAL YEARS AGO. -- Mm SO THESE FORTHS YOU'RE ABOUT TO MARRY INTO.. ARE THEY THE RIGHT SORT OF PEOPLE? i in i AND WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU MEAN BY RIGHT,' MOM? THE SUPPOSEDLY "RIGHT" REUGON? THE right so-call- i i 1 1 BACKGROUND? M 1 mi. II I ! J MEANT WEALTHY. I f J NOT A DIME I I SO WE'LL FIT j RIGHT J |