Couch potato no match
for ‘mind reader’

If you spend as much time with your television or DVD player as I do on the Internet, here's a fun diversion I recently happened upon while scouring the 'Net for entertaining Web sites. Think of a movie or a television show and log on to www.guessthename.com, the Internet site which claims it can identify just about any TV program or motion picture you can think of, through a series of yes-or-no questions.

I decided a three-decades-old comedy like "Welcome Back Kotter" would be a good starting point in determining the depth of guessthename.com's database. Question one: "Are you thinking of a TV show?" I click "yes." Second question: Does it take place in a city? Again, yes. Third: "Does it take place in an apartment?" No. Fourth question: "Does it take place in New York City?"

At this point, I begin to wonder if perhaps this Web site can read my mind. Answer: Yes. Several more questions to which I answer "no" pop up, before I reply with a "yes" to "Does it involve school?" "Is the main character's name Gabe or Gabriel?" All right, guessthename.com. You got me. I click "yes."

"I guess that you are 'Welcome Back, Kotter.' Am I right?" asks the Web site. I confirm its accuracy and it graciously replies: "It wasn't easy, but I won this time. 'Welcome Back Kotter' was a tough one, but I've had a lot of practice. Thanks for giving me something to do. Please visit again soon."

I start over, determined to stump the Web site with a decidedly more obscure title: the British comedy "The Office." Take that, guessthename.com. Ask me all the questions you want. You won't get this one, I guarantee it.

No, it's not a reality show, it doesn't involve wrestling, it doesn't involve a hospital and the main character does not come from the planet Ork.

It asks: "Is the show a British sitcom?" I click on "yes," grudgingly. "Is it set in an office?" Yes. "Does it take place in the office of a paper merchant?" Um ... yeah. "I guess that you are 'The Office.' Am I right?" I grit my teeth and slap my keyboard in frustration.

As Gabe Kotter's Sweathogs would say, "Up your nose with a rubber hose," guessthename.com.

Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.